Do you think Peter and Fran could have cleaned out the mall?

[Eyebiter]

After the motorcycle raiders left in Dawn of the Dead (1978), do you think Peter and Fran could have secured the mall again?

From what I recall the raiders moved one BP truck, then machine gunned the sliding glass door lock open. This allowed both the biker gang and the zombie horde to enter the mall.

After the raiders left and BEFORE Stephan led the zombie horde upstairs, do you think Peter could have gotten the outside doors closed?

Have Fran get up on the roof first then pull the ladder up. That way she is safe with the helicopter and also can snipe zombies while Peter tries to move the truck back to block the door.

Peter either uses the air vents to get close to the open door, or rappels off the side of the building and lands on top of the BP truck. Move the truck so it's very close to the doors to prevent more zombies from getting inside the mall.

Once the outside doors are again closed, Peter could used the air vents and pick off 90% of the zombies inside the mall with relative impunity.

Possible scenario?

[Philly_SWAT]

Hmmm.....wonder where the idea for this thread came from, the chat room earlier today perhaps? In any event, it is in fact a worthy topic for discussion. I submit that it would be possible, but incredibly difficult to achieve.
After the raiders left and BEFORE Stephan led the zombie horde upstairs, do you think Peter could have gotten the outside doors closed? Well, it would be a must that whatever was to be done had to be done BEFORE Flyboy leads the zombies upstairs. Once this happens, any plans would be near impossible. Therefore, Peter's first objective would have to be to take Flyboy out, preferably from one of the air vents. And this would have to be done right away, possibly before even going back to tell Fran what happened. Quite a thing for Peter to do. Because as you saw, Flyboy went right for the wall after exiting the elevator.
Peter either uses the air vents to get close to the open door, or rappels off the side of the building and lands on top of the BP truck. Move the truck so it's very close to the doors to prevent more zombies from getting inside the mall. If I remember correctly, the truck was moved far enough away from the building that you could not repel onto it. Of course, he could repel down to the ground then make a break for the truck. A very risky thing indeed, but possible. Hopefully, the bikers did not dislodge the wiring when moving the truck (they didnt exactly appear to be acting carefully, either before or after breaking in). And Peter was not that familiar with the trucks to being with. Remember, he asks Roger if he can handle the trucks? So if the wiring was loose, who knows if he could get it back right, especially with a horde of zombies right there. Roger was basically alone at the truck yard, except for when one or two zombies came up, but not a horde. The safest thing would be to take the chopper back to the truck yard and get another truck, but again, I dont think Peter knows how to hotwire them. But lets say that the wiring is still intact, and he can repel down to it and move it. What is he gonna do when he gets out? There is no getaway truck ready to take him away. ( I always wondered how they got out of the last truck and back to the chopper anyway. Did they have 5 trucks wired, and took # 5 back away from the mall to get back in the chopper? We dont know for sure.) And I dont think he could get close to the doors via the airvents. That is a long service hallway on the first floor. Even if Peter could get to the first floor vents, and the vents did extend to the hallway, how would he get down to the floor without breaking his neck?
Have Fran get up on the roof first then pull the ladder up. That way she is safe with the helicopter and also can snipe zombies while Peter tries to move the truck back to block the door.
This is a good idea for Fran, but I dont think there would be a good angle to shoot toward the truck that close to that entrance from the roof. But it showed her shooting before, so lets say she can. How is Peter going to get back upstairs? It would be very hard to go back up the rope he repelled down. Maybe if he used some type of rope ladder, but either way, zombies would be pulling on it as he climbed up. But lets say he could get back up somehow.
Once the outside doors are again closed, Peter could used the air vents and pick off 90% of the zombies inside the mall with relative impunity.If he could secure the mall, he could pick off most of the zombies from the airvents, and then go out alone, or with Fran if she was up to it, and pick off the rest of them just walking around inside the mall. The problem is....
From what I recall the raiders moved one BP truck, then machine gunned the sliding glass door lock open.With the glass doors destroyed, I dont think that the truck alone would stop them from walking in. Remember, even at the other already secured doors, zombies were between the trucks and the doors, even though the trucks were very close.

