31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 31

It’s New Years Eve…HAPPY NEW YEAR!

DAY 31 of the 31 Days Of Christmas with DAWN OF THE DEAD

For this final day of my special event this month, I have one final Christmas present for you. It’s a rare video, seen only by a select few people today, but now presented to you all, on this special day, for the world to see.

On the evening of Monday March 6th, 1978, at 7:30 pm, KDKA-TV channel 2 in Pittsburgh, aired a special segment of their “Evening Magazine” show titled “Making DAWN OF THE DEAD A Horror Hit”. This was a behind the scenes look at the filming of DAWN OF THE DEAD. From looking at the footage, it would seem that “Evening Magazine” visited the set of DAWN OF THE DEAD twice. Once on Press Day which was January 14th, 1978 and also on February 1, 1978. Press Day was the day when many writers for different magazines, newspapers, or other media outlets visited the set to witness the filming of DAWN OF THE DEAD and write articles for their respective media outlets. “Evening Magazine” was able to capture some great footage of many scenes being filmed on both occasions seen in their video segment. They also got an exclusive interview with director George Romero during that second set visit. It’s a great bit of footage, all told. But enough of what I have to say…see the footage for yourself at the following link on my YouTube channel WGON TV:

https://youtu.be/aKZEGxlc2OQ

I sincerely hope that all of you DAWN OF THE DEAD fans have loved my posts this month. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. Not only was it a joy to talk about DAWN OF THE DEAD and my love for everything associated with the movie, but it’s also gotten me excited enough to entertain the prospect of possibly writing my own book or books on DAWN OF THE DEAD. Would you buy a book that I created? I’d hope that you would. Thanks for all your great comments and for reading and liking my posts.

Have a HEALTHY and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Larry D.

P.S. I have something up my sleeve for February which is George Romero’s birthday month…think of a month-long celebration…until then…Stay Scared!

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 30

Today’s post is yet another modern day shot re-creation and comparison to a scene that you can find in the German George Romero  documentary on the Arrow MARTIN 2 Disc DVD Special Edition. Before I get into this shot, I think I should provide a little back story. A few months ago, after I had re-created so many scenes from the movie itself, I decided that I should do some behind the scenes shots and photos, I hope that you like these as much as the exact shots from the movie. I wasn’t sure if these were worth doing, but they were fun.

In this shot you can see several important people. Largest in the original picture is Christine Romero in the center with George Romero on the bullhorn behind her. Christine was known at the time as Christine Forrest because she and George were not married yet. They eventually tied the knot at the end of shooting George’s next film KNIGHTRIDERS. Christine appeared in DAWN OF THE DEAD in the TV station at the beginning of the film alongside George Romero, in the same scene, as his assistant or a producer of some sort. Her voice can also be heard in the movie as a mall announcer. She’s the voice that says: “Attention all shoppers. If you have a sweet tooth, we have a special treat for you. If your purchases in the next half hour amount to five dollars or more, we'll give you a bag of hard candy free! For the kiddies, or enjoy yourself. So hurry and do your shopping!” Christine’s behind the scenes role on DAWN OF THE DEAD was as an Assistant Director to George Romero helping him realize his vision for this film project in every way. 

In these shots seen here, there is not much to match except one of those marble columns. Look just behind Christine’s head and you can see a pattern on the marble column and match it to the one in the modern day shot. A lot has changed in these shots because the ice skating rink in the mall was removed, you can see the windows looking into it and the Pup A-Go-Go store to their right in the background of the original shot. In present day, that area has stores surrounding the opening and entrance to the area that leads into the food court which replaced the old ice skating rink in 1984.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 29

Today’s post is another modern day shot re-creation and comparison to a scene that you can find in the DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD documentary on George Romero and his major films up to DAWN OF THE DEAD.

