Dawn Of The Dead Mall Music

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Tom Savini chose the gray color for the zombies' skin, since Night of the Living Dead (1968) was in B&W and the zombie skin-tone was not depicted. He later said it was a mistake, because many of them ended up looking quite blue on film.

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The two zombie children who attack Peter in the airport chart house are played by Donna Savini and Mike Savini, the real-life niece and nephew of Tom Savini. These are the only zombies in all of George A. Romero's 'Dead' films that spontaneously run and never do the trademark 'Zombie shuffle'.

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Dario Argento was an admirer of George A. Romero's work, and vice-versa. When Argento heard that Romero was contemplating a sequel to Night of the Living Dead (1968) he insisted that Romero come out to Argento's native Rome to write the script without distractions. Romero knocked out the script in 3 weeks and, though Argento read the script as it came out, he left all the writing to Romero. Argento also provided most of the film's soundtrack and, in return for the rights to edit the European version of the film, assisted in raising the necessary funds.

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Zombie actors took photographs of themselves dressed up in full zombie makeup inside a photo booth on the second floor. They then replaced the sample pictures on the front of the booth with the ghoulish ones.

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Filming at the Monroeville Mall took place during the winter of 1977-78, with a three-week reprieve during the Christmas shopping season (during which other footage, e.g. the TV studio, was shot). Filming at the mall began around 10 p.m., shortly after the mall closed, and finished at 6 a.m. The mall didn't open until 10:30, but at 6 the Music came on and no one knew how to turn it off, there were a few bars in that area, and Savini remembers making up zombies who would then go to the bar and drink. Everyone agreed this probably helped their performances. Savini does say the drunk zombies caused damage, particularly a couple who stole a golf cart and crashed it inside the mall.

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The scene between Roger and Peter in the trucks when they are kidding each other about their height as (Scott H. Reinger is 5'7 and Ken Foree is 6'5) was entirely improvised by the two actors.

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The outdoor scene where hunters, emergency crew and soldiers are shooting at zombies was done through local volunteers. Several local hunters arrived on-scene with their own weapons, the local National Guard division showed up in full gear, and local emergency crew (police, fire and ambulance) were present, all voluntarily.

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The MPAA had threatened to impose the X rating if George A. Romero didn't make cuts. Romero did not want to cut the film, and he was adamant against an X rating, due to its stigma of hard-core pornography. In the end, Romero was able to persuade his distributors to release the film with no rating, although on all advertising and trailers, there was a disclaimer that in effect read that while there was no explicit sex in the film, the movie was of such a violent nature that no one under 17 would be admitted.

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Gaylen Ross refused to scream during the film. She felt that Fran was a strong female character, and if she screamed, the strength would be lost. She told this to George A. Romero once, when he told her to scream. He never asked her again.

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Extras who appeared in this film were reportedly given $1 in cash, a donut, and a Dawn of the Dead T-shirt.

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The voice of Christine Forrest (George A. Romero's wife) can be heard on a pre-recorded announcement in the mall ('Attention all shoppers...').

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Scott H. Reiniger's grandmother, despite his warnings, insisted on seeing the film at the theater. Reiniger accompanied her to the showing. Reiniger said she made it through part of the tenement scene. Reiniger asked her if she'd like to leave and she told him yes, so they did.

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Conchita Lazarus' Lead Zombie character, The Nun Zombie trapped in a door was originally supposed to die. But Romero liked her and had her released from the door instead.

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While writing the script for Night of the Living Dead (1968), George A. Romero and John A. Russo contemplated how they should have the zombies destroyed. Co-star and makeup artist Marilyn Eastman joked that they could throw pies into their faces. This is undoubtedly the basis for the pie fight scene in this film.

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The bit in the movie where Roger slides down between the escalators was Scott H. Reiniger's idea, Savini recalls how he and other cast and crew members did the same thing during the film's production. He does joke that you can't do that now, since all escalators have metal posts sticking up at the bottom. 'You think that's because of us?' asks George. 'I'd love to say that it's because of Dawn of the Dead,' Savini replies.

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Some of the cast were made physically sick by the makeup work.

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Several members of the marauding band of bikers were played by members of the local chapter of the Pagans Motorcycle Club. The elaborate motorcycles they drove were their own.

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The skating rink shown in the film was part of the Monroeville Mall. It has since been replaced by a food court.

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Some of the actors playing zombies in the movie would frequently get drunk at a late-night bar called the Brown Derby, which was in the Monroeville Mall. One night they stole a golf cart and crashed into a marble pillar, causing $7,000 worth of damage.

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Tom Savini used the same dummy throughout the course of filming. During that time it was blown up, burnt, shot, and beaten, among other things.

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George A. Romero was initially hesitant to cast Scott H. Reiniger as Roger, despite the fact that he loved Reiniger's audition, as he had already cast Ken Foree as Peter and was worried about the height disparity between the two actors. Reinger told Romero bluntly that after the first 15 minutes, no one in the audience would be paying attention to that detail. A short while later, Romero found Reiniger and told him he got the part.

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People still visit the shopping mall just to see where the film was made.

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With such a shoestring budget, the film couldn't afford professional stunt people outside of drivers, so makeup artist Tom Savini and assistant and friend Taso N. Stavrakis volunteered for the task. They are responsible for almost every stunt seen in the film, though not all went perfectly as planned. When filming a dive over the rail of the mall, Savini almost missed his pile of cardboard boxes, with his legs and back landing on the ground. He had to work from a golf cart for several days. The shot where Stavrakis swung down from a banner was poorly planned and he wound up continuing on and slamming into the ceiling.

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Much of the fighting done by Fran was at the behest of Gaylen Ross, who refused to play a character who would not fight the zombies on her own.

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Some of the zombies (notably one in the tenement scene) were actual amputees.

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Gaylen Ross said that the brief scene where she is skating in the ice rink was a near-disaster. She had stated on her resume that she could ice skate, but hadn't done so in nearly 20 years. She admitted in an interview that she was being shouted instructions on how to skate by the rink manager (who was out of camera shot) and stayed on her feet barely long enough to complete a single loop, According to Martin, Gaylen Ross told him she had completely fabricated her resume when she auditioned and that George had no idea how inexperienced she really was. 'It wouldn't have mattered to me,' kids George. 'She didn't realize she didn't have to do that.'

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Peter is the first person in the franchise to refer to the undead as 'zombies'. The term is only used by a reporter on the radio once in Night of the Living Dead (1968).

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When the film was first released, the shooting budget was reported to be $1.5 million. On his commentary track on the 'Ultimate' DVD release, producer Richard P. Rubinstein admitted that amount was inflated for foreign buyers, and the actual budget was around $500,000 (including deferred lab fees and Rubenstein and director George A. Romero deferring much of their salaries).

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Many of the extras cast in the film (especially the zombies in close-up shots) were friends and relatives of the production crew.

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Much of the fake blood used in the blood packets was a mixture of food coloring, peanut butter and cane sugar syrup.

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When Stephen idly uses the typewriter roughly 2/3 of the way through the movie, he types 'NOW IS THE TIME...'. These are the first few words of an exercise widely used in touch-typing classes when typewriters were first introduced into the workforce. The entire sentence reads, 'Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.'

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Dawn of the Dead was intentionally more comedic than Night of the Living Dead (1968)because George A. Romero wanted it filmed in the style of a comic book.

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Tom Savini, head of makeup effects, was unhappy with how the blood mix (produced by 3M) photographed; it looked fluorescent. Director George A. Romero felt it was perfect for the film's comic book style.

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Shooting at the mall was suspended over the Christmas season because it would have been too costly to nightly remove and then later re-hang all the seasonal decorations.

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The scenes between Stephen, Peter, Roger and Frannie in the helicopter were filmed with the helicopter never running or leaving the ground. A shell was painted blue for the day scenes and black for the night scenes and interspersed with real helicopter footage.

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Tom Savini chose his friend Jim Krut to play the helicopter zombie because he was notorious for having a low forehead.

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In an interview, Scott H. Reiniger says his favourite moment of his in the film was the spontaneous idea to slide down the escalator. The part that made him most nervous was driving the VW Sirocco around the mall.

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The weapons store featured in the film was never a part of the Monroeville Mall. George A. Romero shot those scenes in a gun shop in downtown Pittsburgh and edited the footage in to make it look like it was a shop in the mall.

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The living quarters where the four heroes shacked up in wasn't located in the mall. It was a set built at George A. Romero's then production company The Latent Image located in Pittsburgh. The elevator shaft was located there as well.

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Many effects were thought of on the spot. Tom Savini created many effects (such as the arm in the blood pressure tester) with no preparations whatsoever.

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David Emge speculates that Scott H. Reiniger's slide between the escalators was a motivation for putting bumps at the bottom of the escalators, to discourage other people from trying the stunt. He refers to them as 'The Reiniger Bump'.

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It took up to three hours in makeup to transform someone into a zombie.

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There was originally a scene during the biker raid involving a zombie getting an arrow in the head from a crossbow. It was filmed but never featured in the final cut.

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The only one of Romero's 'Dead' movies to contain the word 'zombie'. Before the bikers break into the mall Peter says 'When they open those doors there's gonna be a thousand zombies in here'

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The beer the hunters are seen drinking is Iron City Beer, a once-popular beer brewed in Pittsburgh in which George A. Romero's film company, The Latent Image, produced and filmed a number of Iron City Beer TV commercials during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

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The airstrip used in the film, the Harold W. Brown Memorial Field (aka Monroeville Municipal Airport), is still in operation as of 2013. The privately run airfield is approximately 10 miles from the Monroeville Mall, where the bulk of the film was shot.

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In addition to the lead biker Blades, Tom Savini plays the zombie who breaks window of the truck and is shot by Roger with a revolver. This scene leaves a bloody smear on the windshield, the effect was created by Savini throwing himself on the non-moving truck and spitting a mouthful of blood on the windshield.

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In order to save on production costs, director/editor George A. Romero had all the 35mm film stock developed into 16mm, and used that as his work reel. After choosing the scenes and takes he wanted, he had those alone developed into 35mm prints for the master reels.

