You.

Hello, I'm Philip Salon. I'm a film critic and author of the book 101 films you could see before you die. And this is off the marquee, where we spend a minute with a movie you might consider revisiting. Director George Romero waited ten years after his notorious 1968 film Night of the Living Dead to revisit the zombie movie. After visiting the Monroeville Mall in suburban Pittsburgh, Romero got the idea for his soon to be classic follow up story, dawn of the Dead. The movie is not a direct sequel to Night of the Living Dead, but Dawn of the Dead picks up where its predecessor left off. Years after the events in Night of the Living Dead, a blitz of reanimated corpses has left society torn and weakened. Survivors are exiting the city in droves to hide in less populated areas. In this scene, two factions of police officers simultaneously enact escape plans, one by boat and one by helicopter.

Come on, let's hustle. Hey, you guys, you better get a move on. There's a report out the docks. Been knocked out.

Can we carry the extra weight?

A little harder on the fuel, but we'll be okay.

Hey, you got any cigarettes? You guys got cigarettes?

No, I'm sorry. Where you headed? Downriver.

We got an idea. Maybe we can make it to the island.

What island?

Any island. What about you? Where you headed?

Straight up.

As the story continues, the four main characters land their helicopter on the roof of a shopping mall. In these segments, the four survivors discuss their predicament.

Guess the power is not off in this area.

What are they doing? Why do they come here?

Kind of instinct. Memory. What they used to do. This was an important place in their lives.

Hey, look at this. This doesn't go down into the mall. We can handle that.

We can break through them. If any of them see us or hear us, they'll just follow us on up. It's no good.

We sure in hell can outrun them. We can load up what we got and get the hell out of here.

I've been thinking. Maybe we got a good thing going here. Maybe we shouldn't be in such a hurry to leave. If we can get back up there without them catching on, we can hold up for a while. At least long enough to catch a breath, check out the radio, see what's happening.

The story contains a high action narrative and makeup and special effects by the now legendary Tom Savini. Dawn of the Dead has remained a horror classic for 45 years. A 45th anniversary screening will take place at the Crosstown Arts Theater May 30 at 07:00. See this classic bit of horror on the big screen in May. I'm Philip Salon, and this has been off the marquee. You're listening to 91.7 W YXR.