In this shot you can see several behind the scenes people. Largest in the original picture is DAWN OF THE DEAD’s Director of Photography: Michael Gornick. Mike controled everything that affects what the camera is able to capture through the use of certain cameras, lenses, and filters. He also chose the composition of shots, exposure, lighting, camera movements, and he even operated the camera. He was the most important person on the crew besides the director George Romero. Needless to say, we should all be grateful for Mike’s work on the movie. There is no doubt that he was a major part of this film and why it’s a great film. 

Closest to Mike, over his shoulder is John Rice. John was in charge of continuity. His job was to make sure that details in the movie were consistent from shot to shot and scene to scene. John also played the SWAT officer that killed himself at the beginning of the movie.

In the far back in this photo behind Mike Gornick and John Rice are John Harrison and Pat Buba sitting down. John Harrison is wearing the light tan sport coat and Pat Buba is wearing a colorful serape. John played the Screw Driver zombie, which was created to fix a continuity problem, when Roger was seen in one scene wearing a jacket tied around his waist and not wearing that jacket around his waist in a following scene. So John was made up as a zombie with the purpose to grab Roger and the jacket around his waist, removing this jacket to solve this issue. In the movie, Roger runs through JC Penney’s and John’s zombie grabs him, they wrestle on the ground, and Roger kills it by driving a screw driver into it’s ear. In the struggle this zombie dies holding on to the jacket, Roger loosens the jacket around his waist, and leaves it there, problem solved. Pat Buba, who is next to John Harrison, appeared as the serape wearing raider near the end of the movie. Pat notably participates in the pie fight and he eventually gets surrounded by zombies and devoured as the bikers and raiders start leaving the mall. Both John Harrison and Pat Buba had worked with George Romero previously on THE WINNERS series of sports documentaries, with Pat also having worked with Romero on MARTIN.

In these shots seen here, there is not much to match except one of those marble columns. Look above the camera eyepiece in the shot with Mike Gornick. You can see a pattern on the marble and match it to the one in the modern day shot. Much has changed in these shots because the ice skating rink in the mall was removed, you can see the windows looking into it, in the background of the original shot. In present day, that area is open and it leads into the food court which replaced the old ice skating rink in 1984.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 28

Today’s post is another modern day shot re-creation and comparison to what you see in DAWN OF THE DEAD. Everyone loved my last one in the boiler room and control room area of the mall, so I figured I’d do another one today. That area of the mall is officially known as the HVAC room. 

Todays post features a shot of the room from Stephen’s point of view when he realizes that something is following him in the boiler room. The security guard zombie had spotted Stephen and started to follow him around. After this shot of the machinery is seen, Stephen then tries to find the zombie to kill it. He bumbles that and almost gets killed in the process. Typical for Stephen, he was always screwing up. Fortunately he manages to get a bullet in his gun in the nick of time and he kills the zombie. That security guard zombie was played by Warner Shook, who went to Rollins College with Christine Romero, Scott Reiniger, and Amy Ingersoll. They are all still friends to this day. Warner also appeared as “Pippin” in Romero’s KNIGHTRIDERS and as “Richard Grantham” in the “Father’s Day” segment of CREEPSHOW.

Many things in this area of the mall have changed. Many pipes and pieces of machinery have changed and it’s sometimes very hard to figure out where certain shots from DAWN OF THE DEAD were captured. The two round poles in the original shot seen here are not even there in the modern day room. Several poles like this are just nonexistent where they once were, which also makes it confusing sometimes when trying to figure out these modern day comparison photos. If you look closely though, this is a great comparison. Lots of things are in the same spots, including certain I-beams and square pieces of machinery. The lights are in the exact same spots too. The one light in the modern day photo that is turned on, is actually off in the original shot, but in the same place. Lots of little details line up perfectly, so that you know, this is the spot. 

