Shaun of the Dead (2004) - 34 trivia entries

When at work, talking to the youngsters, Shaun mentions that "Ash" is also sick and can't come to work. A nod to the classic The Evil Dead (1981) trilogy where Bruce Campbell plays Ash, also a sales clerk.

When Shaun is on the phone to his mum, Ed shouts "We're coming to get you Barbra". This is a tribute to the famous "they're coming to get you Barbra" line from Night of the Living Dead (1968) .

Although it seems like Diane was killed after she left the Winchester, she actually does survive. If you watch the "Plot Holes" section on the DVD, Diane explains how she used David's leg as a weapon, fought through the zombies to a tree, ate part of the leg for sustenance, and then came down after everything was back to normal.

Throughout the film, several of the original music scores from Dawn of the Dead (1978) are played, such as during the Universal logo and during Shaun's several plans for picking up Liz and his mother.

The fake 'Trisha' clips shown in the film were shot during recording breaks of the actual 'Trisha' show.

In the scene where the survivors try to get into the Winchester, and Shaun tries to lure the zombies away from Di, David, Ed, and Liz, Shaun says, "Oh boy," when he gets up on the platform so all the zombies will see him. When Shaun says, "Oh boy," like he's frightened, his fear is real and at one point in the movie Simon Pegg actually tells all the zombie actors to "f*ck off" and to end the shot for the moment because the zombie actors looked too real. Check for it, it's in the outtakes.

When Shaun is searching an Italian restaurant in the Yellow Pages, he finds one called Fulci's, a reference to Italian horror director Lucio Fulci.

Trampolining over a garden fence to save someone from a marauding zombie? Looks like someone else played a lot of "Zombies Ate My Neighbours" as a kid. See Link

The "pyjama zombie" (appeared as a human in the bus queue at the start) is voiced by Simon Pegg (Shaun).

Just as Shaun switches the TV off near the end of the film you can hear a reporter saying something like '...meanwhile, reports that the outbreak was caused by rage-infected monkeys have been described as bullsh*t-'. This is a jibe at Danny Boyle's film 28 Days Later - the creators of SOTD didn't appreciate the fact that in 28DL the zombies could run and move quickly.

Simon Pegg was offered a part in Dog Soldiers (2002), but SOTD director Edgar Wright wanted this to be his first horror film, so he turned it down.

'Noel' the 17 year old shop assistant at the electrical store is also known as 'Noodle' who Ed gets rung up by twice in the film to ask if he has any drugs.

George A. Romero liked this movie so much he offered the director and the two main actors cameos in his zombie movie Land of the Dead (2005). Though Nick Frost did not accept, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have cameos as 'Photo Booth Zombies'.

At the end of the movie you see a cameo by Chris Martin supporting a foundation called Zomb-Aid. You also see him as a zombie at the pub. When Shaun and Liz come out from the cellar, he is the zombie walking right to left in front of a phone box.

The pizza place next to Shaun's local newsagents is called Bub's Pizza; a nod to Day of the Dead (1985) in which the scientist's experimental zombie is called Bub.

In the film, Matt Lucas is wearing an "I Love Pussy" T-shirt. This shirt was designed for Ed's character, but this was considered too distracting for the entire film, so Ed wears an "I Got Wood" T-shirt. Other rejected designs include "Bumpin' Donuts", "Pull My Finger" and "I'm Here About The Blowjob".

During the film, Ed tells Shaun that "Snakehips" is always surrounded by women. Later in the film, we see Snakehips being devoured by three female zombies.

When Shaun is going to the shop to get a Cornetto, there is a radio in the background saying something about a satellite exploding. A reference to Night of the Living Dead, when the explosion of a probe returning from Venus was the explanation offered for the zombie outbreak.

Shaun's mum calls Shaun "Pickle" because that's what Writer/Director Edgar Wright's mum used to call him.

