Horror Fans Bid Farewell to 1979 'Dawn of the Dead' Mall
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 30
Horror Fans Bid Farewell to 1979 'Dawn of the Dead' Mall
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 30
Summary
Monroeville Mall, the Pittsburgh-area shopping center immortalized in George A. Romero’s 1979 zombie classic “Dawn of the Dead,” is drawing fans for a final, bittersweet goodbye.
The two-story complex became a horror landmark after Romero used it as the film’s main setting, turning its consumerist backdrop into one of the genre’s most recognizable images.
Fans have treated the mall as a pilgrimage site for decades; Michelle Parsons, a 46-year-old X-ray technologist from Nova Scotia, even chose it as her 2007 honeymoon destination.
That devotion underscores how the aging mall evolved from a suburban retail space into a lasting cultural monument for horror audiences far beyond western Pennsylvania.