I do have to remind you to not try to seek out this area on your own. I had permission to go down here and take photos because I am the tour guide for the Monroeville Mall tours. There is an opportunity for you to see this room though, during the film location tours held at the Living Dead Weekend: Monroeville each year. The next event is on June 10-12, 2022. Tickets are not available on the website yet, but might be in the new year.

https://www.thelivingdeadweekend.com/

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 27

Today’s post is another modern day shot re-creation and comparison to what you see in DAWN OF THE DEAD. Everyone seems to love these and I realized that I had not included any in this back hallway in this month’s posts. 

You can find the original shot in the movie at the point where the guys have escaped from JC Penney’s and they are jumping down from the ceiling duct outside the door to this back hallway. Peter grabs the wagon from the top of the main hallway where he staged it. They had filled with the supplies that they gathered earlier. Stephen heads back first in this shot, with Peter and Roger coming behind him. Unbeknownst to them, Fran is being attacked by the Hare Krishna zombie at that exact same moment. The guys get back in time and save Fran and kill that pesky zombie. 

Comparing the shots above, things have changed in that hallway a bit. There is a wooden sort of wall covering, painted brown that runs down the length of the hallway to protect the walls from being gouged or nicked by people bringing things through the hallway. The door has even been changed here, it’s not the same door that you see in the movie. The emergency lighting up above the doorway is the same though and still there in the same spot. While many things have changed minutely here, the geography or shape of the area is the same with a bit of wall protruding on the left in both pictures, which creates a small alcove on that side of the hallway. It’s definitely the spot and they used this one hallway extensively throughout DAWN OF THE DEAD in many many scenes.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 26

Today’s post is a fantastic modern day shot re-creation and comparison to what you see in DAWN OF THE DEAD. The last post that I made featuring a scene in this set of stairs got a great response, so I figured that I’d do another. I always point out this spot during my tours of the Monroeville Mall each year during the Living Dead Weekend. I take everyone who attends the tours through this very stairway that is supposed to lead to the main characters’ hideout. 

You’ll remember this shot from the movie, near the end, when “Peter” played by Ken Foree returns to their hideout without Stephen. He doesn’t know if Stephen is ok, but no doubt fears the worst. Peter comes around the corner, up the stairs, and looks up at Fran in this shot. She sees him and comes running down the steps. Peter blocks her from going down to look for Stephen, they both fear the worst, but decide to wait and see what happens. Stephen then reanimates as a zombie and leads a horde of zombies up to their hideout. You know the rest. 

In this comparison, you can match the dimples in the concrete blocks. You can match the the pattern of rows of blocks and also the mortar sticking out in spots at the joints between blocks and brick. There’s no marble here to match up, like in the main part of the mall, but it all matches up. I hope to see many of you next June on my tours of the mall, just so I can show you this very spot.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas everyone!

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 25

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Todays special Christmas Day present is this post featuring a very rare video with very rare RAW footage from the set of DAWN OF THE DEAD. Some of this footage has NEVER been seen anywhere else since this program aired. Here’s the story behind it. 

On Saturday February 25, 1978 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD had it’s Pittsburgh TV premiere on WPGH-TV Channel 53. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was shown uncut with a disclaimer before the movie that stated “Due to explicit graphic scenes, parental discretion is suggested” The movie started at 11:30pm and it had a special introduction by George Anderson the Entertainment Editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After the movie played, he also hosted an interview segment with director George Romero, they discussed NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and its' upcoming sequel DAWN OF THE DEAD. This interview also represented the first time any film clips from Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD were shown to the public. George states in the interview that they had just finished filming a week and a half prior to this presentation. There are moments in this footage that have never been seen anywhere else ever before or since it’s airing. I hope that you enjoy a look at this rare footage and have a Happy Holiday. Click the link below to watch this rare footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfJh5cXyAU0

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 24

Today’s post is a fantastic one with a great story behind it, literally. This story starts many years ago. 

As you may know by now, I like to find the exact spot where scenes from DAWN OF THE DEAD happened and then I try to re-create the shot in modern day. You know this from my recent shot re-creations and comparisons that I have posted from this fall and winter. I actually began doing these much earlier than recently though. I began doing them as far back as 2012. That’s where it all began. 

