When asked why the zombies in the film don’t run, unlike in 28 Days Later (2002), Simon Pegg replied “Because death is not an energy drink.”
The idea for the film came from an episode of the British sitcom Spaced(1999), in which one of the main characters starts hallucinating a zombie attack after staying up all night playing Resident Evil. The show was written by and starred Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson, while also being directed by Edgar Wright.
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The Winchester rifle, used during the scene at the Winchester Pub, is the same rifle used in the film Night of the Living Dead (1968).
While trying desperately to book a restaurant for his anniversary , Shaun says he has a booked at the place “which does all the fish”. As he flicks through the Yellow Pages, the restaurant is shown as being literally called “The Place Which Does All the Fish”.
In the original script, Shaun was supposed to beat the zombie ‘Mary’ using a girl’s bicycle. The cricket bat was seen as more suitable in the final draft.
When Shaun calls the number for an Italian restaurant called “Fulci’s”, it is a reference to Italian horror director Lucio Fulci.
Shaun’s second name is Riley, as seen on the posters in his living room when he and Ed are listening to Electro.
Apparently, Nick Frost kept his genitals shaved throughout the production to best emulate his character Ed’s constant need to ‘adjust’ himself. Ew!
When Ed is playing computer games at the beginning of the film, the directions Shaun gives him are repeated later by Ed himself when telling Shaun where to shoot at the Winchester when the zombies break in.
As Shaun exits the local store, oblivious to the mayhem around him, a Hindi newscast announces on the store’s radio that “People are waking up from their graves.”
Most of the extras (ie. zombies) were recruited off of Spaced fan forums.
When the gang run into the ‘other’ gang, apparently in a parallel situation, there are real-life connections between each corresponding actor. Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson starred in Spaced together, Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis in The Office, Tamsin Greig and Dylan Moran in the UK sitcom Black Books, and Nick Frost and Julia Deakin in Spaced (again).
All the newscasters featured in the film are actual people portraying themselves.
The Winchester was an actual pub in North London, when Nick Frost and Simon Pegg lived their together. It has since been converted into flats.
When Ed is trying to cheer Shaun up at the Winchester Pub, he is actually outlining the plot of the film, mentioning ‘Bloody Mary’ (the checkout girl who attacks Shaun), ‘a bite at the King’s Head’ (visiting Shaun’s stepfather Phillip),’Little Princess’ (seeing Liz), and ‘back here for shots’ (the finale).
In keeping with classic zombie film lore, the reason for the outbreak is never actually explained.
The film cost only $6 million to produce but grossed over $30 million.
