Locked In Monroeville Mall AFTER HOURS - Dawn Of The Dead Special Event / Off Limit Areas
Was lucky enough to attend the special filming location tour given by Lawrence DeVincetz of all the mall scenes from 1978 Dawn of the Dead . Once the Monroeville Mall was closed we wandering around checking out all the details , off limits to the public areas and even a few special surprises . A dream come true for any big fan of the George Romero classic .
My 2014 Dawn of the Dead Locations video
https://youtu.be/A5t3X2kJUWY
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam through here back
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at the Monroeville Mall in Monroeville
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Pennsylvania and you'll notice daylight
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is starting to end the Sun is going down
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nightfall is happening and I have been
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invited to a special after-hours mall
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closing filming location tour with a
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group of other people and a guide that
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will be tagging along I'll be a fly on
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the wall this is a historic occasion I
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have never been in the Dawn of the Dead
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mall after clothes all alone well with
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the tour group I'm inviting you to join
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me
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shall you is reenacting the same he's
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much smaller and tinier than the guy I'm
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used to from the movie that smashed his
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belly up against that exact window there
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is quite a congregation of people all
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the shoppers have left and we're about
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ready to go inside this is Kevin price
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is the owner curator of the Liberty
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Museum in particular during the biker
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raid you see one zombie gets shot and he
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sort of falls back against the wall you
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see it it's like a couple of these here
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and you can match them to what you see
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on screen he sort of gets shot by a
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biker and they fall back like this I do
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a lot of recreations as we go along and
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try to do some of the dialogue to make
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it fun and not just a formative and it's
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very informative - or instead of trucks
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is parked at the very old front of the
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mall where the district is and second
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set of trucks that they park they Park
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them right here
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they parked one truck right here
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alongside the glass door and they mark
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one truck along that one when the head
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biker leaves the mall he's in the
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sidecar the one guy is driving him on
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the motorcycle and he gets shot by Peter
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up in the ceiling and he falls right
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over here in the parking lot he was bit
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probably right about here in between the
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trucks I forgot my bag I forgot my bag
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you know it gets big these are the first
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set of doors that they unlock they drive
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the car down this hallway I can o'clock
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to mark here and they lock off of course
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you know
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this area behind me which is now the
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myths Brothers playground at the time of
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filming it was where the fountain was
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it's the fountain you see the bikers
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stream in through the mall they started
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riding all around the fountain it was
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directly behind me they have a group
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photo of all the casting crew when
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they're wearing on the dead shirt they
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were actually on the other side of the
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fountain in front of that pillar
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so that group shot that you see at some
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of the people's tables that was taking a
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problem the camera was on one side of
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the fountain and shot them standing all
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right there and poor Tom Savini goes
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after Peter because Peter to juice and
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he shoots the bottle one of the seltzer
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water bottles and he's great and zombies
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tom was standing right here
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and you can see this column in the shop
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I'm not sure if it's still the same
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marble you've seen the shop but next to
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it is the stairs and he runs around the
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stairs after it gets shot out of his
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hand and he goes after Peter upstairs
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we're heroes and their posts with their
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guns ready they are actually proud
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pretty much back here you can see the
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more comic behind them and match the
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parameter minute on the top at one point
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after the bikers come in even as is on
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the walkie-talkie and this is the exact
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same model they used in the movie it's
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not in the program right that's one that
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I had it if you get that shot you can
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see the marble matches the exotics
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blocking and there's a red score behind
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it which was for Mom and he swings off
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the balcony up here on a rope with flags
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on it and he actually starts fighting
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with the zombies
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and they're standing right in the
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doorway of cheeseboard here you can also
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again an actual marble pattern up here
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on this column in the background behind
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Stevens next to cheese board was the
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maternity store right here and there was
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a bench in front of it and that's where
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friends pregnant smoking he was on the
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mattresses against that column had the
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camera and film as he jumped over the
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balcony they all come up to this balcony
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in front of box Wharf and they looked
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down
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shopping day they were standing right
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there Bronco be sorry if you remember
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you'll see a scene where there's a view
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from the camera point of a armed
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shooting club that was actually if you
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see a lot of the behind the scenes
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photos it's George Romero's arm in the
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shot and he's shooting up there and you
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see the store merry-go-round in view and
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it was right there where seasons is
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right the end the scene where sledge
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falls off the back of the motorcycle
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because he gets shot in the back by
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Peter as he's up in the ceiling
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somewhere and you can match the little
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sort of compare yoga matters of the
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rocks or whatever that might be and you
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see the one stronger thicker metal line
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here and the thinner one right there
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Sabine yes blades gets knocked off the
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motorcycle file any leads machetes on
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here it's not gonna fall down and when
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he gets up and turns around to go after
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the machete sake as he's known you can