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Actor Richard France, the deep voiced Eye patch wearing scientist who is seen on television in the film, is only credited as 'Scientist' in the end credits. However the character has a name. He is referred to as 'Doctor Millard Rausch', by the television interviewer.

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EASTER EGG: On disk 4 (Document of the Dead) of Anchor Bay's 'Ultimate Edition' DVD set, there is a hidden menu (shape of one of corpse on screen) item which can only be selected after seeing all items.

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Noted rock and country music journalist Chet Flippo wrote about the making of this movie for 'Rolling Stone'. His article 'When There's No More Room in Hell, the Dead Will Walk the Earth' was published in the March, 1978 #261 issue. Moreover, Flippo appears in the film in an uncredited bit role as the zombie with a nasty gash across his cheek who's wearing a cowboy hat and a leather jacket with fringe hanging off the sleeves.

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In the original draft of the script, the TV station's call sign was WJAS, the call sign of an actual radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the film was shot. The call sign was replaced with WGON, which was not issued to any station at that time (it had been issued to an AM radio station in Munsing, Michigan, but the station had gone dark some time before). WGON has now been issued to a licensed low power FM radio station (WGON-LP, 103.7) in Slidell, Louisiana.

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During Tom Savini dive over the balcony, initially he missed the crash mat.

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Tom Savini's recent tour of duty in Vietnam, where he served as a combat photographer, played an enormous part in his visualization of graphic, gory effects, as he was basically just recreating what he'd seen in real life.

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A Behind The Scenes still from the Extended Version of the Ultimate DVD boxed set indicates George A. Romero had a third cameo in the picture. The still shows the director standing to the side of the camera, his sleeve rolled up, holding a pistol upwards. Behind him a part of the mall can clearly be seen, indicating it was shot on site. Near the end of the picture, a similar shot exists: a POV from a man holding a pistol firing up past a fenced in area on the upper floor where Peter is running across.

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The alternative rock band My Chemical Romance wrote a song based on the movie called 'Early Sunsets Over Monroeville' for their first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. They decided to write the song because the movie is a favorite of singer Gerard Way and his brother, bassist Mikey Way. Mikey is often seen wearing a Dawn of The Dead shirt.

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Much of the stock music used in this film was licensed from the Music De Wolfe Library, a much-used resource of stock music for motion pictures.

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Joe Shelby played the role of Martinez, the Puerto Rican Bandit Leader while John Amplas played Rico, one of his gang members during the SWAT Team battle on the ghetto apartment rooftop. Paul Macaluso appeared as the Afro Haired Puerto Rican gang member with rifle who shouted 'GET TO THE OTHER ROOF!'. The Bearded & plaid shirt Puerto Rican gang member hasn't been solved yet. However Martinez's name cannot be seen on the ending credits of the movie itself.

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On the back of the cover of the CBS/Fox videotape of the film in Australia and New Zealand had a warning 'WARNING: Due to the horrific content of the film, no one under the age of 18 should be permitted to view it!'.

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Joe Pilato who played Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead briefly appears as an unnamed police officer during the scene at the police dock. There is a rumor among horror fans that that policeman WAS Captain Rhodes, with the back story being that Rhodes was a full time Philadelphia policeman and a part time Army Reservist

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Final film for Daniel Dietrich, Clayton McKinnon, Rudy Ricci, Ron Gibson, Michael James, J. Clifford Forrest Jr. and Ingeborg Forrest.

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The novel reveals the surnames of all he characters. Peter's last name is Washington, Roger's is DeMarco, and Francine's is Parker. In addition, Dr. Foster's first name is James and Berman's is Sidney.

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In the Extended Edition (available on both laserdisc and Anchor Bay's 'Ultimate Edition'), the music that is heard when Peter and Stephen are closing the gates of the mall in an effort to keep the bikers out is the late Pierre Arvay's 'Ice Floe 9', which was also the music piece used for the opening credits of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and one scene in Cheh Chang's Five Deadly Venoms (1978), as it was taken from the DeWolfe music library.

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J. Clifford Forrest Jr. (who played Father Zulemas in Martin (1977)) and Ingeborg Forrest (who played Mrs. Anderson in the same film), parents of Christine Forrest and Cliff Forrest, make appearances as zombies.

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The late Ralph Tallo, Father of Nick Tallo (who plays Jack, The Biker with Seltzer Bottle in the movie itself) appears as the Grey Suited Zombie who attacks Stephen outside the abandoned airport chart house, who Stephen ends up wrestling with, and then Stephen defeats him by hitting him on the head with a sledgehammer.

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When Peter is attacked by the two zombie children at the hangar office, actor Ken Foree's reaction is authentic. He was not told that zombie children would be attacking him, and he was legitimately shocked to see them.

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The owner of the restaurant where actor David Emge was working introduced Emge to George A. Romero, who was casting at the time. Emge says Romero told him that if he could fit into the coat, he would get the part. Emge jokingly said the other actor was far too big to wear the coat, so he got the job.

