Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Edgar Wright
Produced by Nira Park
Written by
Starring
Music by
  • Pete Woodhead
  • Daniel Mudford
Cinematography David M. Dunlap
Edited by Chris Dickens
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 29 March 2004 (2004-03-29) (London premiere)
  • 9 April 2004 (2004-04-09) (United Kingdom)
  • 24 September 2004 (2004-09-24) (United States)
  • 27 July 2005 (2005-07-27) (France)
Running time
 99 minutes[1]
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • United States[2][3]
Language English
Budget $6.1 million[4]
Box office $30 million[5]

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British horror comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, written by Wright and Simon Pegg, and starring Pegg and Nick Frost. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather.[6] At the same time, he has to cope with an apocalyptic zombie uprising.[7]

The film was a critical and commercial success. Shaun of the Dead was also a BAFTA nominee. Pegg and Wright considered a sequel that would replace zombies with another monster, but decided against it as they were pleased with the first film as a stand-alone product, and thought too many characters died to continue the story.[8]

The film is the first in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End.[9]

Plot

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a 29-year-old electronics shop salesman with no direction in life. His younger colleagues don't respect him. He has an estranged relationship with his stepfather, Phillip (Bill Nighy). His housemate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) is fed up with Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun's vulgar, unemployed best friend. Furthermore, Shaun's girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is unhappy with their social life as they spend every date at Shaun and Ed's favourite pub, the Winchester. Because Shaun always brings Ed, Liz is always forced to bring her flatmates, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis). Shaun promises Liz that he will change.

After a bad day at work, Shaun forgets to book a table at the restaurant he promised Liz they would go to, to (belatedly) celebrate their anniversary. When he suggests the Winchester for the date, an angry Liz breaks up with him. Shaun drowns his sorrows with Ed at the Winchester. As the two play music at home, an enraged Pete — suffering from a bite wound on his way to work — confronts Shaun on his flaws, telling him to sort his life out.

The next morning, a zombie apocalypse has overwhelmed the city, but Shaun doesn't notice due to his hangover. He and Ed see a woman in their backyard, and quickly learn that she is a zombie. Another zombie makes its way into the garden, and Shaun and Ed run back inside. They learn more about the outbreak by watching the news. They kill the two zombies (and another that walked through the front door) with blows to the head. They briefly discuss and plan to rescue Shaun's mother, Barbara (Penelope Wilton), and Liz, then wait out the crisis in the Winchester.

Shaun and Ed escape in Pete's car and pick up Barbara and Phillip who has been bitten. They head over to Liz's flat and collect her, with Diane and David reluctantly tagging along. On their way to the Winchester, Phillip makes peace with Shaun, dies from his bites, and then reanimates. The group abandon the vehicle and continue on foot. The streets surrounding the pub are overrun, so the group pretends to be zombies to sneak past them. Outside the Winchester, Shaun gets into an argument with Ed and alert the zombies. Shaun leads the horde away while the rest take refuge in the pub. Shaun rejoins them after losing the zombies.

Several hours later, the zombies return; Shaun discovers the Winchester rifle above the bar is functional and the group uses it to defend themselves. Barbara reveals she was bitten along the way and dies, and a distraught Shaun is forced to shoot her after she reanimates. David is then pulled through a window and torn apart by the zombies. Dianne rushes out to rescue him, disappearing into the advancing horde. Pete arrives as one of the zombies and bites Ed; Shaun kills Pete and sets fire to the bar, but the fire also sets off the remaining rifle ammunition. The remaining survivors, Shaun, Liz and Ed, flee into the cellar and contemplate suicide, but discover a barrel hatch elevator that opens to the outside. Shaun and Liz escape on the elevator as a wounded Ed is left behind with the rifle. Back on the street, the British Army arrives and guns down the remaining zombies, rescuing the two. The couple approach the safety of the trucks, reconciled.

Six months after the outbreak, civilization has returned to normal, with the zombies now used as cheap labour and entertainment. Liz has moved in with Shaun, and Shaun keeps zombified Ed tethered in the backyard shed so they can play video games together.

Cast

Production

The film is notable for Wright's kinetic directing style, and its references to other movies, television series and video games. In this way, it is similar to the British sitcom Spaced, which both Pegg and Wright worked on in similar roles.

