Return of the Living Dead (1985)

NIGHT 25

     " Send... more... paramedics!"

Return of the Living Dead (1985) is a loose sequel to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), written and directed by Dan O'Bannon of Alien (1979) fame. This film is very loosely based on the novel of the same name by John A. Russo (one of the two original writers of Night of the Living Dead). Unlike Night, this film is a horror comedy and sets its own zombie rules. This film also spawned it's own set of sequels.

Freddy gets a job at a medical supply warehouse, where the foreman Frank tells him that the events of the movie Night of the Living Dead all really happened, but the government covered it up. Frank says he knows this because thanks to some distribution mix-up, a couple tanks of the corpses ended up at his warehouse. While showing Freddy though, they accidentally rupture one of the tanks, unleashing a deadly gas and bringing the dead all around them back to life.

I like how the movie starts off very serious in the first act and it's not until some of the dialogue kind of tips you off that this is actually a comedy. Yet the horror in the first half is very well directed its a shame that Dan O'Bannon didn't continue to pursue directing horror too long after this.

I love the practical effects in this film, the split dog, the tar zombie, the skulls coming out of the graves. It all works, thanks the director's skill they never focus on most of the zombies too long which helps the makeup and effects really just be accepted by the viewer and then you're not looking at the seams or focusing on how unreal things look.

This film is super 80s. Very high energy, pseudo-rebellion, I do what I want, punk rock. The fashions, music and style all scream super 80s, which all in all isn't a horrible thing it just actually adds to the comedic element when watched today. I'm sure these were very much "cartoony" characters when it came out but now it's even funnier thanks to our perceptions and memories of the 80s.

The biggest problems with this film (made obviously clear, after watching it back to back with Night of the Living Dead) is the antagonists are impossible to kill. This makes it very hopeless for our heroes far earlier than it should be. Not to mention they're very smart: calling for more cops, running and tricking people. It's all done for humor but story-wise, this makes it less interesting than Romero's zombies, where our human zombies actually stand a chance (kinda). And when we hardly cared about our protagonists to begin with, and they don't stand a chance of getting out, there's not much for us to root for in the film. It actually would have been more interesting if there was a reversal where after the canister is opened and the zombies come to life they became our protagonists and we could even sympathize with them about how they didn't want to be brought back to life (since they can talk already).

The reason I keep coming back to this film is the comedy. This film has a lot of really great situational humor like grown men screaming like babies after a headless cadaver gets up and starts running around the room. This film is such a quotable film too. There's a ton of really hilarious lines from everyone, humans and zombies! And lots of scenes hit you with the double whammy of situational humor with great lines on top; "Obviously, I didn't mean you were really dead. Dead people don't move around and talk."

And lastly I gotta mention how much I love the soundtrack! The soundtrack to this film has a great mix of punk rock and death rock artists of the day including The Cramps, 45 Grave, T.S.O.L. and The Damned which all work together perfectly for this movie.

Return of the Living Dead (1985) is a hilarious zombie romp, that despite being very 80s still is quite influential. Think about how many times people associate zombies with wanting brains? That all started with this film. Check it out and laugh your brains out.

4/5 Stars.

Happy watching!




On a more serious note, tomorrow on the 31 Nights of Macabre Movies we're going to go back and continue Romero's original trilogy with Dawn of the Dead (1978).

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