Greetings, humans. This is David Dastmalchian. And Leah Kilpatrick. And we are the writers of Horror House in the Dark Horse anthology Headless Horsemen. And you are listening to the Oblivion Bar podcast. Welcome to the Oblivion Bar podcast with your host, Chris Hacker and Aaron Norris. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 171 of the Oblivion Bar podcast.
I'm your failed actress and professional time splitters to player Chris Hacker and joining me is the man who puts the I am team, my co-host and BFF Aaron Knowles. hello Pickle. It's me, mom. It's me, Barbara. It's Barbara. Your mom. You coming around tomorrow? What? What's the super mom? What's the line again? Pow. Super mom. Super mom. The first one.
All right, everybody, as you could tell, Aaron, goodness, what you just witnessed right there is what we're to be doing this entire episode because for our 2024 Halloween special, we are so pleased to be covering Sean of the Dead. It's bass. God. Welcome back everybody. Again, this is one of our favorite segments of the entire year. Aaron and I are both huge Halloween fans. I would dare to say that it's it's my favorite holiday of the entire year. Aaron, is it your favorite as well?
No, I fucking hate it. Really getting into that that evil spirit, aren't you? Yeah, no, I love you know, I love you know, I've watched I don't know why for the last several years I have really come into that sounds dirty, but I've really enjoyed. Yeah, Halloween movies. And I've really enjoyed horror, like really like scary shit. like it's I don't know. When I was growing up, I was a huge baby nowadays. Love it. Yeah. I think I remember when we first became friends.
This is like around 2010, 2011. I don't remember us really indulging in too many horror films. There's a lot of sci fi, a lot of action films. But it does seem like here recently, I feel like I've always had a certain attachment to horror films. But it seems like you recently you and I have more drifted that way even. towards like the sort of sloky horror or just like your your hits that you have when you when the Halloween time comes around. yeah.
Already have watched like recently, you know, The Substance, which I know definitely body horror, things like that. Not really a Halloween film, but definitely Halloween. hey, she plays dress up. That's right. She does. And then I watched yesterday, watched The Deliverance. OK, which I'm just going to throw it out there. That's a stupid ass movie. I don't know what like there's some movies that just like with viral it's a top flitting your top movie on Netflix.
Like what like that's I don't know. It's viral marketing is all it is That's all it is and everyone speaking of seeing movies in theaters I actually saw the movie that we're covering today for the Halloween special I saw Shaun the Dead in theaters, which we'll talk about here in just a moment before we get there before good Yeah, happy birthday to whom Shaun of the Dead yes, of course. Yeah. 20th anniversary, everybody. Again, we'll get to that at some point.
But yeah, this is the 20th anniversary, which is why I was back in theaters. Aaron, before we get to Shaun of the Dead, though, I want you to go over our previous Halloween specials and I'll have these all in the show notes that way in case anybody wants to go back. And I just anticipate you just making little Halloween noises as I'm talking throughout this episode. OK. Go over Halloween specials. Previous Halloween specials. This is our fourth year. It's a fifth year. Fifth. Fifth.
One, two, three, four, five. Fifth. One, two, We're already on our bullshit. It's not even five minutes into the episode. got me. That got me. You're welcome. Thank you. We'll let the good times roll. For our first Halloween special, a special co-host Max Van Dogen joined Chris. I was not there, unfortunately, to discuss their favorite unsung horror flicks. Off the top of the dome Chris. Can you remember one unsung horror flick that you brought up from that show?
I do actually one of them was one that we covered in 2022 so everyone who should stick around because when Aaron goes over the 2022 entry that's one of them that I list shut your mouth shut your mouth you're coming off stupid. Thank you in 2021 we discuss Frank Henenlotter's 1982 low-budget schlocky horror film Basket case. This was actually Aaron, this was your suggestion.
I'm so glad that you recommended it because it is one of those sort of, again, schlocky horror films that you kind of have to know it. You had to have seen it. You can't just take someone's word for what this movie is. You had to have seen what actually happens in that movie. I'm going to try and re redo that impression because I'm actually really proud of that. That was like basket case. I don't know. your trailer voice. Yeah. We discussed Frank Henenlotter's basket case. I like it.
In 2022. Hello, kiddies. We covered the first film from the Tales from the Crypt franchise. 1995's Demon Knight. And this is one of my favorite Dark Horse horror films of all time. I remember very vividly renting this from Blockbuster. I have the VHS cover burned into my brain. And yeah, it was one of the films that we covered in 2020. you were you were nice enough to let us cover it on the show.
And then going into last year's entry, Aaron, this is one that we both came together and said this is a movie that we want to discuss because we don't think it gets enough love. Hell, Cunda Estrada Montase Cunda. Last year, we highlighted a recent favorite, which was Fetty Alvarez's 2013 reimagining of Evil Dead. A very good episode. Love last year's Halloween special.
We're gonna keep these good vibes going here with our very first, I mean, you can make an argument for Basket Case for being a comedy, but this is our first comedy of, well, actually that's not true because you could also make a case for Demon Knight too. Demon Knight's sort of a as well. that Billy Zane was fucking golden in that one. Yeah, Billy Zane is like one of the best villains in like horror history from this silly, like he's the best part of the movie. Like the best part.
All right, well, anyway, we'll get into our next entry here with the Shaun of the Dead. But first, everyone, if you want to support the Oblivion Bar podcast, consider checking out our Patreon. Of course, for your support, you gain access to a bonus episode each week called The Grid. Behind the scenes look at how we prepare for each show with our episode transcripts, Patreon polls, which actually, Aaron, funny enough, that's how we determined our Halloween special this year.
We put it out on Patreon and asked everyone to vote on which movie they want us to cover for our Halloween special and Shaun of the Dead won by a landslide. Shocker and honestly Aaron and I were secretly very excited.
Yeah, yeah, we're in the back corner like in back of the original And also a whole bunch of other exclusive goodies over on patreon give it a shot with a seven-day free trial over at patreon.com forward slash a balloon bar pod or just go check out the show notes again We'll have all of our previous Halloween specials in there as well as way to support the show if that's what you want to do Enough preamble Aaron. Let's go ahead and get into our 2024 Halloween special covering Shaun of the Dead.
Alrighty, here we are covering Shaun of the Dead. Now, Aaron, a little bit of set up here before we get into this actual, you know, again, we have a hard time sort of summarizing what this segment is outside of more of just a celebration, right? Like that's what these Halloween specials are each year. It's not really a review because that wouldn't be fun. We're not trying to, we're not here to critique these films. If nothing else, it is again, sort of just like us.
It gives us an opportunity to celebrate these movies that we really love. And as we sort of spoke on a moment ago, Shaun of the Dead is a Collectively just one of our favorite films of all time. Absolutely I think the fun thing about doing something this and not This movie just like you said has been reviewed time and time again people write about it people talk about it people homage it people do everything for this film We're just fans. We have no Stake in the game.
have we know we're just here to tell people what we fucking love about it because it's one of our favorite films and if you don't have it if you don't do that on a podcast and what are you having a podcast for if you just don't want to talk about the things that you love absolutely, you know And maybe somebody else can relate. Maybe you're like, yeah, yeah, that's a great reason. It makes me love it more. Or maybe I fucking hate this movie. I don't know.
I don't know if I've met anybody that's ever disliked this movie though. Have you? No, you know, it's funny you say that because we just spoke on it a moment ago. AMC re-released Shaun of the Dead in IMAX and in Doby for the, was a one day release for the 20th anniversary. This movie came out in 2004 is of course now is 2024. So it was really cool to see Edgar Wright. talk about, they had like a little segment before the showing of the film.
And this movie has got a great soundtrack, a lot of great sort of jump scares, which I'm not usually a fan of in horror films, but the jump scares sort of play to like comedy effect, which is really cool. And it was just cool to hear Edgar Wright talk about all that on a giant Dolby screen. And in that, like, again, if you've watched the film in Dolby, you know, it's like thundering the music and the sound effects. It just made for a really cool viewing experience.
And I brought my girlfriend Olivia to that because she had never seen Shaun the Dead. And she loved it too. it was like you said, it's hard to find folks who just don't automatically love this movie. You know, and I know we're going to talk about this probably a little bit more, but I just, I want to say, when was the last time that you watched this? It was actually, it was during that rerelease. So it was about a month ago. Okay. So that was, yeah. So a month ago for you.
So I watched it again today. I watched it probably about a month ago when I found out we were going to be doing this. But then I was like, I'm just like eat lunch. Let me just put on Shaun of the Dead again. just it it never gets old. Do D-D-D-D- Like there's something in it you can like pick up every single time. And I think the one thing that I picked up this time is the soundtrack and how good it is. It is such a good soundtrack. Agreed. And I think it's funny.
I don't know if I have actually have a note for this, but the title screen when they're showing like credits. Well, yeah, the opening credits, the opening credits, the title music is actually from Dawn of the Dead, the 1978 Dawn of the Dead. So and again, as you said, there's multiple. Multiple songs on this that when I hear them out in the wild I immediately think of this movie. I want to ask really quick I don't have a note for it here in our transcript.
I'm just curious What do you think this movie has sort of stayed in the the culture? like you know, it remains pervasive when you talk to fans of Ecker writes or Simon Peggs or Nick Frost or just like zombie films in general Even though they never call them zombies in this movie. Why do you think this movie has sort of stayed the test of time? I think the only reason that it continues to be And I don't even want to call it a cult classic because it's more than just a cult following.
it's beyond that now. It's beyond that. I think it's because so many zombie movies take themselves like so seriously. They've set into place these rules. I mean, and there's quite a few movies that don't, know, Zombieland, for instance. Zombieland is a fun one that does not take itself seriously. But also it's kind of like I think it kind of like loses its edge, its comedic edge a bit throughout some of it. So that's why it's not as held as highly as this one.
