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Solhusky
07-Jun-2006, 06:18 AM
I apoligize in advance, for this has probably been asked a thousand times before.

I'm looking for the locations in which place the Dead films take place. However, in doing so, I cam across several contradictions within a couple of the films. I've itemized these by films.

Land if the Dead, if I remember correctly, is Pittsburgh. Can anyone confirm this?

Day of the Dead takes place off the Florida Keys. Can anyone confirm this?

Dawn '04 takes place in Winsconsin. Does anyone have an exact town or general location? Thanks.

In Night '90, an Evans City reference is made. Cooper says that it is only five miles away. Evans City is in Eastern Pennsylvania and thus where this film takes place.

Now, here's where I run into some problems:

Dawn '78: Dawn starts out in Philly, later relocates to the mall in Monroeville. The heros leave Philly at (if I remember correctly) 9:00 PM. On the flight, Peter asks Stephen if they are in/around a location (does anyone remember what the location was exactly?) and Stephen remarks that they "passed it about an hour ago." Now here's what I don't get. They finally get to the mall in the morning/afternoon hours. Philly to Monroeville is five hours driving, and obviously much shorter flying. There's no way that if they left Philly at 9:00 PM, they were only getting to Monroeville in the daylight hours of the next day, even including their short detour at the small airport. If anyone knows the location they passed, that might shed some light on this question.

Night '68: I've heard many rumors of where this one took place, most of which say either rural Pennsylvania (Cumberland County) or rural Maryland (Cumberland, Maryland). In fact, the 30th Anniversary Edition of Night '68 includes (on the box cover itself) the description that this film takes place in rural Pennsylvania. Contrary to this, in the movie, Willard is discussed by Ben and Tom as the closest town with a rescue station: to which Tom says that Willard is about seventeen miles from their current location. I did a search for Willards in the United States and ten popped up, with only one close enough to the other meantioned rescue stations. Willard is in Ohio, very central Ohio to be exact. Seventeen, even fifty, or a hundred miles in any other direction...is more Ohio. If Tom was correct (and I'm assuming he was), then Night '68 can take place only in Ohio.


Bear with me on this one. It's been a while since I've seen most of these movies and I am writing this at 1:20 in the morning. Can anyone confirm or deny this? Thanks a lot.

Mike70
07-Jun-2006, 01:27 PM
land was shot in toronto but the skyline shown is pittsburgh with the fiddler's green bldg added. the geography is also based on pitt. listen to the land commentary track for more info.

dawn o4 takes place outside milwaukee.

evans city is in western pa just a little to the north of pitt off I-79 if i remember correctly.

dawn78: steven says they passed harrisburg (capital of pa) about an hour ago and that they are near johnstown, another city in central/west central pa. if i remember correctly, 9pm is when steven picks fran up at GON. so it is hard to say how much type elapses between that and meeting roger & peter at the docks. so it might actually be several hours after 9pm when they head west.

night 68: takes place outside of evans city, pa. i have been (so have a few others on board) to the very cemetary that was used in the film. williard is probably just a made up name - which, as i am sure you know, is a common practice in film. the other possibility is that williard is an unincorporated township and as such you might not get a hit for it under a city search.

livingdeadboy
07-Jun-2006, 01:48 PM
Dawn '04 was another one of those shot in Toronto flicks, but in the movie it takes place in the fictional city of Everett, Wisconsin

Mike70
07-Jun-2006, 02:06 PM
Dawn '04 was another one of those shot in Toronto flicks, but in the movie it takes place in the fictional city of Everett, Wisconsin

ah. i'd forgotten about that. but i believe that in the movie everett is intended to be some sort of suburb of milwaukee. because i think that the radio broadcasts in it refer to the greater milwaukee area.

Solhusky
08-Jun-2006, 06:04 AM
I suppose if the "Willard" refered to was indeed a township and not a city, that would explain why it doesn't pop up on the map. All of the other locations, to my knowledge, do exist, and exist either in western Pennsylvania or eastern Ohio. Also, I completely forgot that the movie opened in the Evans City cemetary. Nice call.

The opening radio broadcast Ana hears refers to the "greater Milwaukee area." Everett is probably a suburb and/or residential community offshoot.

Philly_SWAT
08-Jun-2006, 11:16 AM
I believe that weatherman Willard Scott was so fat at the time, his person was commonly referred to as a "town" back then. I think that Willard Scott was about 17 miles from their location, doing a piece about daylight savings time and how it affects rural areas.....

For pictures of the areas in question, you can click on the link below my footer pic.

glsjaw
09-Jun-2006, 01:02 AM
evans city is in western pa just a little to the north of pitt off I-76 if i remember correctly.


its not I-76 but I-79 and you really cant go by what is said in the movies because evans city is about a minute from the cemetary and its surrounding locations (not 15 mins or five miles like said in the movies)

being from the evans city area my whole life i have never heard of a town called willard around this part of Pa

DjfunkmasterG
09-Jun-2006, 01:38 AM
Everett, WI

Doesn't exist it is a fictional town. however, Dawn 04 was shot in Thornhill Ontario, CANADA. the mall no longer exists it was torn down to make condos. The neighborhood is right across the street, and the wrecked city streets and boatyard are in Downtown Toronto.

trivia fact, DAWN 04 wrapped pick up shots right when RE: 2 began production (saame day)

Land of the Dead - Uses the geogaphy of Pittsburgh, PA however it never names the town. The town at the beginning is supposed to be Uniontown, Pa, but the film was shot in Kleinburg, Ontario. The River the zombies rise from is actually a wave pool at a local waterpark. (Paramounts Canadas Wonderland I think)

Day of the Dead - Shot in the Wampum mines outside of Pittsburg, as well as Fort meyers and Sanibel island in the Florida keys

Mike70
09-Jun-2006, 02:53 AM
its not I-76 but I-79

thanks for the correction. knew it was 70 something. i'm just too lazy to get out the atlas.

Guru ofthe Dead
12-Jun-2006, 06:48 AM
Yeah I just came back from Pittsburgh Friday. Evans City Cemetary has changed a bunch. And yes it is I-79. It's also a small town as well and the cemetary is just acrossed the railroad tracks.

hadrian0117
16-Jun-2006, 05:21 AM
Another very minor nitpick about Land, Cholo finds cigars in a liquor store in Uniontown. If you live in PA you why that can't be. Wasn't the Dawn remake originally set in Washington state? That would exlain the whole island thing.

Mr.E
16-Jun-2006, 06:24 AM
Wassup everybody!

I haven't posted much in the new HPOTD forum, but I guess here goes.
I changed my user name for the new forum from "mystery"...

Anyways, Sanibel Island and Ft. Myers is on the west coast of FL, not the Keys which is to the south.


BTW...
Anybody looking forward to GAR's "zombiesodes" ??

:rockbrow: