Dawn of the Dead

Francine Parker:
What are they doing? Why do they come here?

Stephen:
Some kind of instinct. Memory, of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives.

Roger:
Whad'ya think? Bag it or try for it?

Peter:
You game?

Roger:
I need lighter fluid.

Peter:
You got it.

Old Priest:
Many have died, last week, on these streets. In the basement of this building, you will find them. I have given them the last rites, now, you do what you will. You are stronger than us... But soon, I think they be stronger than you. When the dead walk, señores, we must stop the killing... or lose the war.

Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist:
Dummies! Dummies! Dummies!

Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist:
This isn't the Republicans versus the Democrats, where we're in a hole economically or... or we're in another war. This is more crucial than that. This is down to the line, folks, this is down to the line. There can be no more divisions among the living!

Francine Parker:
Spam!

Roger:
You bring a can opener?

Francine Parker:
No, I guess I didn't

Roger:
Then don't knock it, it's got it's own key.

Francine Parker:
They're still here.

Stephen:
They're after us. They know we're still in here.

Peter:
They're after the place. They don't know why, they just remember. Remember that they want to be in here.

Francine Parker:
What the hell are they?

Peter:
They're us that's all, when there's no more room in hell.

Stephen:
What?

Peter:
Something my grand-dad used to tell us. You know Mucumba? Voodoo. My grand-dad was a priest in Trinidad. He used to tell us, "when there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."

Dr. Foster:
Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills. The people it kills get up and kill.

Dr. Foster:
This situation must be controlled before it's too late. They're multiplying too rapidly!

Dr. Foster:
They kill for one reason: they kill for food. They eat their victims, you understand that, Mr. Berman? That's what keeps them going.

Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist:
The normal question, the first question is, are these cannibals? No, they are not. Cannibalism in the true sense of the word implies an interspecies activity. These creatures cannot be considered human. They prey on humans. They do not prey on each other, that's the difference. They attack and they feed only on warm flesh. Intelligence? Seemingly no reasoning ability, but basic skills remain from a remembered everyday life. There have been reports of these creatures using tools. But even these are the most basic, the use of tools as bludgeons and so forth. I might point out that even animals have been known to adopt the use of tools in this manner. These creatures are nothing but pure, motorized instinct. We must not be lulled by the concept that they are our family members or our friends. They are not. They will not respond to such emotions.

Dr. Millard Rausch, Scientist:
They *must* be destroyed on *sight*!

Officer in Apartment Project:
Shoot it man. Shoot it in the head.

TV Director:
Roll the rescue stations!

TV Producer:
We just got a report that half those stations have been knocked out.

TV Director:
Then get me another list.

TV Producer:
Sure, I'll just pull one out of my ass, right?

Mr. Berman:
People aren't willing to accept your solutions, doctor, and I for one don't blame them!

Roger:
You'll take care of me when I go, won't you, Peter?

Peter:
Just rest, man, save your strength.

Roger:
I don't want to be walkin' around... like THAT!... Peter... PETER?

Peter:
I'm here man!

Roger:
Don't do it until you are sure I am coming back! I'm gonna try... not to... I'm gonna try... not to... come back. I'm gonna try... not to...

Peter:
Ain't it a crime.

Stephen:
What?

Peter:
The only person who could miss with this gun is the sucker with the bread to buy it.

Stephen:
We've got to survive! Somebody's got to survive!

Motorcycle Raider (radio operator):
Hey, you in the mall! We don't like people who don't share. You just f***ed up REAL bad!

Roger:
One-stop shopping; everything you need, right at your fingertips.

Roger:
Hold it!

Roger:
Don't go out there!

Roger:
We've just got to wait a little longer before we move.

Peter:
No, there's always a chance of some of them stayin' up on the balcony.

Roger:
We can handle that, we can break through.

Peter:
If any of them see us, or hear us, they'll just follow us on up. It's no good.

Roger:
We sure as hell can outrun 'em. We can load up what we can and get the hell out.

Peter:
I'm thinkin' maybe we've got a good thing going here. Maybe we shouldn't be in such a hurry to leave.

Roger:
Oh, Man.