Whereas this one just, this is just a, again, we're gonna talk about this later in a few minutes, but this is just a buddy film. This isn't a zombie film, this is a buddy film. This is a Ram Zamcom buddy film that is really about a friendship and how when the world dies, can friendships and relationships last that. Yeah, who are you going to go out and save first, right? When you're put in these situations, who do you go out and try to protect?
And this movie is a great example of this where a lot of times in times of turmoil or times of, you know, when the world's up against you, you sort of realize who you are or who you've become throughout life. And I think the perfect example of this is Sean. Like Sean is one of the greatest examples of this idea because in the real world, in the mundane of the normal life, Sean is sort of an underachiever. He's someone who has no motivation, someone who is afraid to achieve.
He's just kind of okay with his normal life. Yeah, he's established himself in mediocrity and that's okay. Right. And then, of course, as the world changes, as the apocalypse happens, and as he realizes that folks around him need him, that's where he thrives. Right. And I think to kind of build off the question I asked you, of course, I wouldn't ask you if I had an answer for it.
I think the reason why this movie has pervaced its way throughout culture over the last 20 years and continued to be so loved is how smart this movie is from the visual gags to the script, just break neck, you blink and you miss it type of humor. I feel like every time I watch this movie and I've seen this movie well over 20, 30, probably closer to 30 times now, I feel like I find something new that I really love.
know, like I remember in this most recent viewing again, when we went and saw it last month in the Dolby theater, the part that really made me, that really tickled me this time was when Nick Frost's character hands him a beer and someone goes, you and your boyfriend. And he goes, not my boyfriend. And he hands him the beer and he goes, the cooler's little, the cooler's turned off a little warm. He goes, thanks babe. Winks at him.
I don't know why that tickled me so much this time, but that part really, really got me. There are multiple, there are multiple examples of this. He's not my boyfriend. Might be a bit warm. The cooler's off. Thanks babe. Do you feel at all relatable in our friendship? 100%. Everyone right now, if you've never met Aaron and I in person, I will tell you that the relationship between Sean and Ed in this movie is Aaron and I. And I am Sean and Aaron is Ed. Am I wrong? Is that not accurate?
No, you're not wrong. God damn it. It's sad to be the Ed in this relationship. Ed is cool. I like it. It's to be the Ed in any relationship, but you know, you can do the monkey impersonation though. That's the thing. Why don't you go over the summary here? In case anybody, if for some reason people are listening to this episode and don't know what Shaun of the Dead is, here's for the layman, everybody. Yeah. So Shaun of the Dead is a rom-zom-com.
If you don't understand that, I'll fucking explain it to you right now. All right. It's a romantic zombie comedy. RomComCom. RomComCom. RomComCom. That centers around the uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronic salesman and his lumpy room. Fuck, am I lumpy? No. Jesus. Okay. am a little specific. Okay. Nothing seems to be going right when it is all disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
Yeah. And as we said a moment ago, 2024, they had the 20th anniversary re-release at AMC, which was great. The title, Shaun the Dead is a reference to George R. Romero's 1978 film, Dawn of the Dead. Of course, we all know that. There's also a shout out to another British zombie film, 28 Days Later. Additionally, the restaurant, Fulci's is a reference to an Italian splatter film director, Lucio Fulci. I think it's how you say that.
There's also, I remember reading also there's a reference to From Dusk Till Dawn. a projected title for this originally was From Dusk Till Shaun. Yes, I think there's something about tea in there too. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright considered a sequel that would replace zombies with another monster but decided against it as they were pleased with this movie as a standalone product and thought too many characters died to continue the story.
Wright and Pegg both say that the following films are sequels to the ones before it. And when I say those films, I'm actually talking about the Cornetto trilogy, which we'll talk about here in just a moment. sort of off to the side here, we've got Quentin Tarantino. course, famed director of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and all the you know, you guys know all nine of his films, dubbed this as one of his top 20 favorite films since 1990. So that's a pretty big deal.
Quentin Tarantino is sort of a student of the game. He knows good movies when he sees them. And the fact that Sean the Dead is in there is pretty, pretty awesome. Quentin Tarantino, not to go off into tangent, he's a hard guy to like pin down whether you like it you love him or you hate him. You just nailed on the head. Every time I hear him talk, I watch one of his movies and I'm like, This guy's a master. He's one of the best of all time. It's so easy to see that.
Then you hear him talking like you're kind of a dick. Yeah. No, he's not kind of, not kind of very much a dick. And we'll talk about it here in just a bit. Edgar Wright, of course, the director of this film, the complete opposite, one of the most likable dudes. Every time you see him talk about anything, specifically movies and music, I think it is he is like one of the most enduring people. I think I could just listen, listen and talk about anything in preparation for this episode.
Aaron, I actually went back and watched the audio commentator commentary, excuse me, of the film with Edgar and Simon Pegg. So it was so cool to hear them talk about. so fucking much, go ahead and break down the Cornetto trilogy for us. You know what? I will because sometimes this trilogy- so much, why don't you marry him? It's referred to as the Cornetto trilogy or the ice cream or sorry, the blood and ice cream trilogy. don't, have you ever heard it called the blood and ice cream trilogy?
Never. No, it's always the Cornetto trilogy for me. Yeah. This trilogy includes, of course, Shaun of the Dead from 2004, Hot Fuzz in 2007, and then The World's End in 2013, all co-written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. Now, these films do not share any storyline, of course, but instead are named after the repeated passing references to Cornettos, which is an ice cream cone frozen treat. Fucking delicious. They're so good. So, let me ask you this.
Yes. Before we kind of get into the meat and potatoes of Shaun of the Dead, I to kind of talk about the chunks. That's right the brains and stomach fluids of Shaun of the Dead. Can we talk about the Cornell trilogy really quick? Where does where does Shaun of the Dead sort of land on that top three? I honestly have a hard time because there's like I guess it's based on my mood majority of the time Shaun of the Dead is number one. Okay, but there's some every once in a while.
There's a moment where I watch I watch that gaming hot fuzz is a very close second. It's either a close second or it's like tied for first. Sure. I fucking love hot fuzz so much for the greater good for the greater good. A big bushy beard. Actually, to be honest, I think I think hot fuzz might be my number one. I'm just going to it. Number one on the record. Yeah, hot fuzz on the record. Hot fuzz number one. Sean does number two and the world's end.
Which I really do enjoy, but it's just, it's not one that I want to like, I want to jump back into every once in a while. I'll tell you this. Anytime Sean of the dead or hot fuzz is on, I will watch them. But more than likely, if it was a choice between hot fuzz and Sean of the dead, I would probably put on hot fuzz first. Yeah, I agree. I think it is very close. I think it's one a one B between Sean the dead and hot fuzz.
Although I think Sean the dead for me is maybe slightly higher, just a little bit. I really love hot fuzz. You know, I love hot fuzz. And then again, as you said, the world's end. is also very entertaining, but it's just kind of like a distant third. For no real specific reason. Again, I think it's just as fun, just as sort of lovable. There's moments in that movie that are just as touching as what we see in Shaun the Dead and in Hot Fuzz. But I don't know.
There's just something about Shaun the Dead and Hot Fuzz that really speaks to me. I'm going to have to go back. So I think part of it for me might just simply because the Simon Peggs character in The World's End, in every other movie, he's kind of He is a little bit cocky, but he's like just kind of confident. Whereas in World's End, his character is more of a cocky asshole and like nobody really likes him. He's a lot more selfish than the third one for sure.
Yeah. And then the other thing is, and I could be wrong, I might be, don't take this for, you know, cement facts right here. I'm pretty sure that the World's End came out around a time where there were a lot of like alien focused movies. What's the other one? was like a neighborhood watch. Did ever see that one? yeah. guy from the IT crowd. Yeah. Ben Stiller. I'm pretty sure it came around the same time. So like, just feel like that one kind of got like washed over a little bit as well.
Sure. Okay. So let me ask you another bigger question here. Where does Shaun of the Dead land on your favorite Edgar Wright films? Not the Cornell Trilogy excluded. You know, you got Scott Pilgrim in there, Baby Driver, Last Night in Soho. Let's even throw Spaced in there, the TV show from that was on BBC. Like where does Shaun of the Dead land on the one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight films that he's done? I'd probably go with like maybe like third. OK, what's ahead of it?
Obviously, Scott Pilgrim versus the world. Scott Pilgrim. That is one of my all time favorite movies that I could watch over and over and over again. And then obviously Hot Fuzz is just above that. And then I think that's really about it. They're everything else kind of cascading after that. Yeah, I think for me. I think Shaun of the Dead is probably number one. And then in a very, very close second would probably be Hot Fuzz, then Scott Pilgrim, and then like very, very close to Scott Pilgrim.
Baby Driver. I saw Baby Driver when that movie first came out back in 2017. I saw that movie three times before it actually even hit theaters. I went to three separate early screeners to see this movie. I know how much you love Baby Driver. And I don't know why I know that you love that movie so much. Like Baby Driver and Whiplash. Yes, those are like several of the movies that you just fucking love those movies, man. I mean, he retarded. Retarded means slow, was he slow?
No, they don't sound retarded to me. He's a good kid and devil behind the wheel. What the hell else more do you need to know? For a while, Baby Driver was one of those movies that I had to show everybody and just kind of get. Now, the movie's got a little more problematic because some of the actors that are in that movie, specifically the main actor and then obviously Kevin Spacey in it as well. I it's awesome. And also like we just said a moment ago, Shaw the dead Aaron's number three shot.
The dead for me is maybe number one. I think it is number one. Yeah, I like how you like we for the people can't see his face right now. He's got like a pirate kind of face going on like Maybe no, you know, like he's really thinking about it. This is why I shot at the dead. Edgar. Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors of all time. So to sort of try to categorize the films and stuff that he's done, it's tough. Like, I want to get that right, of course.
So, yeah, talk a little bit about Edgar Wright here. We got some fun facts here, not only with Edgar Wright, but also with Sean the dead. OK, so during the Remembering Z Day montage, there is a long shot of the zombies walking through a park. Edgar is the one in in black who falls over himself. He also makes a voice cameo as the host of Fulci's Italian restaurant. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright were also the minds behind the cult favorite British sitcom, Spaced, which ran from 1999 to 2001.
Real quick, have you seen Spaced? I have not seen Spaced. It is on my two watch list. Okay. I have the DVD. just to sort of expose myself and showcase how much of a DVD, Blu-ray, 4K snob I am. I only have two DVDs in my entire collection. Everything else is a Blu-ray and up. The only two DVDs I have are the first season of Tales from the Crypt and Spaced season one and two. So yeah, it's one of those ones that it's and it's awesome.
If you've never seen Space, everybody, Aaron included, go watch it. I know it's been on my list for like a long time because I've been really wanting to. I think it's currently on Amazon. So if you want to watch it, it is on Amazon. So Shaun of the Dead was inspired by art. An episode of spaced this episode involves pegs character hallucinating a zombie invasion after playing the video game Resident Evil 2 while under the influence of drugs. Yes. And Aaron, I think you know this.
I don't know if everyone listen to this right now, but Resident Evil 2 one of my favorite games of all time. Back in the day, I used to try to speed run that thing as quickly as I could. I would just go on easy mode and just see how quickly I could get through the game. But yeah, that's interesting. And that's a great episode of space. I don't know if that's the.
the definition of speed running, but I guess that's speed running in the sense of like, like people will like do three backflips in Mario Odyssey and somehow get to the very end. But like now I would just like we would all just chug Mountain Dew Coat Red and see how quickly we could get through it. Yeah, I'm all hyped up. Many of the zombie extras were recruited through the spaced out fan website, which was dedicated to spaced super fans. So again, a lot of space references.
And if you look at sort of the filmography of Echo Wright, there is a bit of a gap. between A Fistful of Fingers in 95 and Shaun of the Dead in 2004. And that's because Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright were working on Spaced. Now know that was like a rumored season three for a bit, but now again, if you've seen the series, you know that they could never go back to it. They've aged out of their roles. Everybody has, because Jessica Stevenson who plays Yvonne in this is also obviously in Spaced.
So people will see her and automatically know where she's from. Again, I cannot recommend people enough. to go see Space. I think it's one of those shows that everyone should check out, especially if you're a fan of Edgar Wrights. So the cast of Shaun of the Dead is as follows. Simon Pegg is Shaun, Nick Frost is Ed, Kate Ashfield is Liz. Bye, bye, bye.
Lucy Davis is Diane, Dylan Moran as David, Bill Nye as Philip, Penelope Wilton as Barbara, Jessica Stevenson as Yvonne, Peter, Sarah Fittowich as Pete, and Rafay Spall. as Noel. He could be dead or still pissed off at you. What does he yell up the stairs? Hey, I prick. I can't or I prick something like that. Here's something I didn't know until we started doing a little bit research for this episode.
Sean's last name is actually Riley can be seen on a poster behind Sean's little disc jockey area. It's back when he used to be a DJ. And according to Simon Pegg, his reaction to Barbara dying in the film is actually authentic. He imagined the scene as if his own mother was being killed and after her death seen in the film, both Simon Pegg and Nick Frost cried real tears together. What does that mean? This isn't exactly fair! Here. Thank you. It's OK. Can we just stop and think about this?
Tell him to put the gun down. Look, Lizzie, she's going to change. You know, I'm right. And when she does, she'll come back and she'll kill all of us. That's what your ex can't seem to realize. That's what this is about. It's kind of dark, but yeah, just channel. However you got to, right? When Ed is being bitten by a zombie near the end of the film, the sound effect of his scream is taken from the character of Windows from John Carpenter's The Thing.
The zombie that Sean and Ed find in their garden is Mary, the checkout girl from this movie's credit montage. A short story detailing her transformation to one of the undead was featured in issue number 1384 of the classic British science fiction comic, 2000 AD. The issue went on sale April 7th, 2004. The strip was called There's Something About Mary and was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright with art by Fraser Irving.
And, know, kind of speaking on Mary in this segment, we always see her later on in the movie as well. But why, again, why I think this movie is so great is the way that it foreshadows scenes and moments that we're gonna see throughout the film. So like, there'll be a quick throw away something in the background or someone will say something and then it'll kind of come to fruition later on in movie. So here are some of our favorite foreshadowing moments throughout the movie.
