A decade after dropping the first, full-blown zombie
apocalypse on our heads with Night of the
Living Dead, George Romero got around to showing us what happened next.
This time the thrills were more graphic, thanks to makeup legend Tom Savini and
a full-color presentation, and the satire was sharper. But you already knew
that. In celebration of the 35th anniversary of its U.S. release,
here are 20 Things You May Not Have
Known About Dawn of the Dead!
1. A tour of the
Monroeville Mall by his friend Mark Mason, who managed the establishment, was
most inspirational to George Romero. When Mason mentioned that his mall would
be a good place to hole up during a disaster, Romero started formulating the
plot of his second Living Dead picture. He also ended up filming Dawn of the Dead in the Monroeville
Mall. Other movies with scenes shot there include Flashdance and Zack and Miri
Make a Porno.
2. The mall
scenes in Dawn of the Dead had to be shot between 2 and 5 AM. 2 AM is when the
mall’s final establishment, a tavern, closed for the night. 5 AM is when
cardiac patients were admitted to exercise.
3. The
Monroeville Mall would once again serve as a horrific setting in Stephen King’s
Christine in 1983. A year before that novel
was published, Romero and King collaborated on the portmanteau Creepshow with Romero directing and King
writing and acting. The two horror icons would also meld minds on Romero’s big
screen adaptation of King’s The Dark Half,
though the original plan for Romero to direct King’s It for the small-screen as a seven-hour miniseries fell apart
because of scheduling problems (Tommy Lee Wallace directed the half-as-long
version in 1990 instead). From a Buick 6
was another Romero/King union that withered on the vine, though Romero adaptations
of The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon and Gerald’s Game might still happen. Romero
has already completed scripts for both possible films.
4. While the
political implications of Night of the
Living Dead were essentially an unintended factor caused by the casting of
a black actor, Duane Jones, in the lead, Romero was fully conscious of the
anti-consumerism message of Dawn of the
Dead and continued to infuse all subsequent Living Dead movies with
political themes.
5. Star Ken Foree
said that Romero thought of Dawn of the
Dead as a western.
6. Before he was
cast in the lead role of Peter, Foree was already friends with Duane Jones, who
did not embrace his role as a cult horror icon nearly as enthusiastically as
Foree.
7. Tom Savini was
supposed to handle makeup chores on Night
of the Living Dead, but his involvement was cut short when he decided to
enlist in the U.S. Army as a photographer, realizing that he might have to
enter combat if he was drafted. His experiences in the Vietnam War greatly
influenced the gore effects he’d later create for Dawn of the Dead.
8. According to
Savini, “a third” of the stunts and gory set pieces, including the infamous
screwdriver scene, were improvised on set.
9. For the even
more infamous helicopter decapitation scene, Savini cast friend Jim Krut
because of his unusually “low forehead.” The spinning copter blades were add
via post-production animation.
11. The original
ending was a lot less optimistic. Romero planned to have Peter shoot himself
and Francine thrust her head into the whirling blades of the helicopter.
12. When the MPAA
gave Dawn of the Dead an X-rating, Romero decided to put out his film
unrated.
13. At the time
Dawn came out, Ken Foree was doing plays with two future sitcom stars—Jackée Harry (“227”) and Khandi
Alexander (“News Radio”)—at Hazel J. Bryant’s theater in NYC. He was making a
measly $63 per week for his stage work.
14. Sixteen years
later, Foree turned down the lead role of a prisoner in the “X-Files” episode “The
List” because he was sick of playing prisoners. Instead he took the supporting
role of a prison guard in that episode.
15. The theatrical
cut of Dawn of the Dead includes The
Pretty Things’ “Cause I’m a Man”, part of the band’s “Electric Banana” sessions
of 1967-1968 in which they cut multiple songs for use in exploitation films.
For his international cut, Dario Argento used his regular collaborators Goblin
to score the film.
16. Roger Ebert,
who’d wagged his finger at Night of the Living Dead largely based on the traumatic effect it had on a totally
inappropriate kiddie matinee audience, gave Dawn a glowing four-star review,
praising the film as “brilliantly crafted, funny, droll, and savagely merciless
in its satiric view of the American consumer society” and lauding the
“nobility” and “sense of humor” of the lead characters.
17. While some
critics celebrated Dawn of the Dead for its “subtle” social commentary, Romero
disagreed. He regarded his message as more of a “pie in the face,” as he told Shock Value author Jason Zinoman.
18. Although he
made his name with zombie films, George Romero is not a big fan of the genre, particularly
films with fast-moving zombies, and thought Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead was too much like a
video game.
19. When The Film Journal informed Romero about a
shopping scene in 28 Days Later that
leaned a little too heavily on Dawn of
the Dead, he incredulously replied, “Oh, you’re kidding!”
20. Dawn of the Dead producer and
rights-owner Richard Rubenstein is currently converting the film to 3D. Romero
told Home Page of the Dead
that he “loved” the completed footage Rubenstein showed him and said the 3D
is “unbelievable.”