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see the doorway behind them the shot he
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walks up which is leg godt pulls that is
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you know machete he says say goodbye
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creep because the control room is small
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and I want you all to hear everything
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that's going on I'm we're working
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everybody through in groups of 20
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control room how about a little music
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might cover the noisy ring oh my god
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look at this what I found over here what
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do you know yeah fifteen upper fifteen
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lower as a zombie was chasing Stephen
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through the room and what would they
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come
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across the room I am when the zombie
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would have been and you would see these
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square machines eliminate him in the
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shock
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Steven is over there zombie comes around
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she even comes around to meet him I'll
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be scheming
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the zombie comes back well that's good
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six bullets all the sudden the zombie
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grabs him from behind and he awkwardly
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spins around and falls here zombies
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coming toward him he's got his gun out
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fires you know he's trying to get to the
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chamber from pitbull
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oh thank you yeah I'll take one
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for
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you're handing a lot of them out all
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right thank you
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pretty good
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our hero falls victim to a zombie bite
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and passes away Twitter
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he was buried right about here how do I
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know I'm filming behind Peter as he's
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there pouring out a little liquor homie
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you see behind him the snack shack
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do you remember the blood-pressure
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machine right yeah hey Tony booboo who
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is here this weekend he calls himself
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sombrero man and there is sombrero a
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biker or whatever he is talking about
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the sombrero man we are now standing in
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what was the Ice Palace of the
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Monroeville Mall it was their
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ice-skating rink they also built the
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movie Flashdance here at small and on
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the ice skating rink
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also in later years they filmed the
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Kevin Smith movie zack and miri in the
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bull rides a motorcycle on the sidecar
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and he swings his machete and shops off
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his Ami's head he would have been ride
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you know riding directly down this way
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in front of the ice palace which was
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here and the Zambian guys head chopped
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off would have been somewhere around
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here he rides down could you do that
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again for us also I'm sure you all
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remember the escalator zombie played by
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the late Clayton Hill I'm going to
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reenact him on the escalator like
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nonchalant like
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and I'm not great with dialogue so I had
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to write it down it's like they're in
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flyboy they open the loading docks
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listen with those bay doors open there's
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going to be a thousand zombies in here
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that'll take the heat off us he's like
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these guys are gonna have their hands
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full
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and you can match this pattern in the
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market house the restaurant that where
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Steven proposes to brand and she rejects
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him that would have been added to
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Pomodoro and that would have been right
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here where leggings was and if you might
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think this is all a little you know some
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kind of
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you have to imagine where these things
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work but the way I know that they were
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really there is that I found a brochure
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from the mall at the time of his filming
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and it had you know the directory of all
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the stores then I what I do is look at
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the current directory and match what was
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there now what is here now the car was
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beside the bridge they had the PI fight
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on the bridge in his entire area all the
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scenes pretty much of the fire fight
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happened right
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as fighters all and small at five boys
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running around time to close the gates
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he runs around behind that rocket ball
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he comes around he's looking
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he's like we took it it's ours he's
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firing at the bench no malls now are
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allowed to have like pawns like that
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because I had a pawn with actual koi
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fish in it they are not allowed to have
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that anymore because of the fear of
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people falling in and possibly hurting
14:02
themselves or dying otherwise if you
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have something like that they say you
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have to build huge glass walls around
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and then that distance destroys the
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whole look of it it's just stupid so
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they opted to go the easy route and
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pretty much just remove it so what
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happened was as a result of the fans
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getting together and signing that
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petition and how much you know news it
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made them removing the bridge it ended
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up going to local Heinz History Center
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and this right here didn't know already
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is the original spot of the clock tower
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in the center of his horse is where the
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clock tower was it was all that
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opening up the ball and it was finally
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removed in 1987 I heard stories through
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70
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we actually had little puppets that came
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out on the hour he was living in a
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drawer one day and he found that bird
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that was on the top but you see in the
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film though it was a niche more for
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probably like 15 years or so back there
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is room and then sadly just figured out
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nobody's saying you saw
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and he looks at Steve and he says we
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look at him easy get it all
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Oh Peter behind did you see this it's
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not the same obviously a little bit not
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the same pattern of windows but this
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marble column mattress again the marble
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matter so much but you want to try to
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find the spots in the mall that match
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you also might hear the quarter was the
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bank before the guys go in they grab all