In the summer of 2012 I did an extensive amount of research on the Monroeville Mall from DAWN OF THE DEAD. I figured out where most of the scenes and the things you see in the movie happened. During a sort of informal tour of Romero filming locations that I put together in September of 2012, I decided that I really wanted to try and re-create the shots that you see in the movies, to compare them to what you see in the movies, all these years later. 

I’ve always wanted to do certain iconic ones. One of the main ones that I wanted to pinpoint the exact spot for, was where the Machete zombie, played by Leonard Lies, met his end. Many times, while at the mall, I tried to match the floor patterns in the shot seen here, to the modern day floor. Here’s a screen capture of this scene from the movie from the Anchor Bay DVD.

In case you don’t remember the scene, I’ll refresh your memory with words and pictures. I’ll set the scene. The bikers and looters have entered the mall and started to take the things they need or just want. Tom Savini plays one of those looters, he plays a character named Blades, because he wielded a machete. At one point he’s riding on the back of a motorcycle through the mall and a zombie sort of grabs him or bumps into him, knocking him off the back of the motorcycle. That zombie was played by crew member Leonard Lies, who was a grip on the DAWN film crew. 

Savini gets up and turns around, reaches for his machete in his boot, and goes to kill the zombie that knocked him off the motorcycle. He walks up and says “Say goodbye, creep!” He swings his machete and it hits him square in the head. He pulls out his machete and runs off.

I tried to find this exact spot for a long time, it took a number of years, and a number of trips to figure it out. There are a few reasons why it was hard to figure out. The major reason was that the shot, as seen in the movie on DVD, and Blu-ray was never clear enough to see the patterns on the floor to get an exact match. I tried to find the exact spot on many trips to the mall, but I was always unsuccessful. There is another reason that it was hard to find the exact spot, but that’s a story for another day. Here’s a picture of the scene from the Anchor Bay Blu-ray.

Then in 2018, Nicolas Winding Refn supervised a restoration of the European version of DAWN OF THE DEAD in Italy. It was released by Midnight Sun and Koch Media. It’s the clearest that the movie and that scene have ever looked up to that time. I took a screen capture of that scene from the full frame edition of the restoration that was included in that set with the restoration of the European cut and the other cuts of the film. I could clearly see enough of the floor to get an exact match, and it became my mission to find that exact spot, during my next visit to Pittsburgh. 

My next visit to Pittsburgh was for the Living Dead Weekend: Monroeville in June of 2019. I picked up my buddy Daz Sargeant from the airport, he had just arrived from England, and I brought him to the mall. I told him that I was going off to find this spot and he came along. I think that we had even looked for it together on a previous trip, that time we could not find it, but this time we did. Armed with the newest, clearest, screen shot of this scene, we found it in no time at all. 

It was amazing to find the exact spot, especially after looking for it for so long. You can match the rock patterns on the floor in both of the shots. It was a great moment. 

Of course we had to re-create that shot. You see the result here and the reason for this post. I got in front of the camera and Daz took the photo. I’ve wanted to talk about this for a long time, but I never had the time to create this post. I’m glad that I finally did though. It was fun finding it with my buddy Daz, he’s one of my best friends, we have done a lot of location finding and visiting over the years. It’s always a blast hanging out with him. He hasn’t been over here to the states since 2019, I hope that he makes it out again for the Living Dead Weekend in 2022. 

I hope that all of you can enjoy and relate to these moments of mine where I’ve “nerded out” at the Monroeville Mall because of my love of DAWN OF THE DEAD. Happy Christmas Eve.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 23

Today’s post features another photo, never seen, or rarely seen ever before. 

