Funnily enough it was not initially George Romero who thought up the setting for his most successful living dead film (His original intent was to continue in the farmhouse from Night). In 1974 an occasional investor in Romero’s movies took him on a tour of the Monroeville Mall, Pittsburgh, where he had recently acquired part–ownership. The first part of the tour began in sealed off rooms in the top of the mall, containing ‘…civil defence stuff, which they had put there in the event of some disaster - and that's what gave me the idea,’ claiming Romero. Little more than three years later, the mall became the centre piece for the shooting of Dawn of the Dead. The majority of shooting inside the mall could only take place between 10pm and 8am, after regular business hours. However, a late club delayed scenes further in some cases, closing at only 2am. Exterior shooting was restricted to half a day per week. The first zombie who gets hit with a pie in the Mall is Roy Frumkes , the man behind Document of the Dead Although many claim it takes the edge off the film, the unrealistic 3M stage blood used for many sequences throughout the movie gave it the ‘comic book image’ Romero wanted. The ‘screwdriver zombie’ was played by John Harrison who composed the music for Dawn’s sequel Day of the Dead. The decaying body (see Here) witnessed when a tennis ball lands near it was a unique illusion created by make up guru Tom Savini. Having bought a plastic skeleton from a local costume shop, Savini decorated it with all kinds of trash, including Rice Krispies and latex. After filming, the shop asked if they could put it on display for Halloween, which they did. However it caused so much controversy the local police believed it was a genuine dead body and subsequently buried it in the town cemetary. For the scene at the airport when Peter shoots through the door at the zombie kids, the explosive charges kept on failing. Romero then got a screwdriver and stabbed holes in it, and with good editing gave the illusion that bullets were actually penetrating the door. The petrol pumps at the airport still remain to this day.