Review of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) by The V — 03 May 2014
Dan O' Bannon, the writer of such classics like 'Alien' & 'Dark Star', made his first directorial debut with 'The Return of the Living Dead'. A hodge podge of comedy and zombie horror. The concept was conceived in a story by co-author John Russo who was also part of another little zombie movie called 'Night of the Living Dead'. O' Bannon wrote the script and was only going to be credited as screenwriter until Tobe Hooper who was going to direct dropped out. O' Bannon would take the zombie genre into a whole new level as director and give the genre new blood to play around with.
Supposedly based on true events, the setting of this particular story takes place at a medical supply warehouse where two men open up a can of worms in the form of a toxic gas. That gas spreads throughout the warehouse, giving life to things that are suppose to be dead. Like the cadaver in the meat locker. They stowaway the cadaver by means of chopping it up and putting it into plastic bags before taking the remains to the nearest mortuary for cremation. This only creates more trouble since the chemicals on the cadaver burn along with parts of the body that get into the air outside. It starts to rain causing acid rain and leak into the soil of the nearby cemetery where many, many dead people rise from their graves seeking brains to quell their pain of being, well, dead.
A group of punk rockers get involved in the mix. They're like a screwed up version of 'The Breakfast Club'. They, along with the people in the mortuary, try to survive this Living Dead nightmare.
Unlike with Romero's zombies, the one's in this film are more aggressive, they can run and they can talk! It's a bit silly to think about at first, but the way it's presented is done very well. And funny! O' Bannon manages to balance an interesting zombie movie. It's like part punk rock, part slapstick comedy, part zombies & part EC comic book horror. In fact, much of the inspiration for this film was obviously derived from comic books.
By this point in the zombie genre, it was good to see it slightly spoofed. Much of it's humor was dark and twisted, but there were moments where certain opportunities could have been taken to fuller extent. Especially after Trash (Linnea Quigley) turns into the ultimate female zombie from hell. Boy is she a hottie!
Overall, this was a good ole' punk rockin' zombie flick.
This review of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) was written by The V on 03 May 2014.
The Return of the Living Dead has generally received positive reviews.
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