Bust of George Romero

Monroeville, Pennsylvania

The centerpiece of George Romero's classic horror film, Dawn of the Dead, was a shopping mall infested with zombies who were -- Romero implied -- as brain-dead as they had been when they were alive. He filmed it in the Monroeville Mall in the winter of 1977-78. For decades afterward the Mall wanted nothing to do with its unexpected fame.

Romero died on July 17, 2017. It inspired Christian Stavrakis, whose brother played a zombie in several Romero films, to launch an online fundraising campaign to sculpt a bust of the cult film director. He was successful in raising the money, and this time the Mall was receptive. The bust was reverently placed atop a pedestal in one of the Mall's enclosed anchor store courts, and unveiled on June 8, 2018.