Shaun of the Dead (2004) KILL COUNT

[Music] welcome to the kill count where we tally up the victims in all our favorite horror movies i'm james agenese and today we're looking at sean of the dead a british zombie comedy released in 2004. i figured since i just schooled y'all on the origins of the modern zombie by covering knight of the living dead we could take a look at one of the funniest takes on the sub-genre a story about two man-children so driftless in life they don't even notice when the zombie apocalypse begins stirring simon pegg as the titular shawn and nick frost as his layabout stoner best friend shawn of the dead was co-written by peg and director edgar wright this was wright's first movie outside of a low-budget 90s western parody and it showcases the style he'd become known for in his subsequent work most notably fast-paced camera work and kinetic editing both of which primarily serve as a vehicle for comedy shaun of the dead is sometimes called a horror movie parody but i don't think that's accurate nor what the filmmakers intended but we never wanted to make the film into a spoof we didn't want it to be a mickey taikora or in any way irreverent i would simply classify it as a zombie comedy it's not doing any satire that wasn't already in dawn or day of the dead and although it's hilarious it's also got dramatic moments and sentimental character beats it all adds up to make sean of the dead a classic a funny heartfelt tribute to george romero that can be enjoyed by horror fans and genre newbies alike usual kill count caveat when it comes to horror comedies this movie's very funny with a lot of running and recurring jokes i can't include them all on the kill count go watch the movie i promise you'll be chuffed to bits one last thing before we get started this movie is considered the first of the so-called three flavors cornetto trilogy named after the ice cream referenced in each film do you want anything from the shop the quote-unquote sequels are two stylistically similar films hot fuzz and the world's end both made by the same filmmakers right peg and producer naira park i will not be covering those other two movies however since they are a comedy action and comedy sci-fi film respectively i'm just here for the horror y'all and yeah i know mortal kombat fuck her off it's my show and on my show i make jokes give production info and count bodies that's a lot to get done so let's get to the kills [Music] the movie begins with some dawn of the dead music that i'm too afraid to play for you because of copyright a quick fun opening credits sequence shows the soon-to-be british zombies already acting like the undead snoozing through life and shambling their way up to that title car 29 year old sean is in a fucking rut and it's starting to wear on his girlfriend of three years liz played by kate ashfield all he ever does with her is go to this pub the winchester and his best friend ed is always around preventing any privacy just be nice if we can fuck it's been a bit more time today ed has a sort of codependency with sean which is a source of constant annoyance for their third flatmate pete played by always a highlight comedic character actor peter sarafinowicz pete's pissed like a pickled pepper because ed still acts like they're in college but sean can't help but love his juvenile friend and his smelly farts oh my god that's right i'll stop doing them when you stop laughing i am not laughing and going sean takes a morning walk through his lovely looking neighborhood which was filmed in north london around crouch and he passes a radio and hears about a satellite returning to earth a reference to knight of the living dead where the undead rose due to similar circumstances this movie's got a ton of references to romero's work and some other horror films but i won't be able to point them all out in this kill count if this episode does well maybe i'll make a separate video going through them all chelsea can join me it'll be fun at work where shawn is an electronic salesman he's disrespected by his peers especially 17 year old noel played by rafe spall who was the villain in jurassic world fallen kingdom nice glow up brah sean's also got a terse relationship with his stepdad phillip who wants him to be a better son to his mother barbara perhaps you could bring the flowers you forgot to bring barbara on mother's day i was gonna and not a cheap posey from a garage full court i wasn't gonna because of his personal and familial distractions sean fails to notice a few hints that society might be headed for disaster i won't count random fainting lady here as dead but i will count this dude with his head immobile on his steering wheel seems pretty dead back there sean mucks up an anniversary date night by suggesting he and liz go to the winchester it's the last straw for her after a string of disappointments he promised you stopped smoking when i did you promised you'd go back to the gym you probably should try drinking red wine instead of beer well it doesn't help that sean doesn't get along with her flatmates david and diane either both played by british comedic series actors and dylan moran who co-created and starred in black books and lucy davis who played dawn aka the pam beasley role in the original the office she's also hilda and sabrina liz doesn't want to feel held back by sean anymore so she breaks up with him and sends him shuffling home beneath a symbolic spot of rain sean finds drunken solace and his best friend ed and his a1 orangutan impersonation at the winchester named after ben's rifle at night by the way they admire their fellow bar flies in the film's only scene with improvisation the rest of the comedy was tightly scripted to match edgar wright's precise filmmaking style cock-a-cycle maniac i don't care what ed tries to invent for pub owner john nothing's gonna be as wild as actor steve emerson being that middle-aged greaser and the acid trip adventure bloody new year that was one of my favorite kill counts by the way check it out they leave the pub late completely pissed singing melly mel and not noticing a mail now take place next to that tardis a necking couple sean had noticed earlier now a neck-eating lady chomping away at her man they get back to their flat for some fuck-a-doodle buffoonery and it seems like this where the real-life friendship of pegan frost pays off they really were flatmates for a number of years and frost admits he was a lazy guy during most of that time since frost