Park View Fights Off the Undead
It sounds like a lovely night: a film set up in the main hall of a shopping center. As part of the Whitley Bay Film Festival, Park View Shopping Centre set up a screening of a classic film, inviting a select group of ticket-holders to enjoy the evening performance. Too bad things got a little bit messy.
The film, you see, was George Romero’s 1978 Dawn of the Dead. You know, the film about a deserted shopping centre and the legions of the living dead that descend upon it. Now that’s just asking for trouble, don’t you think?
Sure enough, the showing at Park View was interrupted. The arrival of shambling corpses probably should have been anticipated. Some came from the stores, others arrived down the stairs. But they kept coming, inexorably. And then members of the audience started showing signs of infection.
Tony Wilson, Head of Security at the centre, commented, “Normally we would be quick to remove some of the more violent elements from the centre, but there were too many of them. Fortunately, by the morning all the zombies had gone.” They were gently encouraged, in fact, with the clever use of the evening’s raffle prize: a plate of raw meat.
The audience didn’t seem to mind; you can see their reactions right here:
DAWN OF THE DEAD – Whitley Bay Film Festival 2012 from Primate Productions on Vimeo.
Ema Lea, organiser of the Whitely Bay Film Festival, said, “We were delighted to get permission to use the centre, and we were able to seat over 150 people. We set out deckchairs in the main mall, with drinks and popcorn. Everyone at the centre was really helpful and it was a great success.”
