We start off in a TV studio that is trying to report on the drama that is unfolding outside, auguring on air whether or not the dead are returning to life and attacking the living, the director is more interested in ratings and viewer numbers than what is actually happening outside, they've been at it for hours and the confusion and tension is palpable!
Here we meet Steven (Flyboy), the TV stations helicopter eye in the sky and Francine one of the production assistants, they have a plan to get away!
Cut to an apartment building and a SWAT team that are trying to carry out orders an executive order that demands all citizens to vacate private properties and also give up their dead.
Here they have their first encounters with the living dead, it doesn't go well for a lot of them, and the ones that survive are showing signs of combat shock because of the horrors they are witnessing.
Roger and Peter, SWAT members from different units, team up amid the chaos, Roger tells Peter that he has a friend Steven that has a plan to get out of the city.
They fly off into the night with no real idea of where they're going or what to do, but at least they're away from the densely populated city.
Our heroes are flying about aimlessly when they come across an out of town mall, the place is surrounded by quite a few zombies but they decide to land on the roof to investigate.
They realise that it should be safe enough to rest up for a while when they find a room full of emergency rations.
The more they investigate the mall the more they buy into the idea that this could be a long term option, with a little bit of work and a bit of a clear out they'd have all the supplies and shelter they'd need!
They manage to clear the mall of unwanted guests but at a cost, which sort of puts a downer on the whole situation a bit.
But as we all know, all good things must come to an end, and it's done in a quite spectacular, and funny at times, style!
The Monroeville Mall was used for the filming and was actually a working mall at the time, the crew could only film between 10pm and 6am, it is still in use today and has become a bit of a tourist attraction, it also hosts special events and Comic-Con type events where the cast and crew from the movie attend.
The script for Dawn of the Dead was written by Romero and Dario Argento acted as script advisor, special effects were handled by the brilliant Tom Savini and some of the music performed by Goblin, so all in all a bit of a dream team!
One of the most memorable scenes involves a chap called Jim Krut (a friend of Tom Savini who was notorious for having a low forehead!) or more affectionately "Helicopter Zombie", check out his website: https://www.helizombie.com/
Romero came up with the famous tagline "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth" whilst drunk, he doesn't remember any great bolt of inspiration he was just drinking one night trying to get the script finished!
It took Romero 3 weeks to write the script for Dawn of the Dead, he wrote it in Rome after being invited over by Dario Argento, under the proviso that Argento could do a european cut.
A lot of the special effects were made up on the fly by Tom Savini, including the arm in the blood pressure tester!
Not all the bikers were actors, some of them were from the local chapter of The Pagans Motocycles Club, and they used their own bikes!
There are 3 official UK releases of the movie of various lengths:
Argento Cut
119 mins Dario Argento cut, AKA the European Cut, this is the shortest and most tense of the cuts, it also replaces most of the stock music for an extended Goblin soundtrack that works really well, I really like this cut though it does omit one scene that is a firm crowd (and Rich) pleaser!
127 mins Theatrical Cut is which is the most widely available and the one that Romero considers his directors cut.
139 mins Extended cut, AKA the Directors Cut, but not by Romero, it has extended scenes in the TV studio, SWAT clearing the apartment building and the bikers attack on the mall.
Extra Long Cut
There is also an extra long version called The Ultimate Cut or Complete Cut that was released in Germany only and is pretty difficult to get hold of, it runs at a whopping 156 mins and it doesn't add anything to the story overall, it's a bit bloated, but I've added a link for the curious!
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