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Folk Singer-Musician/Songwriter Vincent Vok appears as a TV Station Employee (wearing a white collared shirt and black necktie) at WGON-TV Studio. You can see him right next to Jim Edmondson's Cameraman character at the beginning of the movie just as the credit 'Written & Directed by George A. Romero' appears on the screen. He is also friends with David Crawford who plays Dr. James Foster, the government scientist in the TV Studio scene.

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The car driven in the mall is a 1977 Volkswagen Scirocco.

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The other Bikers besides Blades and Sledge have names. Including Mousey, The Tommy-Gun Biker riding in sidecar (played by the late Larry Vaira who had also worked as the Biker wrangler and kept The Pagans Motorcycle Club in line during their scenes in the movie) (His name is mentioned by Blades during the scene when the bikers and their girlfriends are about to break into Monroeville Mall during the scene where Pasquale Buba's Serape Biker says to Blades; 'Let's go blow the God damn Lock!' then Blades responds 'Hey Mousey's got the Machine Gun!'), Moonbaby (played by Marty Schiff), Blades' Sidekick (his real name is Charlie. But his name is never mentioned in the movie. And in the original script during the scene where he and Blades are about to catch Peter, Blades would say 'Charlie?... Hit the gates...We gotta get that Sniper'.), Jack, the Seltzer Bottle Biker who is also one of the Biker Leader's (Radio Operator wearing Helmet) lieutenants (played by Nick Tallo) (Blades hollers his name out 'Hey Jack!', and then Jack throws him the seltzer bottle during the scene when the Bikers have their Pie fight with the Zombies and spray seltzer water in their faces and mouths. And then we hear Blades holler out his name again 'HEY JACK!' during the scene when Peter starts shooting at the biker intruders and he ends up blasting Blades' seltzer bottle. And then Blades, Jack, Sledge, and Moonbaby run upstairs to find out who the person is who is shooting at them), Butchie, the Wild Haired, Bearded Biker riding Harley-Davidson Panhead motorcycle with sidecar, Mousey's rider (played by Butchie, who then then worked as one of the art department crew members for the Night of the Living Dead (1990) remake where he also appeared in as a Biker cameo at the very end of the movie where the towns people celebrate the killing of Zombies at the picnic party), Pedro, the Sombrero Biker (played by Tony Buba, who also was the sound man for the movie), Mary known as Chickie, the Blonde Biker Chick (wearing long earrings) driving the Gang's Van (played by the late lovely Barbara Lifsher who worked also worked as the set decorator for the movie) (Joe Shelby's Biker Van Driver character (wearing cowboy hat and glasses) mentions her name just as she is shooting the zombies clawing at her window; 'Get em' Mary! Come on!'. Her name is also mentioned in the original 11-Chapter Book by Suzanna Sparrow and George A. Romero), Timmy, the Biker who takes the TV Set for a minute and just as his friend asks him; 'Hey Man, what the Hell you gonna watch on that thing?!' then he replies 'I don't know man' then he throws it down and calls out to Sledge; 'Hey Sledge!' then Sledge tosses him the Sledgehammer and Timmy breaks it to pieces (but his name is never mentioned in the movie), and Old Nick, The Biker in Santa Claus Suit (played by our Director, Writer, and Editor, George A. Romero himself) (but his name is never mentioned in the movie. But only in the original book).

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The idea for the film came about when George A. Romero was invited by his friend Mark Mason to a backstage tour of the recently completed Monroeville Mall. Mason noted to Romero that this would be the perfect place to hole up in during an emergency, planting the seed with Romero for his next film.

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The working title was 'Dawn of the Living Dead'.

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George A. Romero described this as the balance point in the series, when the number of humans versus the number of zombies was roughly equal.

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Chris and George joke about how, even though the characters decide to leave the mall together, they don't have much of an option as to where they go. 'There's what we could do, Tom,' says George. 'We could get them together on an island somewhere.' Savini chimes in with his own idea for a sequel to Dawn. 'Gaylen and Ken and David,' jokes Savini. 'Yeah, they spent the last 25 years in some mall in Jamaica.' They all joke about how they could have the surviving members of Day of the Dead fighting with the survivors of Dawn of the Dead over control of the island.

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The helicopter used in the film was a Bell Jet Ranger II. The registration number was N90090.

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The late Tom Kapusta's Biker character is the blonde haired, bearded biker wearing the black biker cap hat & glasses and riding Blue Harley-Davidson Panhead Chopper Motorcycle. You can see him pushing through the crowd of the bikers and their girlfriends as their weapons are being handed over to them. And you can also see him riding his motorcycle through out the entire mall invasion scenes. And shooting at Zombies in the parking lot in the European Version.

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Cliff Forrest, younger brother of Christine Forrest appears as Tony, the Copyboy who shakes Fran awake during the opening scene at WGON-TV Station. He also worked grip for the movie at the same time.

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The narration for the USA radio and TV commercials for this film was provided by Adolph Caesar.

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Joe Shelby's Biker Van Driver character is the one who wears the funny cowboy hat and glasses.

