Dead Mall

My time in Monroeville

When building my birthday list back in March, I was trying to think of activities to do when I remembered Living Dead Weekend, a convention celebrating the works of George A. Romero that’s set within Monroeville Mall. That’s the same mall where they shot Dawn of the Dead (1978), a horror film and strong critique of consumerism. The mall was purchased by Walmart back in 2025, who plan on demolishing it. That might be the very definition of irony. 

So, with my chances of visiting such an iconic location dwindling, I sent out a request for Living Dead Weekend tickets. Nobody got me that as a present. That might have something to do with the fact that I sent out that request four days before my birthday, but that didn’t matter. I had already decided that I was going regardless. I asked my dad, who introduced me to the works of Romero, if he would like to go, and he said yes. 

Day One

With that settled, we just needed to get to the convention. We live in Illinois, right outside of Chicago. Monroeville is in Pennsylvania. I figured we’d fly, but my dad said we should drive. I’d be lying if I said getting up around 5:45 am and spending over six hours in the car was appealing, but it was ultimately the right call. My dad and I ran into several people who had trouble flying because of the severe thunderstorms that had happened that week.

We got to our hotel around 11. The plan was to get something to eat, shower, change (we were both in our pajamas), and watch Dawn of the Dead (1978) using the DVD that we had brought from home. Except when we got there, we were given keys to a room with a single bed instead of the two my dad had requested. The front desk guy said to come back in an hour. So, we got some food, came back, and were given a new room with a single bed.

The third time was the charm, but then we discovered we didn’t have the right remote for the Blu-ray player we had brought to watch the movie. After taking turns showering and trying to find an alternative, we eventually rented Dawn from Amazon and watched it on my computer. And for those who hadn’t seen the film, it is a long movie. As a result, we didn’t make it to the mall until 6:55, and it closed at 8 unless you had VIP tickets, which I didn’t.

The only thing I wanted to do on Friday was walk around and take it all in, so I didn’t need much time for that. Except that Tina Romero was scheduled to speak about GARF at 7 pm, and I wanted to listen to her. I was at a crossroads and wished we could have arrived an hour earlier, as we had planned. Then it was announced that she had missed her plane, which certainly solved that dilemma.

As I walked around the mall with my dad, I was struck by how empty it was, with several of its stores shuttered. That was very sad. I also found myself thinking, “Well, it’s…a shopping mall.” I’m not quite sure what I was expecting to feel, but whatever it was, I clearly didn’t. That was when I decided that I really wanted to do the Film Location Mall Tour.

Now, I had the idea of attending Living Dead Weekend sometime after the tickets went on sale. So, certain things were no longer available. Like the VIP pass that would have gotten you early access on Friday and into a film screening at the mall with the original cast intro. The tour was also unavailable. Luckily, my dad was able to contact a woman who double-booked the mall tour, so we were able to purchase two tickets from her. 

Day Two

The next day, on Saturday, my dad met up with the woman while I stood in line to get into Hall B, where the main cast was. The plan was to get the DVD signed, and we decided to start with Ken Foree because we figured that would be the longest wait, since he plays arguably the most iconic character from the film, if only for that one line, and had carved out a pretty decent career for himself as a character actor. Of course, Gaylen Ross and Scott H. Reiniger’s post-Dawn career as a documentarian and college professor, respectively, is nothing to sneeze at.

The cool thing about the convention’s organization was that there was only one line to see Foree and Ross, so the wait to see her felt much shorter. The two of them were really nice and engaged me in conversation. After that, I decided to get Tom Savini’s autograph in Hall A, and he didn’t engage in any chitchat. I asked him if he was working on anything he was excited about, and he said ‘no.’ But hey, he’s not required to make small talk. There was also a moment where I took a selfie with him, and he insisted my dad get in the photo as well. He didn’t have to do that.

After that, I got in line for the Main Cast photo shoot that I had signed up for. The organization for that was very strange. We were all in a circle where several people didn’t seem to realize where the line began or ended. After the group photo shoot was done, I immediately got in line for a photo shoot with Savini on the motorcycle that he rides in the movie. My dad, meanwhile, split off to check out the main cast speaking on stage, which was scheduled for the same time.

The stage was set up where the George A. Romero bust is currently located. The sound could have been better, but I was still able to hear some great stories. Reiniger talked about how his character, Roger, was originally written to be more of a tough guy. Reiniger also said that the deceased David Emge, who played Stephen aka Flyboy, was the only lead who had served in the military, but played the guy who couldn’t handle a gun. I take it back, that’s the definition of irony.

Ross also shared this hilarious story. She saw the movie in a theater back when it first came out. During the scene where the men find out that Fran, Ross’ character, is pregnant, the people in front of Ross were like, ‘Ditch the b***h.’ She leaned forward and said, ‘She gets better, I promise.’ Naturally, the people in front of her freaked out. Ross said something along the lines of that being the most terrifying movie they’ve ever seen.