Again, hilarious script, but also it's sort of, again, and I actually had to warn Olivia when we went to go see it. a blink and you miss it moment. This movie does not slow down for you at all. It's a quick snappy, just like what, what, what, like they're just doing the same things and you have to keep up, which is why I love it so much. It's the scenery. It's the dialogue. It's the pacing, everything, the music.
It's just everything plays into what's going to happen further or like right, right next. You know, it's, it's, so much fun. Basically nothing in this movie is an accident. Everything that is put in this movie, this script is so tight that everything put in this movie, there's a reason for it. And usually not only is there a reason for it, but it'll be called back to at some point later in the movie.
according to the audio commentary of the film, Wright highlights when Ed attempts to cheer Sean up at the Winchester with plans to binge drink, he is actually summarizing the events of the next day, which is of course Z day, entirely in drinking references. So in Bloody Mary, like we just said a moment ago, is the checkout girl named Mary in the back garden. We have Bite the King's Head. which is Philip being bit on the day of Z-Day.
We have the couple, which is Dave and Diane, who we'll meet the next day. Little Princess is Liz, which is of course Sean's girlfriend. Staggerback, which is impersonating zombies. And then Barfer Shots, which is firing the rifle at the Winchester. When Sean and Ed are listening to Electro, Pete tells Ed that if he wants to live like an animal, he can live in the shed. Later, Sean keeps Ed in the shed at the end of the movie.
And after he becomes a zombie, Ed also says, next time I see him, he's dead. The next time Ed sees Pete, He is a zombie. Sean tells the football kid you're dead when he almost hits him with a soccer ball in that one long continuous shot at beginning of film. In the next long take, we see that kid. He is, of course, in fact, dead.
And then when when Diane tells David that he that she knows that they've only been together after Liz rejected him in college, she was there to pick up the pieces, foreshadowing what happens later when David is killed at the Winchester. She like grab his leg or something. I didn't even notice that one. I can't remember exactly what it is, but she kept his leg or arm or something. Yeah. man. I didn't even realize that. It's pretty brutal. man.
Apparently, I don't have it in here, but apparently there is like a deleted scene or something where Diane actually survives. So she goes into the crowd, she survives and she ends up like going up in a tree and survives off that limb that she takes from David. And she like survives a couple of days through the zombie apocalypse off that leg. And then when everyone's, know, when the Z days over, They become like pen pals with with Liz and Sean. Interesting.
So near the beginning of the movie, Ed is playing on the PlayStation 2. Sean directs him top left reload. Good shot. When the gang are in the Winchester pub and Sean is firing the zombies, Ed repeats exactly what Sean instructed him to do during Time Splitters 2 from 2002, which actually was a super fun game. When Sean is at work, he shows a couple of the televisions as he's flipping through the channels. We see Trisha Goddard with a woman guest.
and a game show at the end of the movie, the same woman in the game show will be seen on the television. The woman who is dating a zombie and zombies attached to bungee cords. So last, when Pete is ranting at Ed for keeping him awake with his electro music, he drops the line, you want to live like an animal? Go live in the shed, you thick fuzz. Sort of a build off what we were talking about earlier.
Yeah. When we last see Ed, he's chained up living in Sean's shed and definitely Sean is wearing his tie like a bandana, which is how he's wearing it at the climate. That's it, I might pop into the garden for a bit. Go on then. Two seconds. Okay. You've got red on you, which is like, I didn't, again, I think this last time I watched it was how many times I hear them say actually. It's like three or four times, right? Yeah, it's not just once. It's you got red on you multiple.
It's one of the most quotable movies in the history of motion pictures. Here are some of our favorite lines from Shana the Dead. How do you want to do this? Do you want to play certain roles or do you want to just read them off? Yes. So we'll do this one at one by one and then we'll take the roles as they go. Okay. All right. So you start us off. So this is the scene between Sean and David. David killed the queen. What? The jukebox.
As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no I in team, but there is an I in pie and there's an I in meat pie. Adagram of meat is T. I don't know what he's talking about. All right. This one, Ed says, we're coming to get you, Barbara. And the fun fact is that this is actually a callback to 1968's Night of the Living Dead. This is a, someone says that in that film as well. Do you want your messages? What?
Well, your mom rang about you going around town tomorrow night and then Liz rang about the two of you eating out tonight and then your mom rang back to see if I wanted to eat her out tonight. What? he, he sells a bit of weed now and again, you know, you sold Puff. Yeah. Once. At college. To you. I love in that scene how Pete like is sort of giggling until he goes, at college to you. See, you don't need Liz for have a good, to have a good time. don't man. No, go ahead. Look at me.
Can I just say one more thing? I'm not going to say, you know, there's plenty of more fish in the sea. I'm not going to say if you love her, let her go. And I'm not going to bar you with cliches, but you know what I'm going to say? All right, well we're getting near the end of this thing. Aaron, again, we could just go back and forth with quotes and all the things.
I want to kind of just ask you, and we sort touched on this a little bit earlier, but I want to sort of get the final thoughts included here. Why do you think you and I continue to go back to this movie? Why do you think it continues to surprise us? Is there anything particular that maybe we didn't cover here that you want to go over or anything to that like? This film is an interesting, like, just kind of look at the film industry itself. It's not an expensive movie.
It's not a multi-million dollar, it's not a billion dollar movie. It's not a hundreds of million dollar movie to make. But it's a great film. this is one that needs to be brought into the conversation when it comes to films, when it comes to like good, I'm even gonna call it a good horror film. It's a comedy, horror, rom, romantic film that- Rom-Zom-Com. Yeah, Ram Zamkham.
And it's really one that, you know, a lot of films don't, a lot of your films try and to be two things, but very few films try to be three things. And I just think with all of that kind of mixed together, this is a fluke of cinema. know, this is one, like you're not gonna find many movies that do this, that can do this, that can reach the audience that it does with everything that it tries to do and successfully does.
And I find that to be just a statement to Edgar Wright, to Simon Pegg, to the cast itself, and just a lot of the choices that were made in this, because it's a smart film. And I say there's quite a few films that are really held up to a high standard and are really held in high praise. Movies like Memento. Memento's the same way. It's one that stands out when I think about Shaun of the Dead. It was not an expensive film. It did not have a big cast. You know, it had a great soundtrack.
had a great timing, had great dialogue and still racks up there with some of the best films ever. So like Shana the Dead just just kills it. Pardon the pun, but it does just across the board. Yeah, I agree with you. And it's sort of go on what you're saying here. I mean, this movie costs six million dollars to make. And I know in the audio commentary, Edgar and Simon both talk about like how they had to like really pitch this movie. to Universal, to I think it was Rogue Pictures as well.
Big Talk Productions were a couple of the other studios that they had to sort of pitch this thing to. And they had no one believing in it. This is sort of, horror films are one of those movies that you can sort of throw nothing at. And then if you get a big return on them, that's great. But this was one of those ones I'm sure that I'm gonna guess, I don't know if it's for a fact, but Universal didn't really believe in. But again, to Edgar Wright and to Simon Pegg's credit.
This movie is just one of the funniest, smartest movies that you can show someone in terms of, again, like a masterclass in how to make incredibly entertaining horror. again, comedy is not easy to anybody. Like they always say that comedy is one of the hardest genres to make because everyone has a different sort of perspective on what is funny.
But I think, again, if you show this movie to 10 people, I would dare to say that nine to 10 of them would all find something at least something somewhat funny in this movie, for sure. Yeah, I don't I don't trust anybody that doesn't really like this movie cannot this is our litmus test. They cannot find something enjoyable about this film. There's I I ref I don't I just don't think we'll get along.
I'm you know, I I I I challenge find somebody when you after you listen to this episode, I challenge you to go find somebody that does not like the show and have them write into oblivion bar pod at gmail dot com. All right. And fucking tell us why you don't like that fucking movie. All right, tell tell me write it to me to Aaron or to Chris and just you know Fucking I gotta know I gotta know Chris. Do you honestly think that there's somebody out there doesn't like this movie?
You know, I would be surprised honestly like again there we always say that like go always go check things out for yourself You know, not everyone's gonna like everything. Yeah, but again, Shaun of the Dead is one of those movies I think everyone can enjoy whether you're a horror fan whether you're a romance fan something We didn't talk about a lot is sort of the romance between Liz and Sean in this movie.
And I think it is one of those ones where all Liz was asking for, which is the fucking bare minimum, was for Sean to show a little initiative. And I think he proves it in this movie of like, you know, he did what he had to do to save people that he loved. That's probably another relatable thing, why people enjoy this film. Yeah. You know, and it's because the hero of this film is not some guy who is athletically inclined, who is like a genius, who has superpowers, who's military trained.
Nah, it's a fucking dude that works at like an electronics store who has got a stand on his shirt and he's just trying to get back with his girlfriend. You know, it's so relatable. It's so understanding. And it's so like, you know what? It's like, I'm going to wake up tomorrow. And that's, think a lot of us feel like that too.
I think there's been times in our life where we're like, fuck, I'm going to wake up tomorrow and I'm just going to, I'm going to be the best version of myself that I could ever be. And it's like, fuck, like, like, is it too late? Like the world's already over. What does it matter? Like what's the point?
But no, like he, and I think that's another thing from, this is a good date movie because like anybody in that movie, anybody, any partner that goes sees this film can look and be like, you know what? It's, the person who's at my left or right, are they gonna be the person that I need them to be when the time comes? That's the litmus test. That's the test that we all need to be asking ourselves. Like I am so tired of, and I don't know if you've had this discussion, have you ever had an argument?
I know we're going off on a weird tangent here, Chris, but I got, this is like bringing up some things for me. Have you ever been in a relationship, Chris, where the conversation has turned into the expectations of what they, like of who they want you to be versus what They don't want who you are. They don't want who you are. want you to be. And I don't know if you, and here's another question that kind of caveats off that.