was a pretty inexperienced actor production company working title wanted someone else in the role peg and wright insisted on keeping their friend which was not only good for the movie but also good for their morale on set a lot of the behind the scenes footage feels like good friends fucking around their hijinks aren't appreciated by flatmate pete though and he yells at sean for his ed assisted arrested development sort your fucking life out mate what's up with your hand man pete says he was bitten by crackhead muggers on his way home but it'll surely be just fine after he gets a little more rest the next morning a hungover sean goes on his morning walk not noticing that society has seemingly collapsed overnight i love these long one takes both this shot and the pre-zombie one it's mirroring they're so smooth and detailed and in contrast to each other hilarious the walk gives us one more kill as well when sean passes a dude dead in his front yard or whatever british people call front yards at home sean remains oblivious despite some coded channel flipping as an increasing number of reports of serious attacks on people who are literally being eaten alive he and ed find a woman wandering around in their garden a cashier named mary who was seen in the opening credits they mistake her as belligerently drunk and treated as a big laugh until a sean shove knocks mary over and gets her impaled through the back true to the film's goals of keeping its horror elements horrific there are some solid effects work throughout much of it practical with some nice cg augmentation when needed mary's ability to stand with a see-through abdomen is enough to finally make these deadbeats realize something's wrong also a pretty big clue the fact that a one-armed zombie just walked into their living room he moans at them until ed smashes an ashtray over his head which kills him because as the news reports head trauma is key to stopping these ghouls the attackers can be stopped by removing the head or destroying the brain this line of course is lifted nearly verbatim from night of the living dead the ghoul can be killed by a shot in the head or a heavy blow to the skull the best friends decide to take carey of mary and another big boy zombie who's joined her in the garden they attacked them with household items some albums but not others purple rain though definitely not the batman soundtrack and finally most sensibly a shovel and a cricket bat wright and peg thought it would be interesting to see a zombie problem in suburban london rather than the us with guns not nearly as available to the populace thus these weapons which still net the boy's two zombie kills when they beat the backlot loiterers to death takes them quite a while but they keep at it until it's done the man on their telly says to watch out for bike victims causing them concern about their flatmate pete and he's not the only one they know who's been bit as shawn learns on a phone call with his mom barbara mum have you been bitten no but philly pass okay knowing the danger philip now potentially presents they say they're coming over no ifs ands or buts we coming to get you barbara and in case you were ignorant of that reference it's one of the most memorable lines from night they're coming to get you barbara in one of the film's best known sequences sean formulates a plan visualized in edgar wright's snazzy style after a few revisions he inevitably lands on a rescue mission that ends with them safe at his favorite pub grab liz go to the winchester have a nice cold pint and wait for all this to blow over before they leave sean has a wii and finds a zombified peter in their shower he died at some point and since he was an established character i'll count his zombie appearance as a kill sean and ed flyther tall naked zombie flatmate and all the other undead ghouls outside trying to get them and they are in fact the living dead as the radio confirms the first part of their master plan is picking up sean's mum barbara a delightful woman with a delightful nickname for her son hello the role of barbara was originally offered to helen mirren but i'm glad it ended up being penelope wilton she's great shawn finds his stepdad phil looking pretty ill but just as alive and as surly as ever bill nye is another great addition to this cast i love how philip is constantly disappointed in sean but there's a layer of sympathy beneath it all on their way out philip gets bitten once more forcing him to hand over the keys to his beloved jaguar which ed insists on driving recklessly he speeds them on over to liz's place and drops sean off to get his axe just a note i won't be counting zombie head blacks like these they aren't brain destroyed as far as i can tell sean climbs through liz's window to ensure that she's safe inside he shows off the new sean by saying he's here to rescue them and tells her and her flatmates how to survive outside you get cornered bash him in the head that seems to work out although david's a pissy boy who poo poos the plan the ladies are persuaded and so out they go bashing many a zombie head along the way they cram into philip's car where barbara and liz meet for the first time and ed takes off like a jag out of hell during the drive to the winchester a dying philip laments to sean that it's not easy being a father and that he always loved him as his own real son it's an emotional moment deftly played straight by naihi and peg and shows that this movie isn't content with only getting us to laugh after his apology philip turns into a zombie scaring everyone out of the car before he can successfully bite any of them surrounded by zombies and this one background body i'll count lying beneath this car sean insists that they continue to the winchester on foot since philip's no longer allowing them to use the jaguar on their way they see zombies eating the corpse of snake hips a guy from the winchester who reminds me of rockabilly jim from the great pottery throwdown i like how ed had mentioned snakehips was always surrounded by women a fact that remains true even in death as liz is telling sean that they're still broken up their group runs into sean's friend yvonne leaving her own band of survivors yvonne was shown in an earlier scene and is played by jessica stevenson who co-created co-wrote and co-starred in the british sitcom space alongside simon pegg space which featured nick frost in his first ever acting gig was also directed by edgar wright and an episode titled art actually led to shawn of the dead in it peg's character hallucinates a zombie fight thanks to resident evil and some cheap street speed after shooting that sequence edgar and i were like be great if we could make a zombie film wouldn't it like our own zombie film it could be like about just us you know like what would happen if it happened to us and that's how it was born pagan wright spent years writing and developing the script for sean trying to make the rosencratz and gildan stern to dawn of the dead's hamlet even after all that prep work though their film crew was initially skeptical of the film's prospects one of the zombies in makeup came up to me thinking that i was a runner and just looked over at me and went straight to video for this one yvonne's band of followers includes martin freeman then known from the office where he played tim the british versions equivalent to jim halpert in fact yvonne's entire group is played by recognizable british comedic actors but the only one i know was matt lucas in the back there he was in bridesmaids and a co-presenter of great british bake off the two friends wish each other luck and leave in opposite directions giving us a funny sight gag when we see that their groups are doppelgangers of each other while hopping garden fences shawn's crew passes a house with a dead body inside there's also a zombie inside which distracts barbara and gets her left behind sean finds her on the ground and then fights with the zombie and pjs and with some direction from the ladies pins the feller to a tree feel free to step in any time you're all right you want to crop your style their path to the winchester is obstructed by a zombie block party which triggers another whinge fest from harry potter david his moaning gives them the idea to get past the horde by pretending to be part of it they're prepped for their performance by diane who it had been mentioned earlier was an out of work actor with varying commitment they put on their show and these thespians do well enough to pass through the swarm of zombies most of whom were played by fans of space who did this background work for a single pound they get to the winchester and find it locked and when ed breaks zombie character to answer his phone it's enough to finally set shawn off i spent an entire life look at me i've spent my entire life sticking my neck out for you and all you ever do is fuck things up fuck things up and make me look stupid well i'm not gonna let you do it anymore not today the argument brings them zed attention so david panic riots and throws a trash can through the window not wanting the zombies to follow them into the pub shawn elects to lead the undead on a distracting zombie run allowing the others to get inside and await his return david's quick to assume that shawn is dead and feebly asserts himself as replacement leader as he's lambasting the larders of the winchester though sean reappears just in time for snacks and bromance well i wasn't the one who was blowing our cover by having a tiff with my boyfriend he's not my boyfriend it might be a bit warm the coolers off thanks babe the leader once more sean flips the circuits to get the tv working and discovers an undead danger waiting for them outside the zombie horde that chased him having followed him to the back door when ed stupidly makes noise with a video game it brings attention to their front entrance too homeowner jon shows up as a zombie as does his wife bernie a moment later in the back david's able to lock bernie away from them for now but john's a problem they'll have to deal with and thanks to a jukebox that kicks on with the power this zombie fight will be performed to queen's don't stop me now this is another classic scene rhythmically choreographed the actors wore earbuds while filming to stay in time with the tune which is of course one of the most upbeat and optimistic songs you could think of we just thought it'd be hilariously funny to beat an old man to death to it edgar wright wrote the song into the sequence without even knowing if he'd be able to use it a quote begging letter to guitarist brian may got them permission which honestly worked out for everyone involved as beloved as it is now don't stop me now wasn't always a well-known queen song its inclusion in this film has been credited with bringing renewed attention to it i've also got to point out that steve emerson who we already knew was a stunt performer encouraged the cast to wail on him even though he was 70 years old gotta love that the lengthy sequence finally ends when sean kills zombie jon by shoving his head into the jukebox machine although he has a dart in his head now courtesy of a big miss from diane sean also has a gun the pub's namesake winchester and even if he's not experienced with it ed's here to help him avoid getting pedantic internet comments you know we've only got 29 29 bullets the zombies start to break through and sean tries to shoot them back with some group assistance he's not a very good shot his only kill is one zombie lady he gets with a headshot it earns them a lull during which sean learns a horrible secret as mum barbara's been bitten on the wrist by that zombie in pajamas back when they were hopping fences shawn cries over the tragic fate knocking at her door while she handles things in a much more stereotypically british way it's been a funny sort of day hasn't it barbara dies of a zombie bite on the floor of the winchester and her death causes an immediate conflict david wants to dispose of her soon-to-be undead corpse right away but sean's not exactly a fan of the idea then it leads to a multi-way standoff sean asserts that david hates him because david's in love with liz and although he denies it his girlfriend diane says she knows it's true i've come to terms with that why can't you liz shuts down the drama by telling everyone to get a hold of themselves calming sean down just in time to confront his zombie mom oh man that's a good way to ruin your favorite watering hole having to shoot your zombie mom in the head in it david makes a remark shawn punches him like you were harry cooper and david actually tries to shoot sean with the gun like holy shit he pulled the trigger it just wasn't loaded right i'm leaving yeah dude no way you're coming back from that also no way you're coming back from zombies busting through the windows and pulling you outside alabama from the og night of the living dead but david's death visually is more reminiscent