Review of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) by Jason H — 24 Oct 2012

Return of the Living Dead is essentially what would happen if the Scooby-Doo gang caused the zombie apocalypse and had to find a way to fix their mistake.

In most zombie films, we get to follow a smart survival group, Return of the Living Dead turns that well known formula on it's ear and instead focuses on the fools who have no plan and are usually caught making it up as they go. The violence and gore here is more cartoonish than anything, and the antics are sure to remind most of Scooby-Doo as the group is constantly running away from the zombies and panicking. Return of the Living Dead is a straight-up zombie film and it doesn't waste much time on anything else. The focus here is not on the story, but on the antics and fun that erupt from it. From it's classic opening to it's fantastic ending (You gotta love the ending), Return of the Living Dead is a fun film that knows exactly what it is and that is one of the many reasons it excels so brilliantly at showing it's audience a good time. Sure, there may not be much to it, but Return of the Living Dead is still one of the best zombie flicks out there (It's also got a killer main theme).