Shaun of the Dead's References/Homages to other Zombie flicks

[jackson13]

Can anyone help me compile a list of References/Homages to other Zombie films in Shaun of the Dead.

I've got stuff so far like:

- During the employee meeting Shaun mentions someone named Ash, which is a reference to Ash from the Evil Dead series.

- While trying to book a restuarant for him and Liz to celebrate, Shaun calls a place called 'Fulci's', which is a reference to Lucio Fulci, director of 'Zombie'.

- Ed screams at Shuans mum "We're coming to get you Barbara!", which is another take on "They're coming to get you Barbara" from the original 'Night of the Living Dead'.

- The zombies in this movie happen for no explained reason, just like in Romero's 'Dead' films.

- David gets ripped apart like people in Dawn and Day of the Dead did, which is an Homage to Romero and his excellent gore.


That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty of others though, so please, gimme your input as to what they are.

[Mr-Blonde]

Originally posted by jackson13
- The zombies in this movie happen for no explained reason, just like in Romero's 'Dead' films.

Wrong-- if you listen to the radio broadcast when Shaun is in the convenience store you'll hear a report that a probe returning from Venus broke up in the upper atmosphere on reentry. This is the source of the zombie plague and it was also the same in Night of the Living Dead. It is an homage to the Romero film but most people seem to miss this.

[HeavyFknMetal]

Shaun works at Foree Electronics which is the character from the original Dawn of the Dead Ken Foree.

The Mexican stand off is a homage to Reservoir Dogs and Shaun shouts "Stop pointing that gun at my Mum". Chris Penn shouts "Stop pointing that gun at my dad" in Reservoir Dogs.

Shaun runs and jumps over a fence by bouncing off of a trampoline a la Ash from Army of Darkness when he battles the witch while bouncing on trampolines in the S-Mart shop.

At the end when they all go to the basement, just like Night of the living dead as well.

[Jess]

After the ordeal is over, when Shaun and Liz are watching the news, the newscaster says that the cause of the outbreak was not done by rage-infected beings, which is a reference to 28 Days Later.

[mcquade]

-there is a pizza delivery guy that has a uniform for bub's pizza - areference to day of the dead
-also when shoun is telling his mom they are going to pick her up ed yells "we're coming to get you barbara" into the phone - a reference to night of the living dead

[TATU]

-The company Shaun worked for was Foree Electronics. Ken Foree played Ben in Dawn of The Dead (1978)

-They mentioned that Ash was sick (Evil Dead- duh...)

-The zombies apparent origins (heard through various Television clips, and radio reports) were much like those of Night of The Living Dead.

-The newsanchor saying that some religious groups were calling this the apocalypse were quotes taken almost per batum from Night of The Living Dead.

-The scene were the main characters are all walking in a single file line is straight from Red Dwarf.

-The naked zombie flatmate looked like the naked zombie from Night of the Living Dead.

-The part with the zombie twitching about in the bodybag was straight out of Return of The Living Dead or the news report extra on Dawn of The Dead 2004 DVD.

-The end scene where Shaun and his girl are watching TV and the newsperson says "reports of zombies being caused by Infected monkeys have been proven to be bull-" is a reference to 28 days Later.

-The military response to the zombies reminded me of Umbrella's response to the zombies in RE:Apoc. (For some reason I'm thinking there may be a more appropo ref. here but I can't find it.)

-Shaun's step-dad looks like the tall man from Phantasm.

-And the "Wild Bunch" shot where all of the main characters are walking directly towards the camera.

-The part where Ed and Shaun tell Shaun's mum, "We're coming to get you Barbara". is an obvious throwback to Night of The Living Dead.

[Damone]

I think a couple scores of music from Dawn of the Dead are also in there.

[Nachokoolaid]

The part where Ed and Shaun tell Shaun's mum, "We're coming to get you Barbara". is an obvious throwback to Night of The Living Dead.

Sorry, I just thought that needed to be said again in this thread, in case you missed it in every other post.

[wheresdonnie?]

There's the mirror shot from American Werewolf in London, and Edgar Wright said all the quick zooming shots on things like Shaun's tea are references to the "tooling up" shots from Army of Darkness

[Bonham]

The fact that Shaun doesn't like to say the word Zombie, which is never spoken in a Romero movie.

David looks exactly like Harry Potter, if that counts.

[Mr-Blonde]

Originally posted by Bonham
The fact that Shaun doesn't like to say the word Zombie, which is never spoken in a Romero movie.

David looks exactly like Harry Potter, if that counts.

"Zombies man... they creep me out."

Kaufman from Land of the Dead

[ledfloyd18]

if you'd like to... join us.

join us is a evil dead reference.

there's numerous references to every romero film and every evil dead film. the other ones are the hard ones to spot. fulcis is the only one that sticks out.

[TheDeadWalk]

Originally posted by Bonham
The fact that Shaun doesn't like to say the word Zombie, which is never spoken in a Romero movie.

David looks exactly like Harry Potter, if that counts.

Peter Washington tells Steve Andrews over the walkie talkie that there are gonna be "a thousand zombies" running into the mall once the Raiders invade, in Dawn of the Dead.

[adamjohnson]

There's also the crazy editing in AFI favorite sequences such as... "Shaun going to the bathroom." And the beloved "Shaun making breakfast"

The editing is specifically meant to mirror Evil Dead.

[X-Nightcrawler]

Originally posted by jackson13
- During the employee meeting Shaun mentions someone named Ash, which is a reference to Ash from the Evil Dead series.

- Ed screams at Shuans mum "We're coming to get you Barbara!", which is another take on "They're coming to get you Barbara" from the original 'Night of the Living Dead'.

- David gets ripped apart like people in Dawn and Day of the Dead did, which is an Homage to Romero and his excellent gore.

Those are the only ones I caught.

[Mentiroso]

besides all the others I am suprised no one mentioned the opening music, during the logos. It was taken from Dawn of the Dead (original)


Edit* Sorry, re-read and someone did mention the scores from Dawn. My bad!

[eiker_ir]

besides the Dawn music at the beggining, the mall music is also heard in one of the games shows with zombies at the end.

i read that the beatdown of the zombie with the pool sticks is a homage to the similar scene near the begining of A Clockwork Orange.

[Reigh Kaufman]

The techno song played when Shaun is on the bus is 'Zombie Nation'.

Gamers are well aware of the reference.

[jackson13]

Thanks for all of the wonderful input y'all.

Shaun is my favorite zombie movie and one of my most favorite movies period. It's like one big zombie in-joke, and love it!

[Ender]

Originally posted by Bonham
The fact that Shaun doesn't like to say the word Zombie, which is never spoken in a Romero movie.

Instead in the original Night the news anchors all refer to the zombies as "ghouls", which sounds goofier than hell.