of captain rhodes and day of the dead as he's torn apart by zombies in a horrifically gory way oh and then his legs are ripped off this gory death is the best showcase of makeup artist stuart conran's work he filled the fiberglass body with a bunch of fake guts and had dylan moran wear it with his real head and arms sticking out to ensure it came apart correctly the zombie extras tearing him apart were plagued by crew members from the prosthetics department diane is upset about her boyfriend's death so she runs outside brandishing his leg as a weapon i won't be counting diana's dead though it's not definitively depicted on screen and a comic made by pegan wright show her surviving the situation by climbing up a tree and napping through the night i'm now living in birmingham with my aunt and remain in christmas card contact with schwann and liz zombies swarm into the building threatening to overrun our three remaining survivors sean kills one zombie by shooting her in the head but that's all he manages to do before they see a familiar naked zombie ed successfully puts zombie pete in a headlock but the undead flatmate bites his arm while zombie bernie returns to nom on his shoulder sean watches utterly horrified but does get some revenge when he shoots zombie pete in the head killing him sean liz and a very injured ed make their way behind the bar then lighted a blaze to keep the zombies at bay they realize their only way out is the cellar below them and as they descend their box of shells explode in the fire killing three zombies with ricochets that turn into headshots down in the cellar the trio finds themselves trapped leading to an overwhelming sense of hopelessness with only two shells left they begin making plans of suicide it's done in a way that's both hilarious and depressing and is the most in love that shawn and liz have seemed in the movie thankfully by the light of a flame for one final shared cigarette they discover a keg lift that'll lead them to freedom outside and decides that he'll stay back not wanting to slow down the lovebirds and the two friends have a heart to heart wherein sean apologizes for yelling at him earlier and ed apologizes for farting oh god that's not funny stop doing them when you stop laughing i'm not laughing oh man that is so sad and sweet sean tells ed he loves him as he and liz ascend on the lift popping out onto the street where there are still lots of zombies to deal with good thing the army shows up and starts mowing them all down running over five of them giving another a door prize shooting freaking 18 of them down with their rifles and hell that'll even include these last two they thwack in the head cause they did it with force yvonne is here too and she helps shawn and liz get to safety they've survived the zombie apocalypse and that's enough for them to give their relationship another go six months later life is mostly back to normal with zombies being turned into entertainment i won't be counting zeds we see killed in these shows though give me a break i've earned it i will count knolls since he was a previously established character now confirmed as dead or undead lots of fun quick bits here showing how society has adapted to zombies they're used in game shows and are the subjects of benefit concerts put on by coldplay nice that someone's looking out for the undead even if their festering skin is all yellow as for our hero he lives comfortably with liz though she's not the only loved one in his life turns out he's keeping zombie ed as a garden shed friend chained up in front of a tv so they can still play games together and that's not did sean of the dead's focus on comedy detract from its body count i don't think it did but let's go make sure at the numbers [Music] by my count there were 51 kills in sean of the dead 10 were living men three were living ladies 27 were zombie men 10 were zombie ladies and that one corpse under the car well i just couldn't tell pretty messy but makes for a fun looking pie chart right with a run time of 99 minutes that left us with a kill on average just under every two minutes i'll give the golden chainsaw for coolest kill to david torn apart by zombies it's so graphic i can't even show it all in the public version of this video dull machete for lamest kill will go to the first victim i counted the background body in the car and introduce the last episode i'll give the coolest corpse award for best zombie to add usually when a main character gets zombified it's a tragedy with ed it's almost an improvement it's a sweet ending solidifying his and sean's friendship and like a lot of this movie is foreshadowed in dialogue earlier on you want to live like an adult go live with a shit and that's it shawn of the dead came out in 2004 and george romero liked it so much he cast sean pegg and edgar wright as zombies the following year when he made land of the dead on friday we'll look at the romero flick whose title was ape here dawn of the dead until then i'm james agenise this has been the kill cow on the next kill good count got a great deal for you this friday one zombie classic extra blue face don't miss this special offer fun for one view you can experience living in the mall during a zombie apocalypse come early and receive one free tom sabini you'd have to be dead to pass up this deal and even then come by anyway you'll still have fun while you're here enjoy the food course and the world famous blood pressure testing machine it's to die for prepare your shopping list by watching the original dawn of the dead directed by george romero and this friday watch the kill count on dead meat when there's no more room in hell the dead will walk here dawn of the dead can sadly only be watched on home video releases due to rights issues then you'd always recommend you watch the movie for yourself before it's kill count it's the only way to have your own properly informed opinion kill counts are never meant to replace the experience of watching a film thanks a lot for watching this kill count on shawn of the dead i want to thank some patrons like lynn webb zachary capone tj dylan butler xavier robinson and zoe pickering shawn of the dead was one of the most requested movies we got emails for reminder those emails really matter so if you want your request to count send an email to deadmeatmovies gmail.com that's how you wound up with sean of the dead and next sunday's kill count i'll leave that one a surprise for now thanks everyone be good people