It captures a moment of that time and features random zombies with a biker in front of JC Penney’s as seen in DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

That JC Penney’s store is not in the same place in the modern day mall. I know lots of people do know this, but in case you don’t know, this JCPenney store that was used extensively in the movie was closed and then demolished in the winter 2012 into 2013. It was a part of the Monroeville Mall, but it was decided to demolish that building and rebuild a new building in it’s spot to house the Cinemark movie theater on the upper level and the H&M store beneath it on the lower level. While JCPenney’s used to be in the center of the mall it is now on one end of the mall on the upper level, outside what is now known as Romero Court, which used to be the Clock Tower Court back in the day. Romero Court outside the current JCPenney’s location is where the George Romero memorial bust can be seen on permanent display at the mall. I point all this out because some people go to the mall and they see JCPenney’s and where it currently is and then they look for the escalator but there is no escalator. That JCPenney’s is not the same store and it’s not in the same spot as what you see in the movie.

I don’t have much else to say considering this photo, but I do hope that you enjoy seeing these rare photos taken while the movie was being filmed.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 22

Today’s post features another one of my shot re-creations and comparisons featuring an area of the Monroeville Mall, seen in DAWN OF THE DEAD, which is not generally accessible to the public. This is the set of stairs that leads to the apartment or hideout where the main characters lived inside the Monroeville Mall. Their hideout was a set built in downtown Pittsburgh near George Romero‘s old office building, it was not actually in the mall at the top of this set of stairs. This set of stairs that you see in the movie is actually in the mall and it still exists there to this day. I’m super excited to show you this comparison because I haven’t really featured any shots that took place in this stairway as yet. I actually got a chance to go in there and re-create just about every single shot that you see in the movie, but I’m gonna start off right here with this one, i’ll have plenty more for future posts.

In the movie scene, pictured here, you see Stephen freshly returned from the dead, going back up to where he used to live with all the other main characters. It’s some thing he remembered. Unfortunately, he ends up leading a horde of zombies up there with him and you know how that turned out. 

Like I mentioned earlier, this spot in the mall is not generally accessible to the public, so please do not try to seek it out and go there on your own. I had special permission to be there and to show you these things because I host the Monroeville Mall film location tours each year during the Living Dead Weekend events that are held there each year. The next one takes place on June 10 through the 12th, 2022. The only way for you to see this stairway officially is during one of my tours where I take each and every person on the tour through the stairway, and I explain all the things that you would need to know concerning this set of stairs. While much of it looks the same, there are some differences, which I do have to explain to people when they visit there. I do hope to see many of you at the Living Dead Weekend next year.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 21

The subject of today’s post is this rarely seen photo of Ken Foree as “Peter” in DAWN OF THE DEAD. In this photo you see him inspecting the guns in the gun store. It’s a great shot, not only because Ken is in it, but it has a great view of the gun store not seen in the movie. Over the years many people ask if there really was a gun store in the mall at that time. The fact is that there was no gun store in the mall during the filming of the movie, so through movie trickery, they made it seem like there was a gun store in the mall. The scenes in the gun store were filmed inside of Firearms Unlimited located in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh. There is one other thing that I would like to mention in this post, Ken Foree just joined Instagram, you should follow him there if you want to keep up with all his latest things that he has going on.

Here’s the link to his Instagram:

https://instagram.com/kenforee8?utm_medium=copy_link

As I said earlier, today’s post features a very rare photo, it comes from the same set of Australian transparencies that I mentioned in my first post on Day 1 of the 31 Days Of Christmas with DAWN OF THE DEAD. I already provided The information that I know about them in that post, but it bears repeating it again. 

I scanned this photo today from a 4X5 transparancy issued for promotional purposes by United Artists in Australia. United Artists handled the release of DAWN OF THE DEAD in Australia in April of 1980. This photo is one in a set of 16 of 4X5 transparancies which also came with a 2 page supplement that provides "Color key set captions" whatever that means.

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you enjoy this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 20

 

Today's post features something that I think is cool. I also think you will think it’s cool. Yes, it has to do with DAWN OF THE DEAD of course. But what is it that I’m showing you here? Here’s the deal, I own two panels from the bottom of the escalator that used to be in JC Penney’s at the Monroeville Mall, as seen in DAWN OF THE DEAD. The picture that you see here shows what the escalator looked like in the movie and what my pieces look like currently, after I staged them outside my garage. There’s a story to go along with these of course.