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the way they want he's like 20 money
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money
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this gentleman just asked how long was
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the bank here it was actually here until
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the early 2000s they had a bank here we
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may not have been the same one too but
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there was a bank here in the exact same
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spot you will notice this view down this
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view down here in the middle is seen a
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lot in the movie join the credit 50 Tom
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Pease coming up the escalator
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that's this view right here and you
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would have seen JC Penney's here beside
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that business where JC Penney's was on
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the upper and lower floor
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ha awkward just got awkward something my
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granddad used to tell us you know who
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knew granddad was a priest in Trinidad
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he used to tell us when there's no more
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room in Hell the Dead will walk here and
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they were standing right in here they've
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built an actual scaffolding here and
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both the camera up so get that view
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doors to Jason thanks the glass would
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have been right here where the old floor
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based in uniform they would run back and
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forth talking the doors get in and then
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to the old okey doke you know they go up
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and down and I don't like to go in here
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because I'm still mad
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Oh
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you see that come out of an alcove okay
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it's not going down there it's too far
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away because in the shock you can see
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the power box is on the wall also you
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can see right here the outline of where
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they fit in the original outcode and the
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reason I know this is the spot not only
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because of this but if you look closely
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at the shot and one of the scenes when
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they're by the alcoho you can see on the
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wall written there I think Stevens there
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it says BB and B and that was the name
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of the store that was in this exact spot
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time fulfillment so for whatever reason
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you know store didn't get an exit or it
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was things were read you know change
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whatever they felt this in but this is
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where the outcome was after the Hari
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Krishna zombie is killed they come out
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of the out hope when they place his body
20:00
right on the ground
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a few things you will notice in
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particular the door was hearing moving
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of course it's not now but you see at
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the time of filming this did not lead to
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their hideout that was actually sent in
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downtown Pittsburgh in a building this
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doorway led into the main law office and
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over time they moved their main office
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and they leased out this spot the
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recruiting station is now in there and
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they didn't want an exit going in and
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out of the office space which is leased
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so they closed it and move the door you
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can see the pattern of how where the
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door was and they how they fit in the
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cinder blocks they don't match the rest
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because they had to fill it in when they
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moved the door so all through the women
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to come in and out of here of course one
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point Frank goes out see what's going
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down to find the guys and she says
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Stephen Stephen for God's sake let's get
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up to the roof and he's down there and
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he looks up and says we can't leave
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those guys down there
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of course after everything happened that
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flag boy gets eaten in the elevator a
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Peter comes up Fran is waiting she runs
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down and they meet each other right here
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Peter standing right here turns around
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sees her and he's standing there and
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stops her going down and she's about to
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crying
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guys right boop boop boop and then he
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gets over here
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this rule of course Thomson Beatty comes
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up she and the other bikers and they
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chased them all away from this point on
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there's no one else in the mall
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everyone's behind me the direction I'm
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facing completely empty mall it's a dead
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place you see that big white square
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there in the movie the helicopter would
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take off and land from the right side of
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it that's where the helicopter landing
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pad was also when you see Fred run to
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the sort of edge of the mall as she
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shoots at the zombie trying to bite you
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know Roger and joined in between the
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trucks she's right there she runs beside
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it in the movie that square there was
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blue this road behind us this is the
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road that the bikers come down in the
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movie they come directly down this route
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slanted road it's really steep and they
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come around and they rides right around
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the front down that by the entrance
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where we start a helicopter lifts off
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and you see the Sun Rise coming up the
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helicopter comes and ran out and it
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flies off into the distance and that's
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the end of the movie and that's the end
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of the tour even though you know it took
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a while to be through all this stuff but
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that's gonna do it for today or
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shouldn't I say tonight from the
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Monroeville Mall it's pretty cool doing
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the tour I have done the filming
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locations before about three or four
23:52
years ago I'll put the link down below
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to my filming location adventure behind
23:58
these walls however I learned some
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things today here tonight
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that I never knew before following along
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with all the other fellow zombie nerds
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uniting as one learning the history of
24:12
the 1978 George Romero classic thanks
24:16
for watching see you the next video the
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vlog is over we're back in the mall we
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were told by security to walk through
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this way and then head upstairs and out
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the other exit however everyone else
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that was with us earlier has left and
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gone home so now I am inside the mall
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completely by myself
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Wow
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well except for one or two security
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guards