The film was inspired by the Spaced episode "Art", written by Pegg (along with his writing partner and co-star Jessica Stevenson) and directed by Wright, in which the character of Tim (Pegg), under the influence of amphetamine and the video game Resident Evil 2, hallucinates that he is fighting off a zombie invasion. Having discovered a mutual appreciation for Romero's Dead trilogy, they decided to write their own zombie movie. Spaced was to be a big influence on the making of Shaun, as it was directed by Wright in a similar style, and featured many of the same cast and crew in minor and major roles. Nick Frost who played Mike in Spaced has a starring role in Shaun as Ed. Peter Serafinowicz and Julia Deakin – who played Duane Benzie and Marsha in Spaced – appear in Shaun as Pete and Yvonne's mum, and Pegg's Spaced co-star Jessica Stevenson plays Yvonne.

The film's cast features a number of British comedians, comic actors, and sitcom stars, most prominently from Spaced, Black Books and The Office. Shaun also co-stars Dylan Moran, who played Bernard Black in Black Books, Martin Freeman (Tim Canterbury in The Office), Tamsin Greig (Fran in Black Books, Caroline in Green Wing), Julia Deakin (Marsha in Spaced), Reece Shearsmith (Dexter in Spaced and a member of The League of Gentlemen) and Matt Lucas (writer/co-star of Little Britain). In addition, the voices of Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen) and Julia Davis (Nighty Night) can be heard as radio news presenters, as can David Walliams (Little Britain) who provides the voice of an unseen TV reporter. Trisha Goddard also makes a cameo appearance, hosting two fictionalised episodes of her real-life talk show Trisha. Many other comics and comic actors appear in cameos as zombies, including Rob Brydon, Paul Putner, Russell Howard, Pamela Kempthorne (Morticia de'Ath in The Vampires of Bloody Island), Joe Cornish, Antonia Campbell-Hughes (from the Jack Dee sitcom Lead Balloon), Mark Donovan (Black Books) and Michael Smiley (Tyres in Spaced). Coldplay members Chris Martin (who contributed to the soundtrack by guest singing the cover of Buzzcocks' "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" with Ash) and Jonny Buckland also have cameo roles in the film.[10]

The film was shot over nine weeks between May and July 2003.[11][12]

Locations

The production was filmed entirely in London, on location and at Ealing Studios, and involved production companies Working Title Films and StudioCanal. Many exterior shots were filmed in and around the North London areas of Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Finsbury Park and East Finchley. Zombie extras were mainly local residents or fans of Spaced who responded to a casting call organised through a fan website.

Shaun's place of work is an actual electrical appliances shop located at Tally Ho, North Finchley.

The scenes filmed in and around the "Winchester Tavern" pub were shot at the "Duke of Albany" pub, 39 Monson Road New Cross, South London – a three-story Victorian pub. It was turned into flats in 2008.[13]

Reception

Box office

In the United Kingdom, Shaun took £1.6 million at 366 cinemas on its opening weekend[14] and netted £6.4 million by mid-May. In its opening weekend in the United States, Shaun earned $3.3 million, taking seventh place at the box office despite a limited release to only 607 theatres.[5] The film has earned $30,039,392 worldwide in box office receipts since its release.[5]

Critical response

Shaun of the Dead received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 92%, based on 201 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Shaun of the Dead cleverly balances scares and witty satire, making for a bloody good zombie movie with loads of wit".[15] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 76 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[16] Nev Pierce, reviewing the film for the BBC, called it a "side-splitting, head-smashing, gloriously gory horror comedy" that will "amuse casual viewers and delight genre fans."[17] Peter Bradshaw gave it four stars out of five, saying it "boasts a script crammed with real gags" and is "pacily directed [and] nicely acted."[18]