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Greg Besnak (who played Rhino, the Bald Mustachioed Biker Gang Leader in Knightriders (1981) and Luke Barnes, one of our villains, the Satanist family in John A. Russo's 'Midnight' (1982)) appears as a brown haired and Fu Manchu mustachioed zombie in a poet shirt hit by Sledge in the side of his head with a sledgehammer, and he turns, full-face, into the camera. Later, when Sledge gets eaten, he has another close-up, descending upon him. But it appeared on the Director's Cut only. It was edited out in the US release. But also in the US and Italian release he can be seen getting hit by Blades the assistant head biker on the second floor, he also can be seen walking just as Mousey the Tommy-Gun biker and Butchie, the wild haired bearded biker (riding Harley-Davidson Panhead Motorcycle with sidecar) are making their escape of out the mall.

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The calendar Fran crosses out dates upon is from December, 1976. This assumes Sun-Mon format, includes only November, December, January, & February (filming months), & takes 1976, 1977, & 1978 calendars into consideration.

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Released on VHS by CBS/Fox Video in Australia and New Zealand in 1985.

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The late Dave Hawkins' Biker character is the long dark haired, bearded biker wearing the blue newsboy cap and riding Red Harley-Davidson Chopper Motorcycle. You can see him riding his motorcycle through out the entire mall Invasion scenes, then he later gets shot off his motorcycle by Peter, gets right up off of the floor, tries to pull his gun out of his holster but then shrugs his shoulder and runs away. He also can be seen running through the plants by the pond and shooting at Peter.

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The late Pam Chatfield's Lead Zombie character is the dark haired zombie wearing a black and white checkered dress dragging a toaster. She also appears at the glass doors to JCPenney's and she enters the store when the bikers and their girlfriends break in and she wanders around.

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Tom Savini had a crew of eight who had to apply make-up to 200 extras.

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In the commentary for the 2004 Ultimate DVD box set, Assistant Director of the film (and then-wife of George Romero) Christine Forrest remarked how she thought the career of Robert Williams, a Philadelphia native who played the soldier in the apartment projects that asked Peter and Roger if they needed more men in the cellar, would really take off. She was impressed by his professionalism, good looks and pleasant personality. She was disappointed to later learn that he did not continue to pursue acting.

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The one-legged priest's warning to Peter and Roger at the tenement, about how the police and national guard taking the building will do nothing to stave off the oncoming apocalypse, foreshadows the coming collapse of society, which manifests in the second half of the movie and also in Day of the Dead. 'You are stronger than us... But soon, I think they be stronger than you.'

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Stephen is choleric, Roger is sanguine, Francine is melancholic and Peter is phlegmatic.

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While waiting for Roger (Scott H. Reiniger) to return as a zombie Peter (Ken Foree) appears to be holding another (more than likely the same) nickel-plated snubnose Röhm RG-38. This same revolver is seen earlier in Roger's hands.

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The Arminius HW-5T is a common revolver in the movie, used by the apartment dwellers in the beginning as well as the Philadelphia SWAT team, including Peter and Roger.

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Peter (Ken Foree) takes a scoped Savage 99 lever action rifle, chambered in .300 Savage, from the gun store for his personal use. He later uses it against the bikers when they invade the mall.

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The standard issue rifle to both the Philadelphia SWAT team and the United States National Guard in the movie is the Adler-Jager AP-74s standing in for the actual M16. Many shots reveal the AP-74's very small magazine and different flashhider. For most of the movie, the AP-74's are never actually fired, more mimed fired by the actors with sound and muzzle flash added afterwards. It's used by Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott H. Reiniger) from the beginning all the way until they raid the mall's gun shop.

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The split second before and after Wooley blows the head of the apartment resident (it was NOT meant to be a zombie). This was a head made by Tom Savini. It is made from a mold of Gaylen Ross for the original ending of the movie (Peter commits suicide, and Fran sticks her head in the blades of the Helicopter). When they decided to change the ending, they decided to use it in the tenement building scene, so Savini made it look like a African-American male, filled with food scraps, and shot with an actual shotgun.

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According to Romero in the voice over narrative the whole scene of Fran wearing makeup and posing with a revolver was something of an improv from Gaylen Ross and almost landed on the cutting room floor. But they decided to leave it in at the last minute. it was showing how the survivors were starting to crack up even with all the goodies in the mall.

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The 'head explosion' shot was important to American horror films and how horror films before that time didn't show that kind of graphic, in-your-face violence. Savini agrees, saying 'They said, 'Oh, no. If this is the beginning of the movie, what are they gonna do to us towards the end of this movie?'.

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When Savini signed onto the film, he didn't know he'd be appearing in or performing actual stunts in the film. 'It's like the stuff needed to be done, and I think I said, 'I can do that. I can fall off that balcony.' The way Chris remembers it, it was Savini who kept hounding George to let him do a stunt. She quips that, if they did everything Savini wanted to do, they'd still be shooting. Savini mentions that was the fun of the production, that they could bring up new ideas every day and try to sort out how to do it. About that fall off the balcony, though, Savini injured himself while rehearsing it. He missed the cardboard boxes that had been set up to dampen his fall.

