Mistakes: I make 'em, you make 'em, even George Romero makes 'em (as hard as this may be to fathom). One of the surprising things about Dawn of the Dead is not its mistakes, but that it has as few of them as it does. For a film as low-budgeted as it was, the production benefited from a director with a keen eye for detail. The result: very few goofs.
Still, due to time constraints and lack of money, some guffaws just couldn't be avoided. However, those that did creep their way in were more of the "fun" variety, the kind that make themselves known only to people who watch the film over and over and over again. That is, the mistakes in Dawn of the Dead are not to be confused with the no-one-making-this-film-gives-a-rat's-ass school of film flubs. As with life in general, Dawn of the Dead's mistakes were usually things that just couldn't be helped.
In no particular order, here are a few of them:
Not really a mistake, but if you look carefully at the scene where the first set of trucks are heading towards the mall (not at this picture or you'll get eye strain, but on a video copy) you can see a car (or two) racing along in the background. Is it a mistake? I don't know. But somehow it goes against the whole apocalyptic feel of the movie. While it shows up fairly well on my DVD copy, it was/is much more obvious in the theater.
If you watch closely you'll see a van moving in the near background. While this mistake is excusable, I find it hard to believe that Peter, Roger, and Stephen would choose to ignore a living person so close at hand. (Or could it a driving zombie?!) In the Argento cut, where this shot runs longer, the van is much easier to spot. I suspect that on editing Romero noticed the van and cut the scene so as to hide it as best he could. What Argento's reason for leaving it only adds credence to my claim that his version is the inferior.
This is a bit difficult to describe in that you really have to be watching the film to appreciate this 'blooper'. By using the old dame zombie as a reference, you can see that Peter and Stephen, who are supposed to be talking to each other, are really talking to each other's back! Check it out. You'll see what I mean.
Ah! One of the more celebrated goofs is the trampoline that is visible for a single, fleeting frame. The multi-talented Tom Savini, here as a zombie, gets hit by Roger's truck and is sent flying. Boooooiiiiiinnnnnnggggg!
Here they come! Roaring down the road ! It's the bikers come to raid the mall! Heads up! Make way! Let 'em through! So is this why regular traffic is held up at the stop sign to the right of the frame?