Peter:
If we could get back up there without them catchin' on, we could hole up for awhile, at least long ehough to catch a breath, check out the radio, see what's happening.

Stephen:
There's some kind of passageway over the top the stores. I don't know if it's just heating ducts or some kind of access. I saw it on the map.

Peter:
Upstairs. Let's go.

Stephen:
We've got to find more fuel. Maybe closer to Cleveland.

Roger:
No. We've got to stay out of the big cities. If they're anything like Philly, We may never get out alive.

Peter:
We may never get out of anyplace alive. We almost didn't get out of here.

Roger:
We're gettin' out of here fine. As long as there's not to many of those things around, we can handle them easy.

Peter:
Yeah, well it wasn't one of those things that nearly blew me away.

Roger:
We gotta stay in the sticks! There's bound to be more of those little private airports upstate.

Stephen:
There's the locks along the Allgheny. There's fuel stations there, state and private owned.

Roger:
No, those are probably still manned. We don't need those hassles either.

Stephen:
They're not just after scavengers and looters.

Peter:
Oh, you got papers for this limousine?

Stephen:
I've got GON I.D., and so does Fran.

Peter:
Right, and we're up here doin' traffic reports! Wake up, sucker! We're thieves and we're bad guys. That's exactly what we are. We gotta find our own way.

Peter:
Get its head up. Get its head up. Roger, get its head up, man!

Roger:
Bastards, you bastards. We got 'em, didn't we. We got this, man. We got this by the ass!

Peter:
Roger, get your head together, we got a lot of work to do.

Roger:
Number two.

Peter:
You all right?

Roger:
Perfect, baby. Perfect.

Old Priest:
Senores, please to let me pass.

Roger:
Let's get him to the med unit.

Old Priest:
No, no, please. Just let me pass. I go up to seventh floor to find my sister, just let me pass. The people of 107 will do what you wish now.

Wooley:
Come on, you dumb bastards, come and get 'em!

Peter:
I've seen half-a-dozen guys in my unit get bitten by those things. None of them lasted more than... three days.

Peter:
You ain't just in here by yourself, boy!

Peter:
You was in Wooley's unit, wasn't you?

Roger:
I didn't see nothing. I didn't see how he died.

Officer at Police Dock:
What are you doing here?

Stephen:
We're with GON.

Officer at Police Dock:
About a minute and a half on the car.

Stephen:
Now, wait a minute. We're just here to refuel. Those men were already dead. Now you were here, you know that.

Officer at Police Dock:
GON Traffic Watch. Steve Andrews.

Stephen:
That's me, I'm Steve Andrews.

Officer at Police Dock:
Yeah, no sh*t.

Stephen:
Hello, HQ, this is Police Dock. Operator dead, post abandoned.

Roger:
What's the problem, officer?

Officer at Police Dock:
We caught your friends here stealing company gasoline.

Roger:
What do you mean, "friends"?

Stephen:
They know, Rog. They're running too.

Officer at Police Dock:
Now it would be crazy to start shooting at each other.

Roger:
It sure would.

Stephen:
We're still pretty close to Johnstown. Those rednecks are probably enjoying this whole thing.

Roger:
Jesus, it's everywhere.

Peter:
How much fuel do we have?

Francine Parker:
Not much.

Peter:
All right.

Roger:
Come on, Martinez.

Wooley:
Yeah, Martinez! Show your greasy little Puerto Rican ass so I can blow it right off!

Wooley:
Blow ALL their asses off! Low-life bastards! Blow ALL their low-life Puerto Rican and N*gger asses right off!

Wooley:
How the hell come we stick these low-life bastards in these big-ass hotels, anyway? Sh*t, man! This is better than I got!

Roger:
Wooley's gone ape-sh*t, man!

Roger:
Well, we're in, but how the hell are we gonna get back!

Peter:
Who the hell cares! let's go shopping!

Roger:
Watches! Watches!

Peter:
Wait a minute man, let's just get the stuff we need. I'll get a television and a radio.

Roger:
Ooohh, ooohh, lighter fluid! And chocolate, chocolate.

Roger:
Hey, how about a mink coat!

Roger:
Hey, man, we can't carry all this sh*t.

Roger:
Oh, I see, we're just gonna wheel right by 'em, right?

