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The Four Survivors
Fran Parker
Francine "Fran" Parker
Played By: Gaylen Ross
"They're still here."
A technician with the news station WGON.
- Chekhov's Skill: Through the story, she learns how to shoot and how to pilot a helicopter. Both come in handy later on.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Inverted. While other characters see Fran's points as complaining, she ends up being correct on all of them: the mall is a trap with some glitter, they should just stop for a rest and move on, while doing crazy antics to protect the place is reckless and suicidal.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Discussed. She really wants that baby, even in their shitty situation, and is aghast by how casual Peter is about helping her, thinking Fran can't hear him just one room apart.
- Hidden Depths: You are pardoned for thinking Fran is a bad combination of Damsel in Distress, Hysterical Woman and The Load during the first act. Once the plot reaches the mall, she becomes easily the most competent and level-headed character of the story.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Being in a zombie apocalypse, Francine is in danger more than once throughout the movie while she's about 3 months pregnant.
- The Load: She initially has no fighting abilities, and unlike Stephen she is unable to pilot the quartet's helicopter at least until Stephen teaches her.
- Neutral Female: During the first confrontation at the airfield, Fran takes no action whatsoever while Stephen is desperately fighting with a zombie.
- Perhaps at least partially justified in that she and Stephen both know she's pregnant. And thus might be afraid of endangering both herself and the baby, as well as being too weak to help.
- Only Sane Man: She's the only character who sees - and does so right off the bat - that the mall, while glamorous, is still a prison. She's also the only character in the whole story who takes the fact that there is an ongoing Zombie Apocalypse 100% seriously from the get-go, rather than goofing around or seeing it as a way to get free stuff.
- Pregnant Badass: After Francine picks up a few skills and learns how to defend herself, Francine becomes quite a competent member of the group. Despite being progressively more pregnant.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Defied. Fran makes it very clear that she will not get reduced to such a position before anyone even starts getting any ideas.
- Taught by Experience: In her case, the experience was not one, but two close calls with zombies, while being unarmed and abandoned on both instances. She demands being given a gun and lessons how to use it - and is later seen through the movie practicing. This does come in handy later.
- Team Mom: Averted, in that the character explicitly states she will not be "den mother" for the group. She is still shown to cook for them on occasion, however.
- Took a Level in Badass: Starts out with no combat or survival skills as noted above, but takes the initiative to learn. Even after the mall is secured, she is seen practicing her shooting and she learns to fly the helicopter.
- Women Are Wiser: Big time. While initially presented as a damsel to burden the heroes, she ends up being the most level-headed, pro-active and skillful character around.
Peter Washington
Peter Washington
Played By: Ken Foree
"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."
A SWAT team member.
- The Big Guy: Played by the 6'5" Ken Foree. Commented upon by Roger.
- Hidden Depths: Peter is a highly-sophisticated guy from really low origins. On top of that, he's far more than just a competent, if self-centered cop.
- Graceful Loser: Once the mall is overrun and he and Fran are forced to make a hasty run for their lives, he simply chuckles about their predicament when finally able to catch his breath.
- Killer Cop: Peter shoots and kills Wooley, a fellow SWAT member, after he begins randomly killing civilians and kicks open the door of a zombie-infested apartment.
- Large and in Charge: He is by far the largest member of the group and leads them following their arrival at the mall.
- Lawman Gone Bad: Peter abandons his job as a police officer during a national crisis and goes on to commit several crimes, including stealing the news station's helicopter. He is still presented sympathetically, though.
- The Leader: While never explicitly stated, he directs the actions of the group after they arrive at the mall.
- One-Man Army: Is this when fighting zombies and attacking bikers.
- Only Sane Man: He's noticeably leveler-headed than the two other male survivors, and shows several instances of "thinking-before-acting".
- The Reliable One: Out of everyone in the group, Peter is the only one who thinks realistically and doesn't get in over his head like Roger and Stephen do.
- Scary Black Man: Downplayed; Generally, Peter is very laid back, but he intimidates Stephen after he comes close to accidentally shooting him to teach him a point.
- He does this again by intimidating Roger as well, after Roger gets reckless. He justifies it by noting that: "You're not just playing with your life, you're playing with mine."