After taking a lunch break, my dad and I sat down at another panel discussing George A. Romero’s A Night at the Symphony, an upcoming documentary. John Harrison, who composed the scores for Creepshow and Day of the Dead, and Christian Kriegeskotte, a composer, were on the docket. They were joined by Tina Romero, who shared some great stories about her dad. She said that he was a very musical person and that she was one of the five people who unironically likes Cats because he introduced the show to her.

That is one of the most fascinating things about George A. Romero. He was a really nice guy and, according to his daughter, could be a real “cheeseball.” Which you might not guess from the movies he’d make, which even at their most playful were very bleak. I take back what I said two times before. That’s the definition of irony.

I meant to go up and say hi to Tina Romero on the Queens of the Dead set, but I chicken out. In addition to an autograph, I wanted to get a photo, but the table she was located at wasn’t set up for that like the other celebrities’, and I didn’t see a sign listing the available options. So, since I was still nervous, I didn’t bother asking for a photo.

Another panel my dad and I sat in on was STUNTS & FX. Savini was on that panel, along with Taso Stavrakis, an actor and stuntman whose brother made the George A. Romero bust at the mall, and Greg Nicotero, who did the makeup and special effects for many movies and TV shows. I learned some great information from that group as well. A lot of which makes you go, ‘What were they thinking?’

Savini and Stavrakis both played bikers who invaded the mall. Savini’s character, Blades, gets shot and falls off a balcony. Savini actually jumped off that balcony with only some cardboard boxes to cushion the fall. He didn’t completely hit his mark and broke his leg. Besides that, there’s also the fact that they drove real motorcycles through the mall and used real bullets during the ice rink shooting scene.

Another thing that came up during the discussion was how directors usually require test runs for special effects, while that didn’t happen during Dawn because “they knew it would work.” The shooting schedule was so tight, they couldn’t do it more than once. But that also speaks to the trust George A. Romero had in the people he worked with, which was another thing I gleaned from listening to people talk about him.

After that panel, my dad and I went on the mall tour, which lasted a little over three hours. The building looks very different from how it did in the ’70s. The fountain that the bikers drive around is now a children’s play area. The clock tower is no longer there. The ice rink is now a food court. The door to the main character’s living quarters is now on a different wall. Of course, while the railings, greenery, and fountains are all gone, other landmarks like the pillars and the control room are still there.

Day Three

For Sunday, my dad and I worked out a plan to get Reiniger’s autograph, go through the Living Dead Museum in the mall, take a final lap past all the vendors, and make a final stop before heading out of town. My dad and I arrived early on Sunday since we had both noticed how long the line to see Reiniger was. Well, everyone else must have had the same idea, because the line to see Reiniger was around the corner. It took forever to get into Hall B. While we were waiting, my dad said that I should try talking to Tina Romero again.

It had occurred to me that I had simply assumed that Tina Romero wasn’t doing photos and that I could have at least tried asking if she was. If she said no, I’d move on. So, though I was still nervous, I did ask and Tina Romero said she’d take a photo with me, and that was on top of her being really nice and answering all of my questions. There’s a lesson to be learned from that.

After that, I got back in line to see Riniger. My dad and I waited for over an hour until there were only three people in front of us. That was when Reiniger had to leave to do a photoshoot. My dad told me to get some lunch, since we both thought I had some time. I went down to the food court and was just about to order something when I got a call from my dad saying that Reiniger had returned. I rushed back, only to be told that Reiniger was on lunch break. Now, that’s the definition of…wait, no, rule of three, not four. 

There were still a million people behind us to see Reiniger. To keep the line moving, I kept the chitchat to a minimum. Of course, I tried not to be rude about it, especially since Reiniger was really polite. When he asked where I was from, I told him Chicago and volunteered the information that I had driven to the mall with my dad.

After finally eating at the food court, my dad and I went to the Living Dead Museum. It was filled with a lot of great information not only about zombie movies, but also about Romero. On Friday, I asked the man working the front desk what would become of the museum since the mall was closing, and he said he didn’t know yet. I really hope it finds a new locale somewhere else.

Before we left the mall, I also stopped by John A. Russo’s table. He’s the guy who co-wrote Night of the Living Dead (1968), wrote the novel Return of the Living Dead, and contributed to the story for the movie The Return of the Living Dead. I asked him if he was still working, and he said yes. He was working on too many things to talk about. I also asked him what he was proud of, and he said that he couldn’t narrow it down. He explained that the questions I was asking were the ones he usually answered in panels, and that now wasn’t the right place to get into his answers.

Something that my dad had discovered on the Living Dead Weekend Facebook page was that the house used for exterior shots at the beginning and end of Creepshow was located in Monroeville. Now, I’ve read horror stories about people who own The Goonies house having to deal with fans doing the Truffle Shuffle on their front lawn for years. However, the people who own the Creepshow house were cool with visitors. They even set up a guestbook and a prop for photos. So, me and my dad checked that out before heading back home.

That was my visit to Monroeville, and I’m glad I went. A part of me thinks it’s silly to mourn the loss of a building, but I do. It’s a piece of film history that’s going to be gone. The trip even got me to cut down on my doomscrolling because I wanted to be present for the three days that I was going to spend at Monroeville Mall with my dad and several film legends.