In the annals of classic horror actors, you might not expect people to know the name David Emge. He only appeared in about five movies and hasn’t appeared in a movie since 1992 Hellmaster. But it was his role as one of the leads in the horror-satire classic Dawn of the Dead released in 1978 that would solidify his status.
Emge had served in Vietnam before returning to America where he worked in theater both in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. Then, he moved to New York City where his day job was a chef at a restaurant when he met George A. Romero who was casting for the sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Only in his early 30s but looking about a decade older, he was cast as Stephen Andrews, nicknamed “Flyboy” because he’s a traffic reporter for the Pittsburgh TV station WGON, who steals the station’s helicopter and seeks shelter with his girlfriend Francine Parker (Gaylen Ross) who’s a news reporter/producer at the station.
They travel all over the area seeking shelter with their friend, Roger DeMarco (Scott Reiniger, who was Emge’s real friend and co-worker), a SWAT officer who’s befriended fellow SWAT officer Peter Washington (Ken Foree). They end up seeking shelter in a shopping mall that is initially overrun with the undead, which they manage to subdue and keep out of the building. The idea of filming a horror movie in a place of excess consumerism earned the movie high praise from critics who normally blasted this type of movie. Late critic Roger Ebert gave it a four-star review calling it one of the best horror movies of all time.
The images of the undead lumbering around the interior was a subtle statement on how foolish we were to hang around shopping centers during our lives that even in death, we would still gravitate back them. And after Stephen, Francine, Peter and Roger have all they could ever have and want in a shopping center, they do get bored as they become “zombies” themselves to the mundane activities. Stephen isn’t the leader. That is Peter. No, Stephen is more cocky as he had a hunting rifle with him that he didn’t hardly know how to use as Roger would mock him initially for his poor marksmanship and Peter would berate him for the foolish way he would arm it in the direction of the living.
Emge made Stephen somewhat unlikeable at times but he wasn’t the antagonist. His arrogance is conflicted with Peter’s seriousness and Roger’s rowdiness that eventually leaders to his own death. But it’s Stephen’s own cockiness as he turns bitter toward Fran who refuses his proposal to get married as she is pregnant and showing. He finally calms down as he teaches her to fly the helicopter just in case. But this arouses attention to a gang of looters (including Tom Savini who did the make-up effects).
It’s the looters, mostly on motorcycles, that sets Stephen off as he begins a war with them even though Peter just wants to close as many store fronts as they can as they know the undead will be back in the building. Peter is smart enough to build a fake wall to their make-shift living quarters in the mall’s office and storage rooms. In the end, Peter is able to get away from the looters but Stephen is shot in the arm, wounded and gets bitten by the undead, eventually becoming one himself.
Emge’s gait as he lurches along with his head turn to the side and dead-green skin would become iconic as it set the tone for how other zombies and undead would walk in other movies. “Being the zombie was something that I could just like, grab onto,” he said in a documentary. “I sat there for weeks and weeks watching all of these people coming up with ‘their’ zombie. And I’m thinking, what am I gonna do? I had to come up with something that was distinctive enough, so I thought, okay, now, so what happens to this guy? He gets bit in the neck, he’s bit in the leg, he’s shot in the arm, so basically the zombie image came out of the wounds that he received.”
Simon Pegg, who would go on to star in the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead he co-wrote with Edgar Wright, said he was very influenced by Emge’s role and the Romero classic. Dawn of the Dead is the quintessential Zombie Apocalypse movie. Emge didn’t appear in the 2004 remake even though Foree, Reiniger and Savini did.
On Jan. 20, he passed away at the age of 77 in Evansville, Ind. No cause of death was reported at this time. According to his obituary, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Mater Dei High School, 1300 Harmony Way, Evansville, IN 47720.
Condolences may be made online at www.pierrefuneralhome.com.
Zane Says 