Peter:
We're gonna try, brother. We ain't doin' this for the exercise, so we might as well try to get what we can.

Roger:
No way this is gonna happen.

Roger:
Peter, where are you?

Peter:
I'm right here, man.

Roger:
Hey, we did it, didn't we? We whipped 'em, didn't we?

Peter:
That's right, man.

Roger:
Didn't we... Didn't we whip 'em?

Peter:
We sure did, buddy.

Roger:
We whipped 'em and we got it ALL!

Stephen:
What the hell is it?

Roger:
It looks like a shopping center, one of those big, indoor malls

Roger:
Why did they keep them here?

Peter:
'Cause they still believe there's respect in dying.

Roger:
You better get some sleep, too.

Peter:
I been thinkin'. There's an awful lot of stuff down there that we could use.

Roger:
I know it.

Peter:
It's a big place, but they're pretty spread out down there. I think we can outrun 'em.

Roger:
Hit and run?

Peter:
Hit and run.

Francine Parker:
You're crazy!

Roger:
This place could be a gold mine. We've got to at least check it out.

Peter:
You never point a gun at anyone, mister. Scary, isn't it? Isn't it?

Stephen:
How many do you figure are already in?

Peter:
Not too many. We'll get it all locked up, and then we're going on a hunt.

Peter:
Just three of them, huh?

Stephen:
Holy sh*t!

Peter:
They'll get in. They'll move the trucks.

Stephen:
There's hundreds of those creatures down there.

Peter:
Come on man, that's a professional army. Looks like they've been surviving on the road all through this thing. Well, let's not make it easy for them.

Peter:
This place is gonna be rotten. We've got to clean it up, brother.

Peter:
Somebody better sit watch all the time.

Roger:
They'll never get through there.

Peter:
Enough of them will. And it's not just those things we have to worry about. That... Chopper up there could give us away if somebody comes messin' around.

Roger:
And what are they gonna do, land another pilot to fly it out? They're not gonna mess with a little bird like that, they've got enough on thier hands.

Roger:
It's Christmas time down there, buddy!

Peter:
Fat city, brother! How do we work it?

Roger:
If we can get into one of the department stores up top, they'll have their own escalators inside.

Peter:
Let's go check those keys.

Blades:
Say goodbye, creep!

Francine Parker:
It's really all over... isn't it?

Dr. Foster:
You're not running a talk show here, Mr. Berman! You can forget pitching an audience the moral bullshit they want to hear!

[over the truck radios]

Peter:
You look my size when you're sitting in the truck.

Roger:
What I wanna know is how we ended up in the same force, what with you being so tall and all.

Peter:
They told me it was a midget force. They needed somebody to look up to!

Roger:
Aww God! Oh, Jesus Christ!

Peter:
What is it?

Roger:
My bag! I left my goddamn bag in the other truck!

Peter:
[stops driving the truck] All right trooper, you better screw your head on.

Roger:
[hyped tone] Yeah, yeah, yeah, c'mon, c'mon c'mon, let's go!

Peter:
[grabbing him by the collar] I mean it! Now you're not just playin' with your life, you're playin' with mine! Now... are you straight?

Roger:
[subdued tone] Yeah.

[discovering a collection of zombies in the basement of a tenement building]

Roger:
Why did these people keep them here?

Peter:
'Cause they still believe there's respect in dying.

[removing a can from a Civil Defense carton]

Francine Parker [dejectedly]:
Spam!

Roger:
You bring a can opener?

Francine:
No, I guess I didn't.

Roger:
Then don't knock it, it's got its own key.

[bikers are looting the mall. One of them grabs a TV set. Another remembers that even the Emergency Broadcast Service has ceased airing.]

Biker:
Hey man, what are you going to watch on that thing?

Sledge:
Aw, rats, man, you're right!

[Sledge drops TV set and bashes it with a sledgehammer]

[Police Commander is talking to people holding out in a tenement building via a megaphone. Roger is on the adjacent roof with other SWAT troopers, anticipating the Commander's speech]

Police Commander:
Martinez! The people in this project are your responsibility! We don't want any of them hurt, and neither do you!

Roger [under his breath]:
I'm giving you three minutes, Martinez.