The running gag about dogs not being able to look up was inspired by a theory that Nick Frost came up as a result of an incident that occurs in the second series of 'Spaced', a show starring Shaun Of The Dead's Frost and Simon Pegg, both directed by Edgar Wright. In a scene from Series 2, Episode 6, Daisy bangs on the window in Marsha's room and shouts for Colin, he looks round. However, he looks directly behind him rather than up where Daisy is, at the second floor window. Whether or not the theory has some truth in it, the reason behind the scene was this. The shot of Colin is from Daisy's viewpoint from the second floor window, whereas when we see Daisy it is shot from outside on the ground looking up. The sound made to get the dog to look round was made off camera at ground level. This is explained on the Shaun Of The Dead DVD cast commentary.

When the gang come across another group made up of identical characters, that may be all the entertainment many people get out of the meeting. However, they're all stars of fantastic UK comedy shows, many with links to stars of this film - The leader is Jessica Stevenson, star of Spaced, which also starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from this, and was directed by Edgar Wright, who also directed this. Behind her are Martin Freeman from The Office, which also starred Lucy Davis (Dianne in this), Reece Shearsmith from The League of Gentlemen, Tamsin Greig from Black Books, which stars Dylan Moran (David in this), Julia Deakin, also from "Spaced", and Matt Lucas from Little Britain. Not that that's all they've done, but to list all their mighty comedic achievements would take far too long - check them all out on the IMDb. Comic geniuses (genii?) the lot of them.

Shaun's second walk to the shop is only one shot, and took 13 takes to achieve.

Shaun works at Foree Electronics. Ken Foree was one of stars of the original Dawn Of The Dead (1978).

The (fictional) supermarket chain that the zombiefied Mary and Noel work for is called "LANDIS" (you can see it on their name badges). This is a nod to director John Landis: Simon Pegg has mentioned in interviews that Landis' An American Werewolf in London was an influence on this film. It's also very similar to "Londis" - a chain of shops in the UK.

The Cornetto joke originated when Edgar Wright (the director) got extremely drunk as a teen and somehow had his hangover cured in the morning when he ate a Cornetto. The reference in this film is made when Ed asks for a Cornetto while he has a hangover.

Throughout the movie, Ed can be seen playing the video game Timesplitters 2. As a possible way of saying thanks, the line "You've got red on you" was given to a zombie in the third Timesplitters game, Timesplitters 3 - Future Perfect.

In the scene where Shaun, Liz, and Ed are beating the zombie with the pool sticks, Shaun falls to the floor at one time and does a little Matrix-style move to get himself up back on his feet. Shaun perfected this move in real life in his dance team named 'The Galaxians'.

When Simon Pegg says "he's not my boyfriend." in the pub, then promptly calls Nick Frost "babe", that's a gag which also featured in their TV show "Spaced".

The shots where Dylan Moran is being torn apart by the zombies look almost identical to the deaths of two of the soldiers in Day Of The Dead.

Every character's name rhymes with their eventual fate-'Pete gets eat', 'Ed lives in the shed', 'Di dies', 'David gets mutilated', 'Liz lives', 'Shaun moves on', 'Barbara becomes a dead mother', and 'Phil gets killed'. This is confirmed on the zombie subtitles.

While Shaun is feeling depressed, Ed is telling him his drinking plan for the next day. Listen out for clues to subsequent events: "Bloody Mary" - Checkout Girl, "Bite at the king's head" - Phillip, "Couple" - David and Di, "Little Princess" - Liz, "Stagger back" - impersonate zombies, "Bar For Shots" - firing rifle.

In one scene where Shaun and Pete are arguing in the kitchen, if you look over Shaun's shoulder you can just about see the ubiquitous phrase "Fried Gold." written on the fridge's message board.

As the gang shuffle towards the pub, in one or two brief shots of the zombie mob, one of the zombies is dressed exactly like the character Tyres (a bike messenger) from "Spaced", and in fact is played by the same actor, Michael Smiley.Keep an eye out for some bright blue and yellow clothing.

The zombie that Ed kills with the ashtray emits the famous "Wilhelm" scream. Wilhelm Scream Facts