Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday! Shaun of The Dead is one of the funniest and most brilliant horror comedies of our time. I absolutely love the many references to classic horror and zombie films. It was very fresh and original, and I still know the entire film by heart. Enjoy!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW!!!)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• George Romero, king of the zombies, was given a private screening of the film at his home. During the scene where Ed (Nick Frost) yells into the phone, “we’re coming to get you, Barbara!”, Romero didn’t realize that line was referencing his film, Night of The Living Dead (1968). He was so impressed with this film, he asked the director, Edgar Wright and star, Simon Pegg (Shaun) to cameo in his film, Land of The Dead (2005) as zombies.
• In an interview, Simon Pegg was asked why they chose to have slow zombies instead of running zombies. Pegg responded, “because death is not an energy drink.”
• Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg did consider making a sequel. They were going to replace zombies with another monster and call it From Dusk Till Shaun. However, they decided against it because they were pleased with it being a stand alone film.
• When Shaun, Liz (Kate Ashfield), David (Dylan Moran), and Dianne (Lucy Davis) are running to the car, they each have weapons. However, Shaun is the only one hitting zombies while the others stand back. That’s because Shaun’s cricket bat was the only fake weapon so when he hit the zombie extras, he didn’t hurt them.
• Shaun’s place of work, Foree Electric, is named after Ken Foree, who starred in Dawn of The Dead (1978).

• In the original script, Shaun was supposed to beat Mary (Nicola Cunningham) and the big zombie with a little girl’s bicycle. Though it’s funny to imagine, the record and cricket bat scenes were hilarious!
• There are two references to The Evil Dead (1981) in this film. First one took place when Shaun was at work, and he mentioned someone named Ash. Ash is the main protagonist in the original Evil Dead franchise. The second reference happened when Shaun finds Zombie Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) and whispers “Join us”, which is said many times throughout The Evil Dead.
• When Shaun calls Fulci’s Italian restaurant to book a table, the voice on the other line is the film’s director, Edgar Wright.
• Speaking of Fulci’s Italian restaurant, the restaurant is named after famous Italian horror director, Lucio Fulci.
• When Ed is trying to cheer Shaun up at the Winchester, he ends up foreshadowing the events of Z-Day:

1. “Bloody Mary” – the checkout girl in Shaun and Ed’s yard.
2. “Bite at the King’s Head” – Phillip (Bill Nighy).
3. “Couple” – David and Dianne.
4. “Little Princess” – Liz.
5. “Stagger back” – impersonating zombies.
6. “Bar for shots” – shooting zombies at the Winchester.

• In the film’s DVD special features, there are three animated “Plot Hole” segments that explain three plot holes fans may have asked about. One of the segments explains what happened to Dianne after she ran out of the Winchester with David’s severed leg. She ended up escaping the zombie horde by climbing up a tree and passing out. Then she woke up, the area was empty and silent. Out of fear, she stayed in the tree for days, surviving by eating David’s leg. She eventually left the tree, went to live with her aunt, and kept a Christmas-Card friendship with Shaun and Liz.
• The second “Plot Hole” segment explains how Shaun gave the zombie horde the slip and made it back to the Winchester. While running from the zombie’s, Shaun realized how slow they were and had to take breaks in order to keep their attention. After a while, he ran into an alleyway and jumped into a dumpster. After waiting a while, he peeked out and saw the zombies were gone, so he assumed he gave them the slip and ran back to the Winchester.
• The third “Plot Hole” segment tells how Shaun got Zombie Ed into the shed. After Shaun and Liz leave Ed in the Winchester basement, Ed used the last of his shells too kill the first few zombies who entered the room. The last zombie he shot was a big guy, and when he fell, he created a little barricade, which gave Ed a chance to hide under the stairs. When help arrived to the basement, Ed was too weak to call out for help, so he quietly passed away. After a few days, Shaun returned to the Winchester to pay his respects, and that’s when he found Zombie Ed. So, Shaun used himself as bait and lured Zombie Ed all the way to the shed.
• Speaking of Zombie Ed in the shed, it was actually foreshadowed earlier in the film. When Pete yells at Ed, he states, “You want to live like an animal? Go live in the shed, you thick f**k!” In return, Ed tells Shaun, “The next time I see him, he’s dead.” The next time Ed saw Pete, he was actually dead.
• For Barbara’s (Penelope Wilton) death scene, Simon Pegg was able to get emotional by picturing his own mother being killed. After the scene was filmed, Pegg and Frost started to really cry.

• This is the first film in Edgar Wright’s “Cornetto Trilogy.” This film is followed by Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World’s End (2013). Three flavor Cornettos represent the 3 films. The red strawberry flavor represents the blood and zombies in Shaun of The Dead. The blue and vanilla flavor represents the police in Hot Fuzz. Finally, the green and peppermint flavor represents the science fiction and extraterrestrial elements in The World’s End.
• The rifle used in the Winchester was, of course, a Winchester model 66. The same model was used in Night of The Living Dead (1968) and Night of The Living Dead (1990).
• Ed and Shaun’s friendship was based mainly on Simon and Nick’s real friendship from when they shared a flat together.
• The garden scenes were originally longer and included a hanged zombie and a woman being eaten by her own dog.
• The zombie extras were paid one pound a day for their work. This is said to be an homage to George Romero, who paid his zombie extras one dollar for Dawn of The Dead (1978) and Day of The Dead (1985).