The four refugees take off in the WGON traffic helicopter and head over the Pennsylvania countryside. None of them really have any idea where they can go since the zombies are everywhere. As they fly over the Pennsylvania countryside, the companions notice that the national guard has been called out in an effort to destroy as many of the living dead as they come across. Local law enforecement officials, along with the local rednecks, are standing next to the guardsmen giving them a hand in helping put bullets into the brains of the wandering dead. On a whim, they drop the helicopter on top of a gigantic indoor mall. The mall is totally deserted, except for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of living dead roaming the halls and stores. Flying over the complex they can see that the dead are wandering aimlessly about the parking lot, not really knowing why they choose to come here. The dead gaze into store windows, claw mindlessly at material items, and shuffle through the corridors with no real sense of purpose. Why do they come here, asks Fran. "Some sort of instinct," Stephen says. "This was an important place in their lives."
They soon gain access to the mall through a glass ceiling and enter into a part of the building that is used for storing civil defense items, like bottled water and Spam (yummy). Peter, investing the roof outside, finds that the mall's power supply is physi-nuclear and the juice is running. After a couple of hours of resting up and eating some Spam, Roger and Peter get the idea to check out the rest of the mall. Roger says that this mall could be a goldmine and Peter agrees. The two SWAT members dash out in the halls, going from store to store, dodging zombies left and right! You can actually feel the fun these two guys are having, running around in a mall belonging all to themselves, blasting a zombie head off here and there!
After picking up a few necessities (a radio, television, and Jack Daniel's), the group decides that they will take up a permanent residence in the mall. Roger and Peter devise a plan to put semi-trailers at all the mall entrances so no other zombies can get in. Once the doors are locked, they plan to kill the rest of the zombies that are locked inside. Not all goes well while implementing the plan. Roger, the fun-loving goofball, is bitten by one of the living dead while hot-wiring one of the trucks. A zombie bite is fatal, no matter how small.
Peter, Fran, Steven, and Roger do eventually get all the doors blocked off, but they cannot celebrate. Roger is infected and everyone knows that it is only a matter of time before he becomes on of the living dead. Peter and Steven end up shooting all the zombies inside the mall. Roger is too sick to do anything. Later, Roger is laying on his death bed. Peter, his friend, is trying to comfort him. Both he and Roger know that Peter is going to have to kill Roger. "Don't do it until you're sure I'm coming back!" says Roger. "I'm gonna try not to. I'm gonna try not to." Truly, it was the movie's most poignant moments. Minutes later, in one of American cinema's all time creepiest scenes, Roger emerges from underneath a bed sheet, now one of the living dead. Peter puts a bullet through his buddie's head.
And then there were three.
Life goes on for the remaining survivors. Steven and Peter bury Roger's body in fake garden in the middle of the mall. Everyone tries to act normal, but the lonliness that hangs over the group is stifling. Weeks pass and nothing happens. The television quits broadcasting and the radio quits broadcasting. They are all alone. Then one day a motorcycle gang spots the helicopter on top of the mall and they decide to bust in and loot it. The raiders destroy everything in the mall, shooting it up and taking things at random. They also let in the hundreds of zombies that were once locked out. Peter and Steven fight off the zombies and the radiers as best they can, but to no avail. Steven is shot by one of the gang members and gets locked in an elevator where he is eventually attacked by zombies. Peter makes his way back to Fran on top of the mall roof. Fran gets the chopper warmed up and is ready to take off and escape from the mall. Peter, who wants to kill himself, has a change of heart at the last moment and joins Fran in the helicopter. The two fly away into the sunrise, leaving the mall and the zombies behind.
Now there is an alternate ending to this movie. Then the released film and book. The alternate ending has Fran's dog eaten by zombies as they are coming up the stairs. Peter forces fran up to the helicopter and then blows his brains out. Fran escapes to the chopper with some supplies and waits for a few minutes hoping Peter changed his mind. Fran then steps out of the helicopter and accidently gets her head chopped off by the spinning blades. An ending that truely fits with the orignal Night of the Living Dead.
Ok I was only supposed to review the movie not go into so much detail well sue me lol. I love this movie and I would encourage any of you to go and rent it at ur local blockbuster store as well as Day of the dead. Rent all three of them for the scariest night of your life. Until Next time see you at the movies. |
