Review of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) by Nate A — 03 Mar 2011
A large drum containing toxic gas and a mummified corpse is released in a warehouse by two employees that sets off a chain reaction of undead proportions. Somewhat of a sequel to Night of the Living Dead, The Return of the Living Dead expresses more of the comedy factor in the zombie genre. From the start of the film, we have the male-in-distress screams from James Karen's character, instead of the common female ones; slightly annoying and maybe should have been cleaned up before the film was released.
The characters, which comprise of a gang of punks, also were horribly mis-matched amongst eachother. We see the eighties bleed copious amounts of it's trend everywhere here, however it did add to the overall feel of the film, It was quite perplexing to see the character of Linnea Quigley so turned on by death, to actually be the main one to go into hysterics when confronted with it. But she did have one of the coolest make-up effects in the film after she turned. Unlike Romero who doesn't include nudity in his films, director Dan O'Bannon gives us more than just a boob shot here; instead going for an all-out showcasing of naked skin from Quigley. She's maybe five minutes dressed throughout the whole film, opting on going nude on the rest of her screentime. O'Bannon had all kinds of things going in this film that were ridiculous and entertaining at the same time.
We're also introduced to the first screenings of the "so-called" quick zombie who are also completely invulnerable to harm. Bullets don't do jack shit to them or even decapitation; only incineration seems to work. However, it doesn't stop the burning bodies from letting off contagious fumes into the air. The atmosphere was amazing with maybe one of the best soundtracks in a zombie film to date---so I have the Trioxin theme as one of my ringtones.
Gore was bountiful and just plain spilling out on every angle. It's astounding how robust this film is, I wouldn't have it any other way. Nicely done, Dan O'Bannon.
This review of The Return of the Living Dead (1985) was written by Nate A on 03 Mar 2011.
The Return of the Living Dead has generally received positive reviews.
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