Dawn of the Dead is an undeniable classic of the horror genre, and while Night of the Living Dead is arguably more influential and "important" in regards to movie history, Dawn seems considerably more popular. Today, Dawn may seem a little dated— especially when it comes to the sound design and some questionable visual effects. But there's simply no denying just how incredible it is despite the elements of it that haven't aged particularly well.
It remains one of the most popular zombie movies ever made— if not the most popular— and many people consider director George A. Romero to be the grandfather of the zombie genre. The following trivia tidbits from the landmark movie's production come largely from the commentary and behind-the-scenes featurettes on various home video releases of the movie.
It Had 13 Times The Budget Of Night Of The Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead was made on a budget of $1.5 million— about $6 million in today's money. It's certainly not a small budget, especially by horror movie standards, and it allowed Dawn to be far more ambitious than its predecessor.
Back in the late '60s, George A. Romero made Night of the Living Dead for a measly $114,000 (or about $850,000 today). The budget forced them to shop at Goodwill for costumes and use simple chocolate syrup as blood. However, actually accumulating $1.5 million proved far more difficult than Romero had imagined.
The Involvement Of Dario Argento
Dario Argento was a popular Italian horror filmmaker, known for his work in the "giallo" subgenre. Perhaps his most famous pre-Dawn of the Dead work is Suspiria, released in 1977. Argento was a big fan of Night of the Living Dead and swooped in to rescue Romero in the midst of some financial difficulties.
No one seemed interested or confident in the concept for Dawn, and Romero couldn't find any investors. Argento got wind of the potential sequel and met with Romero, offering him financing in exchange for international rights to the movie and the ability to re-edit the film for international release.
Romero Knew The Manager Of The Mall
Even with financing secure, it's hard to imagine how Romero was able to film the movie inside of a shopping mall given the limited budget. The answer lies in Romero's personal connections. Romero had a friend named Mark Mason, who worked at the Oxford Development Company— a real estate firm based out of Pennsylvania which manages the Monroeville Mall.
Romero met Mason through an acquaintance years earlier while studying at Carnegie Mellon University. These connections allowed Romero to film inside their mall, on one condition...
Filming At Night
Romero obviously couldn't shoot inside the mall while it was in operation, so he and his team of filmmakers were forced onto the graveyard shift for a couple months. Romero only had eight hours a night to get set up, film, and clean up, as they were only permitted inside the mall between 11:00pm and 7:00 the following morning.
Movie production is well known for its exhausting 12+ hour workdays, so the eight hours that Romero and his team had seems incredibly restricting. Luckily, they were able to get it done.
Removing The Christmas Decorations...Every Single Night
Unfortunately, Romero picked a really bad time to film a movie inside a mall. Shooting began on November 13, 1977, which meant the crew needed to take down the mall's Christmas decorations every single night. And yes, they were responsible for putting them back up as well.
Unsurprisingly, this ate up a ton of the crew's already-restrictive 8-hour workdays, and Romero eventually grew so frustrated that he halted production for the three weeks preceding Christmas. The time wasn't entirely wasted, as Romero used it to begin editing the movie using the footage he had already shot.
Some Places Didn't Exist In The Mall
While most of the movie was shot inside Monroeville Mall and its many stores, numerous indoor locations were shot elsewhere. For example, the gang's hideout in the upper reaches of the mall and the elevator shaft sequences were shot on a soundstage inside the building of Romero's production company.
The Monroeville Mall also didn't have a gun store, so the filmmakers were forced to use Pittsburgh's Firearms Unlimited instead. Some clever editing did the rest.
An Alternate, More Violent Ending
The ending to Dawn of the Dead sees Peter and Fran flying away from the breached mall into an unknown future. However, this was not the originally scripted ending. In the original script, Peter shoots himself in the head and Francine decapitates herself with the rotating helicopter blades.
Romero obviously changed his mind during production, although one surviving element of the ending remains: the exploding head seen in the beginning housing project raid is actually the prop head built for Francine's suicide sequence.
Tom Savini Returned From Vietnam
Tom Savini is known as a master of the make-up craft, and his work in Dawn of the Dead remains exceptional to this day. Romero actually wanted Savini for Night of the Living Dead as well, but he left to serve in the Vietnam War. He served as a combat photographer, and it was his horrific experiences in the job that influenced his make-up work.
He told the Pittsburgh Post, "When I was in Vietnam I was a combat photographer. My job was to shoot images of damage to machines and to people. Through my lens, I saw some hideous [stuff]. To cope with it, I guess I tried to think of it as special effects. Now, as an artist, I just think of creating the effect within the limitations we have to deal with."
Joseph Pilato As Savini's Assistant
One of Tom Savini's assistants on Dawn of the Dead was Joseph Pilato. Savini had a small team of make-up artists who were hired to apply simple gray and blue make-up to the zombies while Savini worked on the more complex stuff.
Pilato was one of these men, and his role within production resulted in a small cameo— this scene was eliminated from the theatrical version but can still be found in the director's cut. Seven years later, he reunited with Romero and Savini and starred as Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead.
It Was Released Unrated
It's exceedingly rare for a movie to release unrated, as the distributor takes a major risk in doing so. Most major theater chains refuse to show unrated movies, so they're typically found in more independent, locally-owned theaters. Even more movie chains refuse to show NC-17-rated— formally known as X-rated— movies, as these don't generate much money.
Unfortunately, Dawn of the Dead was slapped with an X rating owing to its incredibly graphic violence. To help the film's commercial success, Romero and his producers decided to release Dawn unrated. It proved the right call, as the movie made a very respectable $16 million at the domestic box office— or about $60 million adjusted for inflation.