So like I said, it might be possible, but extrememly difficult.

[general tbag]

possible. dam i wanna watch dawn of da dead again now.

[kortick]

I dont htink it could be done

like peter said "there are gonna be a thousand zombies in here"

the two of them couldnt handle it
especially with fran being very pregnant

the mall was a lost cause

[creepntom]

you would think that reclaiming the mall was a nil idea considering they had an evacuation plan

you could assume that the obvious plan after take off would be to look for more fuel & other supplies in small populated areas

there needs to be a middle dead story, that happens between dawn & day

kinda like how there's a shadows of the empire with the star wars deal

[Philly_SWAT]

there needs to be a middle dead story, that happens between dawn & dayThere is. It's called Land of the Dead.

[panic]

I still think everything points to Land taking place AFTER Day. I just don't understand folks who suggest otherwise.


There is. It's called Land of the Dead.

[MinionZombie]

If they'd bloody well closed those steel doors behind that flimsy fake wall that would have helped, if they'd barricaded the door to their apartment type gaff they could have survived by waiting it out and then Peter going all Rambo to re-take the mall. Of course, between Peter and a pregnant lady that would be kinda tough, if only Flyboy had laid low...I'd say there was a slim chance it could be done, but because it all went tits up their choice to flee was probably the best decision they could make ... which they were essentially forced to make.

[DjfunkmasterG]

In the extended version they never move the truck. The bike leader yells to them to forget the truck because the whole side swings open. So I don't think they ever moved the truck. Just my 2 cents :D

[Danny]

if i was in there psoition i dont think i could be arsed, considering they lost the swat the first attempt so with even less people id have rather said **** it and gone to lapland to find zombie santa instead.:D

[p2501]

possible, yes. probably no.

i'm skeptical of them wanting to stay there. but i think it's possible that the mall could have been cleared by two people.

[Bunker65]

Could they have secured the mall again ?? It would have taken time but, yes, I think they could have re-secured the mall. The problem would have been keeping it secured with only the 2 of them remaining & Fran in a very pregnant state.

Of course they would have to continue to worry about the zombies but also have to worry about another band of raiders attempting to take the mall. I mean it is a likely target for raiders.

Peter has the training to stand against a fair number of raiders but he wouldn't be able to handle a large group himself. Which is what he would have to do since Fran would have to take care of her baby. And if they just let them have what they wanted & let them leave they would need to re-secure the mall AGAIN.

Once the mall was breached the first time I think they were right to cut their losses & take the chopper & look for another place to secure & hold up.

[Philly_SWAT]

If they'd bloody well closed those steel doors behind that flimsy fake wall that would have helped,
Good point. I dont understand why they used such filmsy wood to begin with. Even if for some reason there was no stronger material for sale in the mall somewhere, at the least they could have torn down a wall somewhere else in the mall to get some strong materials. Its not like a raider would have thought "Hmmm...someone has torn down a some of the wall here in the Gap, there must be someone hiding out behind a fake wall someone here in the mall. Look for em boys!"

[Tullaryx]

I think it could be done if and only if they were able to find a few other survivors and more fuel for the helicopter once they flew off in the end. I don't think they could've re-fortified the mall just between the two of them right after the raiders left. Even if Stephen had either kept himself hidden, or killed quickly once turned, there's still the matter of their ammunition. They had quite abit, but unless they all made one-shot, one-kill aims then there's a chance their ammo supply would've been depleted before they cleared and barricaded the open door.

There's also the factor that unless the opened door to the mall was resecured first, there'll always be a constant stream of zombies coming in from the outside. They could kill hundreds already in the mall, but what would be the point of such an exercise if a thousand more replace them.

I think the best way would be for Peter and Fran to have survived and flown long enough in their low-fuel tanks to another small airfield, fuel up and look for like-minded survivors. They needn't have gone back right away. The mall's not going anywhere and in time the zombies inside might have wandered out of the mall in a large enough number that the place is not packed when they do decide to return months later.