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When asked what kind of direction he would give his zombies. Romero stated, 'Oh, you can't,' mentioning that, if you give 100 people dressed as zombies a specific movement you want them to do, every one of them would do that exact movement. 'You just have to say, 'Be dead.' He does mention David Emge, who plays Stephen in Dawn, was the best zombie the director has seen. According to Martin, Emge told him his inspiration for how to act like a zombie was Lon Chaney Jr. in the Mummy movies.

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Romero notes there are about a dozen shots or so, most of them establishing shots, where he wishes they had had more zombies walking around outside the mall. Savini points out that CGI would allow them to have about 3000 zombies in any given shot today. 'I don't want to use it to rely on it,' George says after Martin inquires him about CGI later on. The director clearly prefers practical effects, but he does recognize if an effect is impossible without the usage of CGI. 'But I guess I'm an old fashioned guy,' George says. 'Give me a rubber suit.'

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On the commentary are several instances where George, Chris, or Tom point out when one of their friends or family members show up as a zombie. Savini mentions he still has people come up to him and say they were a zombie in the film.

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Chris Romero states she doesn't like horror movies. Savini calls her a pansy because of this. She does mention she loves George's movies, but she 'can't stand the blood and guts.' She does get noticeably uncomfortable later in the film when the zombies are taking out the biker gang.

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To achieve the bullet ricochets off the side of the elevator shaft wall when the bikers are shooting at Stephen, Savini shot rocks with a slingshot at the wall next to David Emge. The actual hit on his arm utilized a blood-filled prophylactic

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Romero stated the feeling with Dawn of the Dead was 'unrestricted.' 'You're not trying to top your last film in that sense,' he says. 'You're trying to go over the top. You're trying to do what you can to really make it a gas.' Savini agrees topping themselves wasn't the intention, but it naturally happened based out of how much fun they put into the film.

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Included among the '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die', edited by Steven Schneider.

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The skating rink shown in the film no longer exists at the Monroeville Mall. It has since been replaced by a food court.

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Financing had ground to a halt when Dario Argento got wind of the project. Argento was a huge fan of Night of the Living Dead (1968) and was able to secure international rights for the sequel, thereby guaranteeing its budget.

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The policemen, firemen and army national guardsmen featured in the film as the survivors fly over Johnstown are all actual members of their respective service branches. A call was put out to local fire and police stations, as well as the local national guard station to ask for voluntary participation in the film. The production crew was surprised to see the large numbers of servicemen that turned out for the shoot, especially the national guard, which sent dozens of men, trucks and jeeps. Much of the footage shot during this was entirely candid as the servicemen were very happy to pose for pictures and mingle with the cast and crew.

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Entertainment Weekly ranked this Number Five in its 'Guilty Pleasures: Testosterone Edition' list in their March 30, 2007 issue.

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Tom Savini has since gone on record, complaining that the blood in the film looks like melted crayon. George A. Romero actually liked the lurid quality of the blood, saying it emphasized the comic book nature of the material.

The revolver that Stephen finds in the maintenance office is a Röhm RG-66. He uses it throughout the film.

Stephen originally uses a Marlin Model 983 rifle but is incompetent with it. During the sequence when Roger (Scott H. Reiniger) and Peter (Ken Foree) are venturing forth from the safety of the mall to get the trucks Fran (Gaylen Ross) provides cover fire from the roof of the mall with it.

A Herters SA22 with pearl grips is carried around by Francine (Gaylen Ross) for most of the movie.

Mousey (one of the bikers) uses a M1921AC Thompson Submachine Gun with a 50 round drum magazine.

When Peter shoots a zombie (Nick Maestandrea) in the head. This effect was generated by yanking a soup can lid (using fishing line) through the mortician's wax layered on the actor's forehead.

The cop that gets shot on the roof near the beginning of Dawn of the Dead was Savini's first ever head shot. The film originally had a crew member in charge of squibs, but he left halfway through shooting. Savini was left to learn as he went.

'War is Hell until it turns into a party,' said Romero when asked what he was aiming at with the mob of soldiers and citizens hunting zombies for sport. The director mentions this sequence in Dawn is carried over from the end of Night of the Living Dead. 'Don't you think this would be going on in this phenomenon was really happening?' he asks. 'You can only hunt so many deer,' Savini replies.

The helicopter blades in the shot where the zombie accidentally chops the top of his own head off were animated in post.

George notes his collaboration with Argento and the Italian financiers was a very good partnership. The writer/director was left alone to make the film he wanted to make. He notes part of the deal he made with Argento was that the Italian director could cut the film any way he wanted for foreign markets. Argento felt Dawn of the Dead had too much humor, and his version of the film is trimmed of many of the jokes. This version caused censors in foreign markets to crack down hard on the film upon its release. George mentions there are roughly 10 different versions of the film. 'If you want to put out other DVDS,' he jokes to Martin.

To this day, George doesn't use storyboards. He works from shot lists, as he did with Dawn of the Dead. He mentions directing Bruiser and how that film required much more choreography with the shots, since he was working with a 30-day shoot there. He uses a lot more long takes and camera movement with that film, whereas, with Dawn, it's a lot of static shots cut quickly. He also notes a bigger budget means bigger limitations on a film.

