Those guys at Pixar have a quirky sense of humour. And a lot of time on their hands, from the amount of extra features and easter eggs they like to stuff the DVD releases of their films full of. That's even more true for director Brad Bird, who had previously cut his teeth on the reference-heavy Simpsons and the wonderfully detailed Iron Giant animated film. For his second Disney movie he went the whole hog, which is saying a lot - the story of Remy, the gastronomical rat who learns to cook amongst the best chefs of France, is already pretty jam packed with culinary inside jokes and the requisite cameos from future Pixar stars. Clearly that wasn't enough, however, if the easter eggs on the Ratatouille DVD are anything to go buy. The main menu features not one but two pretty cute little extras: first of all, a brief video of Bird himself explaining the movie's title to the uninitiated/pun-blind. Second of all, and slightly darker, is a fake commercial for the brand of rat poison that gets used in the movie to keep Remy out of the kitchen. Maybe not one for the kids. How to find it: On the main menu, keep an eye out for the rats that periodically pop out of the cooking pots in the background. Quickly select the left one for rat poison, the right for a brief clip of director Brad Bird explaining the film's title.
20. Shaun Of The Dead Trivia Track
Speaking of being densely packed with references, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's script to their 2004 romzomcom is not just a love letter to the living dead films they've adored since adolescence - it also includes a ridiculous amount of inside jokes, nods and winks to the history of zombie movies. There's the Italian restaurant named after Italian director Lucio Fulci, the supermarket that gets its moniker from An American Werewolf In London's John Landis, and music cues taken straight from George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead. Even the most seasoned fan of the undead would have trouble picking up on these, as they come thick and fast and sometimes even in the background. It's not like they're essential to enjoying the film - which is a heartwarming, hilarious and gory comedy regardless of how many John Russo movies you've seen - but they are pretty fun when you know them. Which is why the filmmakers decided to include a secret subtitle track which explains all the references as they happen. Not only do all the nods to zombie classics get revealed, but we also find out tidbits about the writing process, behind-the-scenes stories, notes on some of the more subtle jokes and some nice parts for fans of Wright and Pegg's TV series Spaced. There's similar tracks for Hot Fuzz and The World's End, the later parts of the Three Colours Cornetto Trilogy, which are just as fun (apparently Hot Fuzz was based on true events, except they took the zombies out). How to find it: Get to the subtitle menu and select the "zom-???" track.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