- Still later, he shows some of this when shooting several of the bikers, even ones who are fleeing and no longer a threat to him.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: After the group takes over the mall, Peter discards his SWAT uniform and begins dressing in casual clothing, along with an expensive watch. At the climax of the film, when the bikers invade the mall, he re-dons his uniform and contemptuously removes the watch.
- Super-Strength: At one point he lifts a zombie above his head and hurls it over a balcony.
- SWAT Team: At the outset of the film, Peter is a SWAT team member.
- Token Minority: The only non-white character of the four protagonists.
Roger DiMarco
Roger DiMarco
Played By: Scott H. Reiniger
"We got this, man! We got this by the ass!"
A SWAT team member.
- Always Know a Pilot: He and Stephen are colleagues from before things went to shit. They aren't all that close, but this still gives Roger a vital contact.
- Break the Badass: After getting bitten, Roger becomes less boisterous and begins to become rather quiet after realizing he isn't as invincible as he thought himself to be. By the time the infection begins to spread, he becomes a mere shell of who he once was.
- To further twist the knife, The Living Dead novel revealed that he wondered if what he died for meant anything at all.
- Combat Pragmatist: Roger employs a wide variety of tactics against the undead as circumstances dictate, including stabbing one with a screwdriver and running another over with a truck.
- Lawman Gone Bad: Roger abandons his job as a police officer during a national crisis and goes on to commit several crimes, including stealing the news station's helicopter. He is still presented sympathetically, though.
- Leeroy Jenkins: His recklessness ultimately results in him being repeatedly bitten by zombies and dying soon after.
- Reckless Sidekick: To Peter. It earns him a dressing down, which is not enough to save him from being bitten by two zombies.
- Resist the Beast: Shortly before dying from his zombie bites, Roger tells Peter that he is going to "try not to come back". He doesn't succeed.
- SWAT Team: At the outset of the film, Peter is a SWAT team member.
- Zombie Infectee: Dies from being bitten by a zombie, and has to be put down by Peter when he reanimates.
Stephen Andrews
Stephen "Flyboy" Andrews
Played By: David Emge
"They know we're still in here."
A traffic reporter with the news station WGON, he serves as the quartet's helicopter pilot.
- Action Survivor: Unlike Peter and Roger, he isn't a police officer, and appears to have little skill with firearms at the outset of the film.
- Adventurer Outfit: Worn while piloting the helicopter.
- Brutal Honesty: When Fran insists they should continue their way up north to Canada, Stephen asks her how many more fuel stops she thinks they will need to make and how low the chances are they will find fuel at all.
- Chekhov's Skill: He can fly a helicopter, giving both him and Fran, but also Roger and any of his friends (thus - Peter) a handy way to navigate through the Zombie Apocalypse.
- Didn't Think This Through: He is notoriously reckless, especially early on, always acting first, thinking maybe. It's a wonder he makes it till the group starts locking down the mall in a single piece.
- Intrepid Reporter: Averted. Despite being a journalist, Stephen shows no interest whatsoever in documenting the zombie crisis. He wants to live.
- Stock Costume Traits: A pilot who wears leather bomber jacket and aviator sunglasses.
- Took a Level in Badass: He gradually grows more competent over the course of the film.
- Zombie Infectee: Upon trapping himself in an elevator after being bitten and dying, he comes back and leads a group of zombies to the group's hidden "nest".
The Bikers
General
A gang of bikers who invade the mall at the film's climax.
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: The bikers are stereotypically violent and lawless. Although in a literal sense, this is averted, as most of them were played by Real Life members of an entirely different gang: The Pagan's Motorcycle Club
. - Blatant Lies: One of the leaders tries to trick the mall dwellers into letting their guard down by contacting them over the radio and claiming to be part of a tiny group. His subordinates keep whooping and cheering while he's trying to talk and laugh out loud when he claims there's only three of them.
- Devoured by the Horde: Many of the bikers are killed this way by the zombies, mostly due to Peter shooting them and leaving them defenseless. The only victim among them who wasn't previously shot beforehand is the biker who thought it was a really good idea to check his blood pressure while zombies are swarming the mall and his buddies are either being shot, eaten or leaving.