Savini stated that the production had a go-to dummy named Boris, He doesn't say whether or not this was the only dummy they had on set, but it's certainly the one they used the most. Savini points out every time Boris is seen in the finished film. Apparently a grenade going off right in front of the dummy was the end of Boris. 'He was made of wood and foam,' says Savini, 'but he lasted a while.'

Because of the budget and the available technology at the time, the production wasn't able to see dailies to ensure what they had shot came out acceptable. The film was shipped to New York and processed at a lab there. Chris mentions a lab tech in New York would call George to let him know if everything looked okay. It didn't always, and the production had to fit in reshoots if it didn't.

George was introduced to Goblin, the Italian band who did soundtracks for a number of horror films, through Dario Argento. Since Argento had the right to change the music in Dawn of the Dead for release in foreign markets, he had the band create a soundtrack for it. George mentions he had the option to use some or all of Goblin's score if he chose to. He uses it periodically throughout Dawn of the Dead.

The bike gang in the third act of the film was primarily made up of a real gang, the Pagans. Savini notes his character wasn't written in the script but was a character he and George came up with on set. All of his character's dialogue is improvised.

Why the pie fight? 'I said, 'Hey, we've got to have a pie fight in this.',' George responds. Chris remembers fighting with George about this because of how stupid she found it. A shot of George and Chris running through the scene as a mall Santa and an elf zombie, respectively, was cut. Chris says she's blocked this out.

All three (Romero, Savini, Forrest) agree how awesome the sound was when all the bikes were driving around inside the mall. George notes it was the first time he had experienced writing something and then being totally blown away by the reality of it when it was being filmed. He mentions there's no way to capture that feeling on film. He also mentions the roar and vibration of the bikes set off every alarm in Monroeville Mall that night.

Savini recollects the stunt of driving through a window. The glass was much thinner on one end than another, and it was angled such that he drove through the thicker part. The part Savini drove through was two inches thick, and he hurt his knee, the only part that wasn't completely padded over. He remembers George having a piece of the 'break-away' glass in his office that he would periodically try to break on his table. 'It was like a steel girder,' remembers Savini. Romero stated how he wishes the had shot the stunt through the window in slow motion. 'Maybe it's anti-Peckinpah, or I don't know. I just don't like it. I like things happening in real time,' George says.

When asked about the film Savini stated, 'When you're born in Pittsburgh, one of the things you want to be when you grow up is a zombie in a Romero film.'

Two of the four main cast, David Emge (Stephen) and Scott H. Reiniger (Roger) are both left-handed.

The German Dubbing of the Film (which features, among others, Christian Brückner who usually dubs Robert De Niro, as Ken Foree's Voice) was written and directed by filmmaker Roland Klick.

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Despite their names appearing in the credits, Joe Pilato and the rest of the officers at Police Dock do not appear in either the US Theatrical or European cuts of the film.

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Joseph Pilato: as a policeman at the boat dock. Pilato had auditioned for the role of Stephen, and would play Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead (1985).

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John Amplas: In 3 roles: Rico, the last Puerto Rican bandit to be shot on the ghetto apartment rooftop, Mall Parking Lot Zombie whose arm is pulled off and Zombie thrown over the mall balcony by Peter.

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Christine Forrest: (wife of George A. Romero) director's assistant in the television studio.

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Ken Nagin: Mustachioed Biker (wearing pendant headband and holding Axe).

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George A. Romero: plays both the director in the television studio, and 'Old Nick' the Santa Claus biker (briefly visible in biker raid).

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There is great dispute over the film's alternate ending, where Peter shoots himself in the head and Fran commits suicide by sticking her head up into the blades of the copter. Some, such as makeup artists Tom Savini and Taso N. Stavrakis, maintain that the scene was filmed, while director George A. Romero used to be adamant that it wasn't. However, in the documentary Document of the Dead (1985) which was shot during the making of this film (and is included on some DVD copies), Romero clearly states to Frumkes, as they walk around the mall set, that they did indeed film the alternative ending, although he never filmed the effects shot. Gaylen Ross had a head mold made for the effects scene, and Savini did not want to see it go to waste, so he dressed the head up as a bearded African-American man, and that is the head that is blown off by a shotgun blast at the beginning of the film. To create the exploding head effect, Savini cleared the set and had the head shot at with an actual shotgun. Romero decided that this conclusion would be too depressing (after the horrors that have occurred) and, partially at the suggestion of his future wife, Christine Forrest, gave Peter and Fran a little bit of hope, However, over the course of the making the film, Romero fell in love with the characters. He also realized they made the film too much like a comic book, too fun, to have it end horrifically. Savini remembers George announcing during production that they were 'going to have an up ending.'

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Director George A. Romero has said several times that David Emge's zombie walk is his favorite out of all the Dead movies. He has even gone on to go on to say that the performance is worthy of Lon Chaney.