The story starts October 8, 2012. A little over 9 years ago. I was told that JC Penney’s at the Monroeville Mall was selling off its fixtures on the following day, because it had closed a few weeks previously. I was invited to come out the next day on October 9th, if I wanted to come out. Cool. I wanted to go, so it was an easy decision to make. The only problem was that I live in South Carolina which is about 8 hours away from the Monroeville Mall. I had to go though, I had never gotten the chance to slide down the escalator there in JC Penney’s like Roger did in DAWN OF THE DEAD. The JC Penney’s building would soon be torn down and gone for good. Demolition ran from the end of 2012 to the spring of 2013. The Cinemark movie theater would be built there in its place. I had to get into that building if I had the chance, now I had that chance, so I got out of working the next day, and decided to make my way there. One more thing, I had to be there at 9am or some odd early hour. So I had to drive through the night to be there on time to get into JC Penney’s at the specified time. That also meant almost no sleep before I left. But I had to go…

I got there exactly at 9am or whatever time I had to be there. I met up with Kevin Kriess and Mandy Danger of the Living Dead Museum of course. They wanted to check things out and buy some of the fixtures or other things that might interest them, for the museum. You know the main reason I was there of course. Needless to say, I slid down that escalator, like seven times, it was awesome. I even slid down it in a full SWAT outfit, just like the guys wore in DAWN OF THE DEAD. I even got it on video, it’s on YouTube. I’ll provide a link at the end of this post. 

Anyway, a lot happened that day, at one point I helped take apart the escalator, so that Kevin and I could keep some of the parts. It all would have been thrown out and trashed, so it wasn’t a big deal to take some of it. Kevin even paid a fee for the stuff that we took out of there. 

Here’s a picture of me on that day, I had taken apart most of the one side of the escalator and I was moving to the other side of the escalator. I ended up taking home, two bottom pieces of the escalator side panel. The red arrows in the following picture are pointing to where they were, you can see the one with the red sticker that I have and where it clearly was. 

Here’s another shot from the movie showing exactly where my pieces used to be on the escalator.

Kevin took most of the rest of the panel sides of the escalator, he sold some pieces over the years, and even still has some big pieces like mine in the Living Dead Museum to this day. Long story short, I ended up getting those two big bottom panels from the escalator, I also got two broken escalator steps from a nearby closet, I also got the metal sort of molding that held those panels into place on the escalator. I also got a sign from the ceiling above the top of the escalator and I got a big box of JC Penney’s blueprints from various renovations to the building over the years. It was super fun that day and so worth the trip up there.

That same day I also was able to visit the roof of the mall for the first time and I got to see the set of stairs used in the movie, that lead to the hideout of the main characters in DAWN OF THE DEAD, for the first time. It was a day of firsts. It was also Mandy’s birthday, so there was a lot going on. 

The story doesn’t just end after all these events though, I still had to drive home 8 hours, I had work the next day in the evening. Yes, after all this excitement, I had to drive home that same day that I drove up there. I ended up leaving around 11pm that night and I got home around 7am. It was tough to drive up to Pittsburgh on little sleep, spend the day there, and then drive back home. That was at least 16 hours of driving, with a full day in Pittsburgh in between, it was super tough to handle, but I did it, and it was so worth it. I still have all those items that I collected that day. There is so much more that I could tell you about that day, but I think that I’ve said enough for now. It was a memorable trip to say the least.

Here’s a video of one of my slides down that beautiful, but long gone escalator…enjoy!

https://youtu.be/8aw3BvGvbIM

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you are enjoying this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 19

Today's post features another one of these cool re-creation and comparison combos, that I must be known for by now. This one is special because I have not yet shown you any of these in the control room/boiler room area. In actuality, it’s the HVAC center of the mall. This place is not generally accessible to the public. Since 2017 though, I have been able to take my Monroeville Mall tours down there each year. So these tours are not to be missed. They only take place during the Living Dead Weekend events, so when those tickets become available, get ‘em while you can. They do sell out. The next event is June 10-12, 2022.