Police Commander:
I'm giving you three minutes, Martinez! Turn over your weapons and surrender!

Roger:
There's no charges against you.

Police Commander:
There are no charges against you or any of your people!

Roger:
Yet.

Dr. Millard Rausch:
They MUST be destroyed ON SIGHT!

Dr. Millard Rausch:
We are down to the line, people. DOWN TO THE LINE!

Francine:
[sarcastically] I would have made you all coffee and breakfast but I don't have my pots and pans.

Blades:
[to Peter] I see you, chocolate man!

Dr. Millard Rausch:
Dummies. Dummies.

About:
Dawn of the Dead is one of the most prophetic and disturbing films you’ll see, and I challenge you to find anyone who can find another film from that era which provides the same level of social commentary.

About: A film critic at the New York Times walked out of "Dawn of the Dead" (1979) after the first 15 minutes, complaining of a pet peeve" against zombies. A film critic at the Dallas Times Herald described the film as "without any doubt the most horrific, brutal, nightmarish descent into Hell ever put on the screen." A film critic at the Village Voice thinks it's one of the most important films of the year. They all have a point. "Dawn of the Dead," which opens here Friday, is an ultimate horror film, one that takes traditional images of zombies and ghouls, makes them uncomfortably real, and treats them with a certain poignant humor.

About:
"Dawn" is a carefully crafted work that shouldn't be confused with run-of-the-mill horror exploitation films. If we can survive the gruesome imagery and see beyond the obligatory scenes of the horror genre, Romero gives us a savagely satiric vision of America that's not easy to forget. This is both a very difficult film and a very good one.

About: Some audience members at Dallas complained that the film never offers any rational explanation for the sudden plague of zombies. But of course not. No explanation would be rational, and any explanation would undercut the creepiness of the danger. What the film does do is raise sneaky questions in our minds. It's impossible, for example, to watch the zombies marching through a shopping mall, accompanied by Muzak, and not find a satiric statement on the mildly trance-like state Muzak is supposed to inspire in shoppers. It's disturbing to see images of horror juxtaposed with the gaudy artifacts of a lawn furniture display. And it's difficult to make up our minds about the endless violence inflicted on the zombies. They are shotgunned, run over, hacked to bits, decapitated by helicopter blades . . . and after a while we notice that our reaction to this mayhem is curiously complex. On the one hand, the violence isn't as disturbing as it would be against "real" human beings: Since the victims are without intelligence or personalities (and, for that matter, are already dead), their fates are less compelling. And yet, at the same time, we feel a sympathy for them: It is not their fault that they're zombies, and their activities aren't deliberately anti-social. It's just in their nature to eat human flesh.

About:
"With 'Dawn,' I wanted the slick look, I wanted to bring out the nature of the shopping center, the retail displays, the mannequins. There are times when maybe you reflect that the mannequins are more attractive but less real - less sympathetic, even - than the zombies. Put those kinds of images side by side, and you raise all sorts of questions."

About:
“Maybe the bad guys win here,” he said, “and I like the switch – but I’m not sure the zombies are the bad guys because we can’t help being zombies. I love zombies.”

About:
I stationed myself in the Pup-A-Go-Go stand and the minute Romero yelled “action” something remarkable happened: my eyes went out of focus, my hands clenched grotesquely, and I developed a lurching gait as I went after that motorcycle. I wanted that food and I almost got it. By the time the scene was shot twice – once with a mannequin that is beheaded – I was our of breath and my pulse was pounding.

About:
Sharon Ceccatti, the nurse zombie, came up to congratulate me as I caught my breath. “Is it always like this?” I asked. “You bet,” she said. “Most mornings I go home and I shake. I can’t sleep.”

About:
Despite Romero’s avowal that he’s just making “comic books,” I reminded him, he gets very close to a message when he talks about “human sellouts” and “operatives” versus the “alternate society.”

About:
I found that this film actually did something a lot of modern zombie movies fail to do - surprise me; The characters had been so well established that I found myself saying "They won't kill him, he's too important." I felt this emphasized the point Romero himself says he tries to make in most of these films, which is that they are films about people and how they cope in tough situations, not zombies.

we cant just kill them all without figuring whats causing this