Trivia

 

• the short originally just featured Steve talking to the camera with Claire filming.

• before Patrick Lynden auditioned, there were 5 in the group, with the mention of them losing 3 others - a nod to the Dawn of the Dead remake where there was 3 survivors who lost 5 of their group.

• the couple were supposed to have a family with more scenes in the beginning but this was shortened to just one scene.

• "tell me what you miss", the line Steve uses to introduce each character was the questioned posed for people to make short audition videos with.  Most got the idea, some decided that was an opportunity to sing and dance.

• a scene cut had Rob explaining why the group didn't board up windows or travel by vehicles - sound attracts the level twos.

• another scene removed had a few of the group finding more clothes which they wear later.  The film is about explaining how they survive but some things had to be cut for time.

• the notion that power still exists in some places was a way to excuse how they could charge the camera.

• a lot of the conversations between Claire and Steve are the same as they were in the original short.

• the term "zombie" is never used at all, in fact the group refer to the undead as infected, as if saying that they are different from themselves when in fact everyone is infected already.

• Lee Jerrum had grown his hair by the time the shopping scene was shot, hence the beanie.

• when things start going bad, the visuals start to reflect this as first noticed when the level two attacks Steve. Later when the mood picks up, the colours are brighter and vision is clearer, but that quickly changes.

• the notion of large industrial sites and shopping malls being turned into evacuation sites was an idea to go against that common belief that come a zombie invasion, a shopping mall would be the best place to go.

• Nioxotrin comes from Return of the Living Dead. In that great film 245 Trioxin is used to bring the dead to life.

• a large scene where four of the cast discuss what caused the infection was filmed but dropped later.  The ideas were "from space" (Night of the Living Dead), "a volcano" (at the time of writing, that was in the news a lot), "brain eating amoebas" (Amber Price had been researching such things in her spare time...).

• a lot of early morning shots were done with Lee Jerrum and Patrick Lynden but they came across as a bit light hearted which didn't work for Nick's character.

• the hospital used was a real working hospital that had one building due to be demolished. It was used for not only the hospital scene but also the doctors surgery and underneath the farm building.

• Nick talks about his father being in the army, a nod to Lee Jerrum's own army days.

• a scene showing Andrew shaving his head was planned but never shot, just the results are shown.

• the character of Pete is another Dawn of the Dead referrence - there are many, such as:

• the radio broadcast Pete and Steve listen to is the dialogue from a TV report in Dawn of the Dead, except in German. Paul Bloomfield did the audio for this.

• behind Pete are seen various newspaper cuttings including a page from the Zombie Survival Guide and an aerial shot of Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh, the location for Dawn of the Dead.

• the final scene in the film connects directly to the next story, Dead Safe.

• the planned DVD includes a few deleted scenes and Rear End, the ten minute blooper reel.

 

Spoilers

 

• the scene where Rob and Steve go to find Nick and Claire was shot in four different locations, with many months between each one.

• Claire's death was shot in one 14 hour day, with 5 different makeup changes by Steve Uden.

• the bed sheets Claire is covered in are the same colours as the sheets Roger dies in in Dawn of the Dead.

• the shooting of zombie Claire was supposed to be shown but it was removed as it didn't make sense why Nick would film such a thing.

• Patrick Lynden wasn't told when the gunshot was coming, so his reaction is real.

• two versions of Mia were written just in case a young actress could not be found who could deliver her lines well enough. Mia may have ended up just being a sick bed-ridden child were it not for Constance Murray-Moon.

• in the original story, Pete enters the tomb with the group. However the person originally playing Pete (before Mark Ashwell) didn't turn up on the day of shooting, so the scene was shot and the dialogue inside changed. In fact, due to problems finding someone to play Pete at that time, there is no mention of his character during that entire scene, only talk of Mia.

• Pete was given a limp which was used to explain why he couldn't enter the tomb and needed help.

• Talker is played by Tom Heritage but his voice is dubbed by Paul Bloomfield in German, so in that scene Paul is talking to himself. Tom is also the Dead End poster boy.

• the tomb scene was shot in odd order as the Talker scene had to wait until night time for the interior to be dark.

• the tomb escape was shot in two stages with Mark Ashwell and Patrick Lynden not being available for both so the two were edited to simply sound like they were both there together. 

• in the original ending Nick is still at the allotment site and goes crazy towards the end before being eaten alive.

• director cameo - a zombie that bites Andrew's neck, but cut to only see the hand.

• zombie Mia killing her father is a Night of the Living Dead referrence, with even a flash of black and white when blood is seen sprayed across a wall.

• Andrew's death reveal was shot twice as the first time didn't look right. Each time took many hours of makeup and set design, much to Patrick Lynden's hatred of being buried in the ground.

• when Steve was running previously he would always breath heavy, now there is no breathing, a nod to the fact he is now actually dead.

• the ending is exactly how the short ended, but with Claire instead of Adele.

• two alternate endings were planned and one shot. One ending has Steve okay but Adele turn up and she's the Talker who kills him. A happy ending was shot which showed Steve and Adele meeting up, recording one last message and leaving the camera to head out together.