Over the years, many of the pipes, and various parts in this room have been replaced with newer versions and some of them don’t quite match what you see in the movie. It can be challenging to line up the way things looked in this room during the filming of the movie and now, but I was able re-create some great shots from the film, and I got a ton of photos down there. I’ll show you more in due time, but today we have this one shot featuring Peter and Roger when they first enter the area and head toward the control room.

There is no marble to match up down there, but structural things like metal columns and other things can still be matched in both shots, even if they have been repainted new colors. Many pipes and things have changed, but many things have remained the same, study these shots and you will see more of the same things, in the same place, than various other views that I can show you down there. This is why I chose this one shot in particular, to whet your appetite for more in the future. I do have lots more in here…

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you are enjoying this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD. 

31 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS WITH DAWN OF THE DEAD: DAY 18

Today's post features a bit more trivia concerning our favorite film DAWN OF THE DEAD. Seen here in the original shot from DAWN OF THE DEAD, you see one of the scope zombies, you can see several scope zombies in the movie. These are zombies seen in the rife scope sight by one of the main characters in the movie. This scope zombie is played by Nick Mastandrea. You might be asking yourself, what do this zombie and the movie THE BREED have in common. Well, let me tell you a story. 

Nick Mastandrea who played this scope zombie, went on to have a major career in Hollywood and he directed the movie THE BREED, which I just watched last night. The first time you see his zombie in the movie is outside of the gates in the view out of the gun store. Peter and Stephen see him clawing outside the gate, trying to get in. He is seen one more time later in the film. After the guys have taken the car inside the mall, they begin to lock the doors to keep the zombies out. They arrive at a second set of doors, they get out of the car, and Peter and Stephen look at the zombies advancing and Peter says: “We’ll get it all locked off, then we’re going on a hunt.” Peter then takes aim and shoots Nick’s scope zombie in the head, killing it. 

Nick has had a very interesting career since he was a zombie in DAWN OF THE DEAD. In fact, Nick got his start in the film and TV industry working with George Romero and his crew, recording sound, and acting as a grip on the series of sports documentaries that George made in the mid 70’s called THE WINNERS. These were made to spotlight the biggest athletes of the day and they were broadcast on national television. Nick was a Key Grip on many of Romero’s films, including KNIGHTRIDERS, CREEPSHOW, and DAY OF THE DEAD, until he graduated to Assistant Director on MONKEY SHINES and First Assistant Director on TWO EVIL EYES and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 1990. After working with Romero and company for so long, Nick then decided to branch out and he started a long and ongoing career as a First Assistant Director, working with some of the biggest names in the industry, people like John Landis, James Mangold, Ted Demme, Andrew Niccol, Rian Johnson, and Wes Craven. He’s worked on movies such as STRIKING DISTANCE, SCREAM 1-4, BLOW, WALK THE LINE, 3:10 TO YUMA, LOOPER, and SOUTHPAW. He still works to this day on huge movies and TV shows, on things like the HBO series WESTWORLD and THE NEW MUTANTS. He’s in demand and working steadily. 

I just watched his directorial debut THE BREED last night, which was produced by his buddy Wes Craven. I really liked it, I recommend checking it out if you have never seen it, it was highly entertaining. Don’t pay attention to the reviews out there, it’s a fun flick. As you can see, Nick has come a long way since he was in DAWN OF THE DEAD, and it all started with George Romero. And way back when, he was a zombie in DAWN OF THE DEAD. How about that? Pretty cool huh?

Each day this month I will be showing you something cool, rare, or even noteworthy concerning DAWN OF THE DEAD as a Christmas Present to the fans from me. I hope that you are enjoying this holiday look at DAWN OF THE DEAD.