- For the Evulz: They don't seem to have had any real plan or goal other than fucking shit up.
- Karmic Death: A large chunk of the Bikers are killed by the very same zombies they let inside the mall.
- Karma Houdini: Though half of them are killed during the mall raid, including one of the leaders named Blades, the other half of the bikers get away with robbing and causing the mall to be overrun with zombies, and ride off happily into the night. Potentially subverted in the long run, however: They lost a considerable amount of people due to both Peter and the zombies killing them, and all they stole from the mall were useless luxury items instead of things like food or ammo. These mistakes could end up being very costly to them in the future.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Although there are several black and Hispanic members in the group, Blades calls Peter "Chocolate Man" as an insult. Another biker wears a helmet with the SS insignia on it.
- Too Dumb to Live: In addition to pillaging a mall that's occupied and defended, and looting useless luxury items like jewelry and money, one biker stands head and shoulders above his peers when he tries to take his blood pressure in the now zombie-infested mall, twice. The second time, he does so as zombies are not only visibly surrounding him, but while his friends are hauling ass out of there.
Blades
Blades
Played By: Tom Savini
"Say goodbye, creep!"
A biker with an affinity for knives, hence the name.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Blades makes a cameo in Land of the Dead, as one of the many zombies invading Fiddler's Green, and he even uses his machete to chop a survivor in half. Especially noticeable because he is the only character in the entire Living Dead series to appear in more than one movie.
- Blade Enthusiast: He is covered with knives. He even uses a small flick knife as a mustache comb.
- The Cameo: He shows up as a zombie in Land of the Dead during the attack on Fiddler's Green.
- Meaningful Name: A Blade Enthusiast named ...Blades.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He uses a racial slur against Peter while stalking him.
WGON
Dan Givens
Dan Givens
Played By: Daniel Dietrich
The station manager of WGON and Francine and Stephen's boss.
- All for Nothing: Even if his obsession with ratings wasn't ultimately meaningless anyway since society collapses and almost everyone dies, it would still have been pointless since the Emergency Broadcast System takes over all transmissions for the duration of the crisis.
- Mean Boss: Tries to force his communications staff to put outdated crisis information on the teleprompters, and when they begin to desert the studio, he orders the police guard to arrest them. The guard leaves along with the staff, leaving Givens alone, ranting and trying to operate the machines by himself.
- Sanity Slippage: Like almost everyone else, his sanity is hanging by a thread, and his determination to keep getting viewers to watch the station is likely at least partially a coping mechanism.
- Skewed Priorities: Is far more concerned with keeping WGON's ratings up by getting every survivor to keep tuning in for the now-outdated rescue station list than the social collapse unfurling around him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Stephen and Francine desert the station, and Givens is never seen again.
Cameraman
The Cameraman
Played By: Jim Edmondson
"Go ahead and leave."
One of Francine and Stephen's coworkers.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Standing a few feet away from Stephen and Francine, he hears their discussions about leaving.
- Mr. Exposition: He reveals that the Emergency Broadcast System will take over the station at the end of the day.
- No Name Given: His name isn't stated in the film but some sources call him Jim,
after his actor. - Consummate Professional: He makes no effort to join with Stephen and Francine as they leave, staying at his post and never even diverting his eyes from his camera.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The man had less than fifteen seconds worth of dialogue but what he says helps convince Francine that it's ok to leave with Stephen, and it's implied that he knows it.
- The Stoic: He never displays any strong emotion on his face while talking about the change of authority at the station and the prospect of running.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Like everyone else at the station his final fate is unknown.
Others
Dr. Rausch
Dr. Millard Rausch
Played By: Richard France
"They must be destroyed on sight!"
A government scientist who appears on emergency broadcast transmissions to give information and advice on the zombie outbreak.
- Eyepatch of Power: Rausch is missing an eye, and is an outspoken, argumentative high-ranking government employee.
- Ignored Expert: Tries to pass himself off as this, especially later on, but it's more that the public's not as willing to abandon every pretense of humanity as he is.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He's not wrong that there is no apparent way to save the bitten people and that zombies being fed would not only keep the casualties down, but prevent the creation of new zombies in the process, stopping their ongoing explosive population growth dead in its tracks.