Have you ever been in a relationship with somebody who watches a lot of reality television? And whenever they watch reality television, can just tell when it starts to seep in and it starts taking a hold and starts asking these questions. Or motivating these questions. Like that's the bullshit that I'm tired of. And I'm not saying it's happening in my life right now, but it's happened before. And it's just like, you know what?
When the time comes, and the world's fucking ending and the zombies are killing everybody. Are you going to be fucking worried about if I fucking tagged you in a post on Instagram? Right. It doesn't fucking matter. And this movie is so built on the relationships of these characters, aren't they? mean, think about like the relationship between Sean and Ed.
One guy who was trying to do his best and the other one who was just like, Sean has sort of accepted his role as mediocrity and in the life of his day to day. And then Ed is just sort of, he's like swimming in that pool. He loves just not doing shit, right? And then you have like, of course, Sean and Liz, like Sean wants to be in a relationship, but he's not willing to put in the effort for it and Liz wants more.
And then there's Sean with his mom, with Diane, or sorry, excuse me, with Sean and Barbara, excuse me. Sean is sort of a mama's boy. And like the only thing he can think about when this all is going down is how he's going to save his mom. The caveat to that is Sean having to put up with his stepdad, you know, Bill Nye in this movie.
Bill Nye is one of the best parts of this movie because he's like this unemotional rock solid oak tree of a stepdad who never showed Sean any love until it was too late. again, and I go back to the perception of character in this movie. Everybody in this movie has a different perception of what they want from somebody else in this, a different perception, a different expectation. Like Sean. was protective of his mother and could not accept Philip as his father.
But Philip was doing his best and he was trying and he may not be the best at it, but he was trying. It's the same with Liz. Liz wanted more from Sean and Sean was honestly trying, but he has like, he just is not the best at being in a relationship. I mean, can we say that he was doing his best really? I think that in his life, maybe he had, okay, maybe there was more to that than what was like, Again, there's expectations and then there's reality.
Somebody, you could look at anybody and be like, listen, I just don't see what you're giving me. I don't see the effort being put in there. And it's like, you know what? Like I have a lot going on and your bandwidth may be high and you've got a lot that you can give out to everybody. My bandwidth may not be as high as yours, but I'm doing my best. But again, it's about expectations. Again, Philip was doing his best, he wasn't he to Sean.
He wasn't giving his best and that is part of the toxic masculinity era of old men. Exactly. But he truly did love him. And it took him until the end to see that same with the relationship between Sean and Liz. know, Sean may have been somewhat stuck in mediocrity, but he was trying to be like at certain times, like do what he could because he wasn't being the same as Ed. He wasn't sitting on his ass, but he had an Ed in his life. Right. You know.
Yeah. Yeah. I guess Ed and Liz sort of represented two different paths for Sean in a way like he could move on and sort of progress in his life with Liz or he could sort of stay in the muck with Ed. So and I know how hard that is sometimes when you have friends in your life or you're like, man, I could do so much more. But I really love pouting around with this guy over here. You know, ouch. Look at you, Aaron. Looking at you hurts real deep. All right.
Well, I think that'll do it for a Halloween special 2024. Again, if you if you can't tell we love this movie and I think we can talk about it for much longer. But I think again, as Aaron said, if you don't love Shaun the Dead already, we can't help you. think you you need to seek help elsewhere if you don't love Shaun the Dead for whatever unhelpable unhelpable you've got read on you and it's from us. You are the pulp in the orange juice and not many people like you.
Well, we hope everybody has a great Halloween. We're going to release the day of Halloween. So if you're listening to this on October 31st, go out there, get yourself some candy, be safe, dress up, do all the things. We hope everybody has a great Halloween. Again, Aaron and I absolutely love this holiday. Like it's our favorite all year. And again, this is one of our favorite segments each year here on the Oblivion Bar.
It gives us a reason to talk about horror, which is not something we often get to do. So yeah, it's a fun little segment that we enjoy doing. Aaron, is there anything you want to say about the Halloween special before we get out of here? Yeah, boy. That's all I wanted to do. That's us clanking our Cricket and our shovel together. Yeah. All right.
No, love love love the Halloween episode Definitely want to get I don't know again like we've kind of talked about in the beginning of the episode I'm really getting into horror. I tried watching long legs. Mm-hmm fucking slow I got it. I got it like put it that one. I want to love it But it's like it's like the slowest version of silence of the lambs That I've ever seen so like I'm gonna finish it.
I'm gonna finish it, but I don't know If it's again, it's one of those movies where everybody's like, it's amazing. It's amazing. Scary movie here. And I'm like, okay, we'll see. Sure. It's not the best horror film of the year. The first Omen is the best horror film of the year, but I think Long Legs is up there. It's like number two or three. Okay. And that's from your opinion. That's my opinion. Yeah. Okay. Go watch the first Omen. Okay. All right. Take us out here. All right.
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