The Return of the Living Dead

To this day, I can't believe Dan O'Bannon got away with using "The Living Dead" in his title. George Romero should have sued, and probably did. Nevertheless, this is a classic horror comedy straight out of the 1980s, with gruesome brain-devouring zombies running riot in a small town. Actually, due to the movie's modest budget, the zombies run around a small number series of sets, consisting of a warehouse, both inside and outside, a bridge and a mortuary, inside and outside. There also are a couple of shots dealing with Army personnel. An Abbott and Costello-type pair unleashes a government-developed gas that revives the dead. Even dead parts. A warehouse exec, a mortuary owner and several daffy young people end up in a fight for their lives, while a series of EMTs and police arriving on the scene are quickly dispatched by the ravenous zombies. The hammy acting is strictly from hunger, the dialog largely improvised, and the clumsy blocking and static photography (mostly medium shots) are like something from a 1932 talkie. But the zombie attacks are ferocious and go way beyond anything Romero attempted in "Night." Also, zombies getting on the ambulance and police radios to order up more help in their sepulchral voices is beyond hilarious. You also have the ravishing Scream Queen of her day, Leanna Quigley, spending most of screen time nekkid. It also is a riot to see familiar grocery store hawker James Karen in a prominent role here. Plus, much has been said over the years about the individual hired to play the rotting basement zombie, and he is indeed absolutely marvelous. Good for a laugh, and great for trotting out every Halloween.

The best $10 dollars I ever spent was buying The Return of the Living Dead on DVD!

This is such a kick ass zombie movie its my favorite I enjoy this movie more than "Dawn of the Dead" the best thing about this flick is the outstanding cast I love everyone in this movie they made it all happen with Dan O'Bannon and the crew Return of the Living Dead is a classic point-blank!

Overall IMO this is the best horror/comedy movie of all time I think its tops Evil Dead everything this movie is a must see it still kicks ass after so many years.

10/10

"The Return of the Living Dead" has held a special place in my heart for a very long time. This satirical take on Romero's classic (if you don't know which one, you shouldn't be reading this) is one of the greatest horror films ever made and is also one of the most respected. The direction by Dan O'Bannon, writer of "Alien" (also one of the greatest), is superb and Jules Brenner's cinematography is stunning for a film not shot in a widescreen aspect ratio (it was shot 1.37:1 full frame to save money). The scene with the rising of the zombies is best described as hauntingly beautiful yet chilling. The cast gives great performances and the special effects are astounding, as is Matt Clifford's rousing score. The nasty going-ons is highlighted by a powerful metal soundtrack featuring The Cramps and Billy Idol.

The plot concerns some nasty chemical that has the ability to bring the dead back to life. When a barrel of the stuff is accidentally opened, all hell breaks loose: the cast is forced to do battle with scores of zombies (this time hungry for brains). Twists and turns abound as the cast is trapped at Ground Zero-the epicenter of the plague, if you will. All of the characters are likely even though they are mostly sleazy and corrupt. Linnea Quigley is great as Trash as is Clu Gulager as the corrupt warehouse owner. The zombies themselves are fun to watch; be warned, however, that they are not the usual slow, shuffling stiffs we've all come to love.

All in all, "The Return of the Living Dead" is an amazing thrill ride that will remain in your mind long after it's over. Do yourself a favor and seek out this cult classic. You won't regret it!

This movie is like very little else out there. It's a zombie comedy that isn't a full-on splatterfest like most, doesn't offer some overly humorous social satire (there's subtle jabs at Agent Orange and Nazis), and doesn't have a high-concept premise (for a zombie movies that is). What you have is dry as hell, with punk rockers (timely for the time - Repo Man meets zombies?), Nazi morticians smoking pipes and listening to their Walkman while embalming, and Quigley nudity for its own sake, but characters are in on it and equally celebrate and scold her. It has iconic scenes and quotes though I'm sure a lot of people have no idea they're actually from this.

It just works - it's funny, weird, creepy, gory, and always entertaining. A hard mix to pull off and one that happens with success very rarely. It's always said that there's a fine line between horror and comedy - the pros can straddle it like a daring high-wire act and this is one of them. If only the ending weren't so abruptly anti- climactic and there were a few more naked zombie Quigley kill scenes it'd be a perfect cult classic.

Gotta love the very serious Suicide while naked Quigley grinds on him: "No one understands me, you know that." "You think this is a f***in' costume? This is a way of life." "Hey, what's wrong with you, man? Show some f***ing respect for the dead, will ya?" All this because he was called a "spooky motherf***er."

ROTLD is one of the rare cases where horror meets comedy to good effect. With some classic lines like "you gotta hit the brain" and "watch your mouth kid if you like this job", this film works because it doesn't rely solely on gore or stupidity; the script is very well written.

ROTLD pays homage to George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" but veers away from the slow lumbering zombies of the '68 classic, and instead gives us "the original" super zombies (ie before 28 days later or Dawn of the Dead remake) that are not so easily dealt with! This proves to be an interesting problem for the script to resolve which I think it does with style by the end of the movie.

The characters are a little predictable and one dimensional except for the lead pair who are introduced at the start of the movie, but that's perhaps the only flaw. What I really like about this movie is that, whilst not entirely a gorefest, it still manages to kick-ass because of the flawless plot. By this I mean that there a few scenarios where you find yourself saying "that's just dumb" or "they'd never do that" etc, which is very rare nowadays in the horror/sci-fi genre. Dramas & thrillers etc get an easy job of it because all they have to do is convince us that their reality is real-life. Horror on the other hand needs to convince that the unreality it portrays is what is real-life, and that's not always an easy task.

ROTLD is funny, sick, clever and above all entertaining if you can stomache some pretty twisted content. Personally, I love it.