"Why didn't they...?" #2 (Dawn of the Dead)

[axlish]

Why didn't they do a better job of securing the mall doors? For starters, un-hotwiring the trucks would have been nice. How about moving some of those kiosk's down there. Actually, why didn't they open up the loading docks and bring a truck inside as well?

[Mister Chrome]

Yes, Axlish...they should have done all of those things. I would also add that they could have screwed sheets of wood over the entrances, completing block off the glass doors. This might have sent zombies away since they would have no means of seeing into the mall anymore. Also, the heroes could have dumped gasoline or kerosene down onto the crowds of zombies below, thus thinning out the herd quite a bit and reducing future horde populations. They could also have done their target practice on zombies inside of inside the ice rink on mannequins. Foolish, foolish heroes. M.C.

[MaximusIncredulous]

Maybe they thought was was done was enough. They may have considered the human threat to the mall but never seriously entertained it other than erecting a fake wall. The heavy trucks, doors with hard to break glass, and alarms would be fine for the dead threat and that's all that really mattered to them. Maybe they were just lazy. What I always wondered about was why they didn't install blinds or wallpaper on the doors to block out the sight of decaying corpses trying to get in. After all they did want to make the place like home. Then again, laziness.

[axlish]

If they were serious enough to risk their lives to secure the mall, it seems that they would have thought of securing from the inside as well. The docks would be the most vital. Heck, the first time the docks are even mentioned in the film is by the bikers. Flyboy should have been tossing molotov's at the bikers while Peter picked them off with the Sniper rifle. The bikers would have had to regroup at the top of the hill and come back later, at best.

[CivilDefense]

and why did the guy stick his arm in that blood pressure machine... because the movie would have been alot less fun that way.. or it would have been 8 hours long. And since when did the CD put spam in its emergency rations? Also in that machine handling room, I am pretty sure they just dymo taped "MUSIC" on to some pump switch and only PRETENDED to use it to turn on the music. Also, where did they get those fresh cream pies fro m?

[Svengoolie]

One thing I liked about Dawn 04 (from the deleted scenes) is that they made an effort to block the entrances off from the inside with furniture and boxes and other stuff....

[axlish]

Oh yeah, and the obvious, flatten the tires to the trucks. Fran could have done it with a bb gun in her spare time.

[Svengoolie]

AND...instead of doing target practice on mannequins in the Ice Rink, why not go up on the roof and learn to shoot zombies by shooting zombies?

[Chakobsa]

Oh yeah, and the obvious, flatten the tires to the trucks. Fran could have done it with a bb gun in her spare time. Improvised explosive booby traps in the drivers cabs of the trucks would have made the bikers think twice, i'm thinking homemade claymore mines... .

[MaximusIncredulous]

If they were serious enough to risk their lives to secure the mall, it seems that they would have thought of securing from the inside as well. The docks would be the most vital. Heck, the first time the docks are even mentioned in the film is by the bikers. Flyboy should have been tossing molotov's at the bikers while Peter picked them off with the Sniper rifle. The bikers would have had to regroup at the top of the hill and come back later, at best. ... or just smear black shoepolish on themselves as improvised camoflauge, slap on some dark overalls, and kill the lights to make the bikers raid just a teenie bit harder.

[TheWalkingDude]

Ok really stupid idea here lol Why not just join up with them from the first contact. Might of been more safety in numbers and they might of not come in like a bunch of idiots into the mall. They could of cleared out most of the zombies from outside first then after they was low on ammo then Peter and the rest could of picked them off.

[Danny]

i thought it was part of the social commentary thing, they wrere all grim and stone faced as they ran but once they discovered the mall they were all wide eyed ,cept fran...if that was her name im allways forgetting em, and they were as drawn into the consumerism as the zombies and becuase of that they forgot to do all the logical stuff, yknow greed is the folly of man and all that.

[CivilDefense]

Improvised explosive booby traps in the drivers cabs of the trucks would have made the bikers think twice, i'm thinking homemade claymore mines... . ' you can also hide a cat turd under the door handle. that always worked for me. Actually in reality, Im not seeing any armed group clashing with another entrenched armed troops anywhere, there are just too many more other "easy pickings" to bother. Honestly with all the lumber, I am sure you could find a concrete nailer to pretty much make the doors not work. In "reality" I would have painted the windows black, torn out the distributor cap and fortified the doors, built bunkers on the roof, made monkey love to Francine Parker.. all sorts of stuff. But to be honest, holing yourself away anywhere just isnt going to work, all it would take is one guy to sneak up into some unlit quiet part of a mall and start a nice big fire. The mall was just too big for four people to guard. and as far as tampering with the trucks, remember, they lost 25% troop strength just doing the little they did! personally I would have just rigged some sort of corn harvester/combine with the chopping blades at head level.. just drive around mowing zombies down with it.

[Philly_SWAT]

Couple of thoughts here.....it would have made more sense to take target practice on the zombies outside, rather than manequins on the skating rink. Perhaps, to use a line from Day, they felt that the "activity excites them", and didnt want the zombies outside anymore riled up than they already were. As for "un-hotwiring" the trucks, flattening the tires, etc., this would make sense in order to keep them in place better. But they may have thought that they may need to use them/move them in the future, and didnt want to disable them. Remember earlier, Peter said of the control panel "Hit em all. Might as well have power to everything. We may need it". They may have used that same logic here. Also, they may have thought that if "raiders" came to the mall, they would do whatever it takes to get in. The more difficult they made it for potential raiders to get in, the more damage to the mall entrances the raiders would have to make in order to gain entrance, and by extention, make repairs that much more difficult for our heros after the raiders left. Remember, the original plan was for the raiders to never discover that they were in there. As far as opening the docks and bringing a truck inside, the benefit of this would be minimal, and more time consuming, (read: more dangerous). Once the truck was inside the mall, Roger would have to exit the truck from inside the mall, make his way outside to where Peter would be waiting, all without being attacked. There wouldnt be room in the docks to bring two trucks in side by side. I had always thought that in the relative safety of the truck yard, they should have cut holes in the roofs of the trucks in order to enter/exit that way. Would have been much safer, and Roger wouldnt have gotten bit.

[AcesandEights]

Philly strikes, again. Excellent thoughts, especially on reasoning out the forethought of the survivors in some respects. I too assumed they wouldn't want to cut off the possibility of moving the trucks completely; it makes sense in some respects to disable the trucks, but also could hamstring them in further, future efforts.