- Sanity Slippage: As the zombie infection spreads and society crumbles, Rausch begins showing clear signs of losing his grip on reality, and his "advice" starts including things like feeding the bodies of recently dead people to the zombies or using nukes to destroy them.
- Sole Surviving Scientist: He's one of the few scientists shown to still be advising people on ways to deal with the rise of the undead. Although unlike most examples, we don't see him in a lab and his exact area of speciality is a bit vague beyond general zombie studies.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Wants to save humanity from extinction, and is advocating increasingly extreme measures to achieve this.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: There's no indication what happened to him after the emergency broadcasts ceased.
Dr. Foster
Dr. James Foster
Played By: David Crawford
"It gets up and kills! The people it kills get up and kill!"
A scientist who appears on one of the final WGON broadcasts and explains the nature of the undead.
- Ignored Expert: Tries to explain what needs to be done to stop the zombies but the civilians are more interested in yelling at him.
- Mr. Exposition: He describes the nature of the zombies and the threat they pose to society in the movie's first scene.
- Sophisticated as Hell: He's a well-dressed, intelligently spoken man who nonetheless delves into this as he feels he isn't being listened to.Foster: You're not running a talk show here, Mr. Berman! You can forget pitching an audience the moral bullshit they want to hear!
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears after the Emergency Broadcast System takes over the airwaves and is replaced by Dr. Rausch.
Wooley
Wooley
Played By: James Baffico
"Come on, you dumb bastards, come and get 'em!"
A racist, unhinged member of the same SWAT team Peter and Roger served in.
- Asshole Victim: Peter shoots him in the chest once Wooley goes on a killing spree.
- Ax-Crazy: During the raid he starts gunning down unarmed civilians.
- Token Evil Teammate: Of all the SWAT members, he appears to be the only one with malevolent intentions.
Old Priest
Old Priest
Played By: Jason Del Gre
"When the dead walk, señores, we must stop the killing... or lose the war."
An elderly one-legged Hispanic Priest in the tenement the SWAT team raids.
- Creepy Good: He seems like a caring and practical man but the scene he's in is fairly spooky.
- Good Shepherd: He gives last rites to the victims but recognizes they're no longer human.
- Only Sane Man: One of the few, if not the only, people in the tenement to recognize the police should be allowed to put down the undead, although he gives the zombies some final dignity first.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He only has one scene and his later fate is unknown.
TV Commentator
TV Commentator
Played By: Howard Smith
"You can't help us deal with your calm illogical ways..."
The man running the emergency broadcasts with Rausch, whom he becomes increasingly horrified by.
- Commander Contrarian: He spends most of his dialogue expressing doubt and incredulity about Rausch's arguments and strategies, although unlike Berman below, it's hard to blame him.
- Nervous Wreck: He's somewhat disheveled, frazzled and clearly desperate for some sane solution to the crisis. Rausch and his words are of no help in this.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Eventually the broadcasts stop but it's unknown if that means the commentator, Rausch and the others were dead, suffered an equipment breakdown or just gave up broadcasting due to the futility of things.
Sidney Berman
Sidney Berman
Played By: David Early
"People aren't willing to accept your solutions, doctor, and I for one don't blame them!"
The talk show host interviewing Foster.
- Everyone Has Standards: Almost all of his dialogue is scornful barbs at Foster, but when a technician sneaks up behind Foster and makes bunny ears above him, Berman angrily yanks the man's hand down.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Berman seems to mean well, but his bullying, and skeptical treatment of Dr. Foster when he was providing information that could have helped stem the panic and slow the spread of the undead... increases the sense of panic and doesn't slow the spread of the undead.
- Rabble Rouser: He seems determined to stir up people watching both in person and on the set against Foster and the scientists.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a neat suit for all of his one scene.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Berman's final fate is unknown.
Redneck Rifleman
Redneck Rifleman
Played By: Joe Abeln
One of a group of farmers and soldiers the helicopter passes over and observes.
- Dissonant Serenity: He's remarkably calm while commenting on his hits and misses.
- Friendly Sniper: The man shoots down approaching zombies while exchanging friendly conversation with his friend.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: One of the many characters whose fate is unknown, although his faction looks to be in better shape than most others when last seen.