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One of the reasons Scott H. Reiniger secured the role of Roger was because he gave the character a 'cool' disposition in auditions, as opposed to other actors who auditioned making the character macho. Director George A. Romero said in the film's commentary track that Reiniger's take on the role in auditions and during filming was important, as in the beginning of the film, he's the character who is calm and keeps the peace between all the characters, which prevented the audience from predicting the twist later on during the truck moving sequence: Roger being the first one to lose control and end up getting bitten. 'He's the one who is calm and cool throughout most of it, and in the end, he's the first one who ends up losing it,' said Romero.

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Real cow intestines were used in the scene where Sledge (Taso N. Stavrakis) gets his guts ripped out. Tom Savini said that he lived near a slaughterhouse and that's how he got the idea to do the effect.

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The gun that Peter uses to contemplate suicide with is a Remington 1866 Derringer chambered in .22.

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In the original script Peter is trapped inside the storage room without ammunition, and the zombies move in for the kill. Fran is inside the chopper and makes a step out on the running board. As more zombies approach her she stands up, and the chopper blades sever her head. After reviewing this with some crew members, he decides it ends on a happy note, with the two escaping as depicted.

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Nineteen Singers/Musicians appear in the movie. John Paul, the former saxophonist and clarinetist of the local cover rock band Changes and space-themed rock band FLUID appears as the bald plaid-shirted zombie in the airport chart house (who also appears on the film's posters, video, DVD, and soundtrack album covers, and some of Day of the Dead (1985)'s releases), John Harrison (former bassist of the rock band Homebrew and who also was known for playing bass for the late legendary Blues/Rock Singer-Guitarist Roy Buchanan, and would also composed the soundtrack for George A. Romero's Day of the Dead (1985)) appears as a janitor zombie in a jumpsuit who later gets stabbed in his left ear with a screwdriver, Blues/Rock/Jazz Singer-Musician Donald Rubinstein (who composed the music for George A. Romero's Martin (1977) and Knightriders (1981) soundtracks) appears as a bloody faced zombie (wearing a denim shirt and green shirt under it) who attacks Roger in the mall parking lot scene, Folk Singer-Musician/Songwriter Vincent Vok appears as a TV Station Employee (wearing a white collared shirt and black necktie) at WGON-TV Studio, Mike Christopher, the former keyboardist of the space-themed rock band UFO, Sunnn, Changes and FLUID appears a Hare Krishna zombie, Michael James, the former and late bassist of Sunnn, Changes and FLUID appears as a bald red-sweatered zombie in our four heroes' Monroeville Mall battle scene during the scene where Roger's arm and leg are wounded (but his bald zombie character can be seen twice only for a brief moment in a crowd), Tommy Lafitte appears as Miguel the Afro zombie in the projects apartment who comes out of a room and ends up biting his surviving wife Miguellita's neck and arm, the late Clayton Hill appears as a white sweater vested zombie who goes up and down the mall escalator, Sharon Hill appears as a Nurse zombie, Jeannie Jefferies appears as a Blonde Glamour Model zombie who attacks Roger in his truck and later gets half of her face blown off, Maxine Lapiduss appears as a Redheaded zombie clawing at the JC Penney's door, Nancy Friedman appears as a Bandanna Girl zombie with one arm, Joseph Pilato appears as the Head Cop (wearing black knit cap) at the police boat dock, Randy Kovitz appears as the cop who asks our four heroes for cigarettes at the police dock and then as a bearded biker wearing a blue beret and sunglasses, Marty Schiff appears as Charlie, Blades The Assistant Head Biker's Sidekick (curly-haired with shades), Trudy Gray, the only female stunt driver of the movie appears as Jack, The Seltzer Bottle Biker's (Nick Tallo) Girlfriend (wearing red bandanna and sunglasses) riding a Gray Honda CL 160 Motorcycle, Rik Billock appears as a 3-Piece Gray Suited Zombie who gets pulled into JC Penney's and who later gets kicked in the face and then finally shot in the head twice by Roger, Mark Mark Cooper (who was known for being the lead singer of the local R&B band Whitey & The Blind Venetians) appears as a long blonde haired, bearded white collared shirt zombie who gets shot in the bikers' battle scene, and Greg Besnak, former lead singer of the goth rock band Without Tears appears as a brown haired and Fu Manchu mustachioed zombie in a poet shirt hit by Sledge the biker who later gets hit by Blades the assistant head biker on the second floor, he also can be seen walking just as Mousey the Tommy-Gun biker and Butchie, the wild haired bearded biker (riding Harley-Davidson Panhead Motorcycle with sidecar) are making their escape of out the mall and then we can finally see him just as he and other Zombies are about to feast on Sledge.

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Three members of the local theatrical, space-themed rock band Fluid (which was originally a rock band called Sunnn and then later evolved into a cover rock band called Changes) appear as bald Zombies. Saxophonist and clarinetist John Paul is the plaid-shirted Zombie in the airport chart house (who also appears on the film's posters, video, DVD, and soundtrack album covers, and some of Day of the Dead (1985)'s releases), keyboardist Mike Christopher is the Hare Krishna zombie, and bassist Michael James is a red-sweatered zombie in our four heroes' Monroeville Mall battle scene. However he can only be seen twice for a brief minute in a crowd scene.

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