Channel: Dead Meat

Views: 4,151,846

Keywords: horror, dead meat, movies, scary, films, kills, kill count, body count, james a. janisse, jaj, pine commander boogie, DMKC, shaun of the dead, shaun of the dead 2004, shaun of the dead edgar wright, edgar wright, simon pegg, shaun of the dead simon pegg, shaun of the dead movie review, shaun of the dead movie reaction, shaun of the dead explained, horror movie, shaun of the dead reaction, nick frost, shaun of the dead nick frost, shaun of the dead british, shaun of the dead scary

Id: 9mgwZASlFvw

Length: 24min 41sec (1481 seconds)

Published: Sun May 16 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/JustATributeCC]

Disappointed the rest of the trilogy won't be covered but I already kinda expected that and it makes sense why. Still glad we got this KC at least.

[u/CtanleySupChamp]

Lol I love when James gets to a point with the rules where he just says "ya know, fuck it, I can do what I want."

[u/PM_Me_British_Stuff]

Mentioning Matt Lucas' appearance in bridesmaids, of all things? One of the most recognised British comedians of the last 15 years??

I assume he's just one of those celebs who are only super famous in Britain rather than worldwide aha.

Great film though!

[u/TazDivil134]

Best. Numbers gag. This year!

So far

[u/ShiftyBea]

James, love you but Dylan Moran is Irish, not British.

[u/jkrfan7]

The scene where Shaun has to shoot his zombified mother makes me cry everytime

[u/MotherDucker95]

Need to point out because it matters, but, Dylan Moran isn't British, he is Irish

[u/Other-Crazy]

And he didn't mention the Foree Electric in joke either. But there are sooooooo many in jokes in this film.

I didn't know until the NOTLD count about the Winchester being the rifle used by Ben...

[u/chibichibo]

I have been waiting for this for literally ages