Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team members, a traffic reporter, and his television executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
The zombie apocalypse has hit Earth. Two personnel from a TV station and two policemen set off in a helicopter to find a safe place to hide out. Their search leads them to a shopping mall where they manage to find a place that, while not zombie-free, is quite secure. So far, so good.Written by
grantss
In 1968, George Romero brought us "Night of the Living Dead." It became the classic horror film of its time. Now, George Romero brings us the most intensely shocking motion picture experience for all time. See more »
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. See more »
Goofs
When Peter talks to Stephen at one point, his hand blocks his mouth. Moving away for a few seconds, however, it can be seen that Peter's lips do not match the words on the audio track. See more »
The zombies overrun the mall throughout the course of the end credits. See more »
Alternate Versions
What sets the Japanese Theatrical Version apart from all the other versions is its inclusion of a context for the zombification crisis. Nippon Herald Films, the film's Japanese distributor, feared that Japanese audiences would not be able to accept the ambiguous setting of zombies on Earth that Romero had deliberately left unanswered. As a result, their prints of the film begin with an explosion against a black background, followed by a typed-out explanatory text, presented in English with Japanese subtitles: "In 19XX an exploding planet in a far off galaxy beamed strange rays across space to Earth. It caused the transformation of the dead one after another into resurrected zombies seeking the flesh of the living---". Ironically, this exposition bares similarity to the possible cause of zombification described by a newscaster in Night of the Living Dead: the atmospheric explosion of a space probe that had become contaminated by radiation following an expedition to Venus. See more »
When you want brutal, look no further, but when you also want to see perhaps the greatest of all comic-book movies not based on a comic-book, it's in George Romero's original take on his continuing mythology. It's not just one of the towering horror films, or horror comedies (what will a poor dead fellow do when the escalator starts?!) but one of the great sequels, more ambitious and ass-kicking than its predecessor, with a filmmaker more confident and technically proficient with his abilities.
Romero didn't originally want to do *any* sequel to his original 'Night', but after a visit by some friends to a soon-to-open mall nearby his hometown of Pittsburgh, it struck a chord as to who would be coming here – and what so much consumerism in one place would mean. "Why do they come here?" one of the four survivors that happens upon this mall swarming with these flesh-eaters asks another. "This meant something to them. Instinct, maybe. This was an important part of their lives," he responds.
I don't think necessarily Romero meant to show the film as any sort of 'This is what will happen!" type of social horror thing. It's more about, this is where we are at NOW, and in that sense, though broader and a whole LOT bloodier, it holds a place right next to a film like Network as one of the magnificent satires of its time and place, and as much about what the public is like. Romero acts as both pessimist and optimist in this world though; past all the chopped limbs, exploding heads (oh yeah!), Tom Savini stunt and make-up and intestines ripped apart, what holds up the film for me is seeing these four characters come to grip with the horror they've made for themselves, holding up in this "paradise" of a mall.
Balls-to-the-wall horror, social horror, and some genuine paranoid horror stuff (note to self, never try and fire a gun at a single zombie when in a dark room full of electrical wiring and pipes), and plenty of rock and roll attitude, this is a personal favorite and the most entertaining horror film of its time. And the Goblin music soundtrack yummy.
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When you want brutal, look no further, but when you also want to see perhaps the greatest of all comic-book movies not based on a comic-book, it's in George Romero's original take on his continuing mythology. It's not just one of the towering horror films, or horror comedies (what will a poor dead fellow do when the escalator starts?!) but one of the great sequels, more ambitious and ass-kicking than its predecessor, with a filmmaker more confident and technically proficient with his abilities.
Romero didn't originally want to do *any* sequel to his original 'Night', but after a visit by some friends to a soon-to-open mall nearby his hometown of Pittsburgh, it struck a chord as to who would be coming here – and what so much consumerism in one place would mean. "Why do they come here?" one of the four survivors that happens upon this mall swarming with these flesh-eaters asks another. "This meant something to them. Instinct, maybe. This was an important part of their lives," he responds.
I don't think necessarily Romero meant to show the film as any sort of 'This is what will happen!" type of social horror thing. It's more about, this is where we are at NOW, and in that sense, though broader and a whole LOT bloodier, it holds a place right next to a film like Network as one of the magnificent satires of its time and place, and as much about what the public is like. Romero acts as both pessimist and optimist in this world though; past all the chopped limbs, exploding heads (oh yeah!), Tom Savini stunt and make-up and intestines ripped apart, what holds up the film for me is seeing these four characters come to grip with the horror they've made for themselves, holding up in this "paradise" of a mall.
Balls-to-the-wall horror, social horror, and some genuine paranoid horror stuff (note to self, never try and fire a gun at a single zombie when in a dark room full of electrical wiring and pipes), and plenty of rock and roll attitude, this is a personal favorite and the most entertaining horror film of its time. And the Goblin music soundtrack yummy.