Dawn of the Dead Mall

This place is most famous as the principle filming location for the film Dawn of the Dead, the cult zombie horror classic, directed by George A Romero and released in 1978. In 1977, George A. Romero began filming Dawn of the Dead on location at the Monroeville Mall. All filming inside the mall took place at night after the mall had closed, with filming often continuing until dawn. Filming in the mall began in October 1977, but had to be suspended when the mall's Christmas decorations were hung shortly after Thanksgiving. Filming resumed in January after the decorations were removed. It was during that break that much of the mall's exterior shots were filmed, as well as filming at other locations. The mall was used as a fortress to protect four human survivors from a world taken over by the walking dead.  The movie went on to become a huge hit worldwide. Fans travel far and wide, sometimes from other countries, just to have a chance to visit the location. Several pictures taken during the filming are on display in a room on the upper level near Macy's. In addition, Monroeville Zombies, located on the lower level near Macy's and features an in-store museum and gift shop that is dedicated to celebrating zombies in film and pop culture. The museum's main focus is Dawn of the Dead and contains artifacts, memorabilia, scale models of the mall as depicted in the movie and a boiler room walk through with various life sized replicas of movie zombies. In addition to being the setting for Dawn of the Dead. The Monroeville Mall is also the setting for several other films. "The ice skating rink at Monroeville Mall appears in the 1983 film Flashdance as the rink on which Jeanne auditions. Some scenes from the film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, directed by Kevin Smith, were filmed in the mall. In the 1984 children's fantasy film The Boy Who Loved Trolls, 12-year old Paul is seen wandering through the halls of the mall as shots of many long gone storefronts such as the Candy Tree are shown. The Monroeville Mall marquee, overlooking U.S. Route 22, is shown in a brief scene in the Greg Mottola film Adventureland.