Awards and recognition

In 2004, Total Film magazine named Shaun of the Dead the 49th greatest British film of all time. In 2005, it was rated as the third greatest comedy film of all time in a Channel 4 poll.[19] Horror novelist Stephen King described the movie as "...a '10' on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic."[20] In 2007, Stylus Magazine named it the ninth-greatest zombie film ever made.[21] In 2007, Time named it one of the 25 best horror films, calling the film "spooky, silly and smart-smart-smart" and complimenting its director: "Wright, who'd be a director to watch in any genre, plays world-class games with the camera and the viewer's expectations of what's supposed to happen in a scare film."[22] Bloody Disgusting ranked the film second in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "Shaun of the Dead isn't just the best horror-comedy of the decade – it's quite possibly the best horror-comedy ever made."[23] In December 2009, Now deemed Shaun of the Dead the best film of the decade.[24]

George A. Romero was so impressed with Pegg and Wright's work that he asked them to appear in cameo roles in the 2005 film Land of the Dead. Pegg and Wright insisted on being zombies rather than the slightly more noticeable roles that were originally offered.[7][25] Pegg and Frost reprised their roles (animated style) in the Phineas and Ferb Halloween special "Night of the Living Pharmacists" in October 2014.[26]

Quentin Tarantino dubbed the film as one of his top twenty films made since 1992.[27]

In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their second favourite film of all time. Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption came in first place.[28]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipients and nominees Result Notes
British Independent Film Awards 30 November 2004 Best British Independent Film Shaun of the Dead Nominated
Best Screenplay Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg Won
Most Promising Newcomer Nick Frost Nominated
Evening Standard British Film Awards 6 February 2005 Peter Sellers Award for Comedy Simon Pegg Won [29]
London Film Critics' Circle Awards 9 February 2005 British Film of the Year Shaun of the Dead Nominated
Screenwriter(s) of the Year Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright Nominated
British Academy Film Awards 12 February 2005 Outstanding British Film Shaun of the Dead Nominated
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Nira Park (producer) Nominated
Empire Awards 13 March 2005 Best British Film Shaun of the Dead Won
Best British Director Edgar Wright Nominated
Best British Actor Simon Pegg Nominated
Best British Actress Kate Ashfield Nominated
Scene of the Year The records and zombies scene Nominated
Saturn Awards 3 May 2005 Best Horror Film Shaun of the Dead Won
Bram Stoker Awards 25 June 2005 Best Screenplay Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (tied with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) Won

Home media

The film was released on DVD shortly after its theatrical run in the US, with a DVD release around December 2004 in the US. Features included several audio commentaries, EPK featurettes about the film's production, pre-production video diaries and concept videos, photo galleries, bloopers, and more. The film also saw release on the HD DVD format in July 2007, with a Blu-ray Disc release following in September 2009.

Merchandise

In 2006, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced that it would be producing action figures based on the film as part of its "Cult Classics" line that features fan favourite characters from various genre films. The releases so far are:

Upper Deck Entertainment released a card for the popular World of Warcraft in 2007, an ally named "Shawn of the Dead", with the power of bringing back allies from the enemy graveyard.[30]

Cultural references

Prominent are many references to George A. Romero's earlier Dead films (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead,[7] with Dawn in particular being referenced).[31]

Films influenced by Shaun of the Dead

The 2010 Cuban film Juan of the Dead[32] and the 2013 Singaporean film Hsien of the Dead[33] were inspired by Shaun of the Dead.

Soundtrack

Shaun of the Dead: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released 12 April 2004 (2004-04-12)
Genre Rock
Alternative rock
Ska
Hip hop
Electro
Label Universal International
Edgar Wright film soundtrack chronology
Shaun of the Dead
(2004)		 Hot Fuzz
(2007)

The film's score by Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford is a pastiche of Italian zombie film soundtracks by artists like Goblin and Fabio Frizzi. It also uses many musical cues from the original Dawn of the Dead that were originally culled by George A. Romero from the De Wolfe production music library.[34]

On the soundtrack album, dialogue from the film is embedded within the music tracks.

  1. "Figment" – S. Park
  2. "The Blue Wrath" – I Monster
  3. "Mister Mental" – The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
  4. "Meltdown" – Ash
  5. "Don't Stop Me Now" – Queen
  6. "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Melle Mel
  7. "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)" – Man Parrish
  8. "Zombie Creeping Flesh" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  9. "Kernkraft 400" – Zombie Nation
  10. "Fizzy Legs" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  11. "Soft" – Lemon Jelly
  12. "Death Bivouac" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  13. "The Gonk (Kid Koala Remix)" – The Noveltones
  14. "Envy the Dead" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  15. "Ghost Town" – The Specials
  16. "Blood in Three Flavours" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  17. "Panic" – The Smiths
  18. "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" (originally by Buzzcocks) – Ash featuring Chris Martin
  19. "You're My Best Friend" – Queen
  20. "You've Got Red on You / Shaun of the Dead Suite" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  21. "Normality" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  22. "Fundead" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
  23. "Orpheus" – Ash

Comic strip

Pegg and Wright also scripted a one-off tie-in comic strip for the British comic magazine 2000AD titled "There's Something About Mary".[35]

Set the day before the zombie outbreak, the strip follows and expands on the character of Mary, who appears briefly in the introductory credits, and is the first zombie whom Shaun and Ed are aware of, and details how she became a zombie. It features expanded appearances from many of the minor or background characters who appear in the film. The strip was made available on the DVD release of Shaun, along with two other strips that wrapped up "Plot Holes" in the film, like how Dianne escaped and survived the Winchester incident, and Ed's fate after taking refuge in the basement of the bar.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "SHAUN OF THE DEAD (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 26 March 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Lumiere : Film : Shaun of the Dead". European Audiovisual Observatory. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "Shaun of the Dead (2004)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Andrew Collins. "Simon Pegg: The World’s End is $4 million shy of double what Hot Fuzz cost". RadioTimes.
  5. 1 2 3 "SOTD at Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  6. ↑ "'Shaun of the Dead': Lively Zombie Comedy".
  7. 1 2 3 J.C. Maçek III (15 June 2012). "The Zombification Family Tree: Legacy of the Living Dead". PopMatters.
  8. ↑ Podtrac.com
  9. ↑ "Interview with Simon Pegg". BBC Website. 1 October 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
  10. ↑ Slender Fungus (13 November 2008). "Coldplay Official Site: The Oracle Knows Everything". Coldplay.com. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  11. ↑ "SHAUN OF THE DEAD wraps".
  12. ↑ "EAT MY BRAINS! - Shaun of the Dead on-set photos - Feature Article".
  13. ↑ Kimberley Dadds. "The "Shaun Of The Dead" Guide To London". BuzzFeed.
  14. ↑ "SOTD UK figures at Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  15. ↑ "Shaun of the Dead (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  16. ↑ "Shaun of the Dead". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  17. ↑ Nev Pierce (7 April 2004). "Shaun of the Dead (2004)". BBC. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  18. ↑ Peter Bradshaw (9 April 2004). "Shaun of the Dead". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  19. ↑ "50 Greatest Comedy Films". Channel 4. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  20. ↑ ""Shaun of the Dead" DVD News". Rebecca Murray. Retrieved 14 July 2007.
  21. ↑ "Stylus Magazine’s Top 10 Zombie Films of All Time". Stylusmagazine.com. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  22. ↑ "Shaun of the Dead, 2004". Time. 29 October 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  23. ↑ "00's Retrospect: Bloody Disgusting's Top 20 Films of the Decade...Part 4". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  24. ↑ Norman Wilner. "Top 10 films". NOW.
  25. ↑ "Simon Pegg interviews George A Romero". TimeOut.
  26. ↑ "Shawn of the Dead characters appearing in Phineas and Ferb". IGN.
  27. ↑ "Tarantino Reveals His Top 20 Movies (Since Reservoir Dogs)". Screen Rant. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  28. ↑ "Radio 1 Movies Blog". BBC. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  29. ↑ "Vera Drake scoops best film award". BBC. 6 February 2005.
  30. ↑ "Shawn of the Dead Card Preview". UpperDeck.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
  31. ↑ "Shaun of the Dead Pop Culture References". Shaunofthedead.com. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  32. ↑ Juan of the Dead (Juan de los Muertos): Toronto Review, Hollywood Reporter, 15 September 2011, John DeFore.
  33. ↑ Robert, Catherine (11 August 2012). "Zombie film cast had a blast".
  34. ↑ Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg commentary, Shaun of the Dead (DVD). Universal Pictures
  35. ↑ Shaun of the Dead: "There's Something About Mary" (by Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Frazer Irving, in 2000 AD #1384, 2004

External links

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