The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

June 4, 2018

"Ever fantasized about being murdered?"

I feel this film is hands down the best non-Romero zombie film. I know that Fulci's Zombi 2 is a great film with a well-deserved cult following and the 28 Days Later films were box office smashes, but for my money, The Return of the Living Dead blows them all out of the water. This is the most fun of all the zombie movies and has the best soundtrack of possibly any horror movie ever made. It has some really horrific gory scenes, just the right amount of comedy, and a little nudity thrown in for good measure. Well acted with great practical special effects, this movie simply has everything anyone could ever want in a non-licensed Night of the Living Dead sequel.

The film is a about a couple of guys who work in a medical supply warehouse and release a gas from a government container. The gas reanimates the dead turning a cadaver into a zombie. They chop up the zombie, destroy the brain, but it still lives so they take it to the near by crematorium and burn it. Unfortunately, a downpour happens and the ashes mix with the rain, rain down upon a cemetery, and thereby reanimating the entire graveyard. Meanwhile, a group of punks who are partying in the same graveyard have to fight to save their lives as the area becomes overrun by zombies.

The Return of the Living Dead has some many elements that make me so happy. It begins with a disclaimer that "The events portrayed in this film are true. The names are real names of real people and real organizations." I love that a film fake disclaimer before such an over-the-top film. Scream Queen Linnea Quigley is in this film as a pale red haired punk who is obsessed with dead and cannot keep her clothes on. She has this great nihilistic and morbid conversation with another punk where she asks him if he has ever fantasized about being murdered? And then goes on to explain that the worst murder should could think of is if a group of old men took her and ate her (foreshadowing!). This conversation apparently gets her so turned on that she strips off all her clothes and does a dance on one of the coffins.

Linnea Quigley (sorry, no nudes, watch the film if you want to see that)

Unlike most zombie films, the zombies in this film are able to talk which makes for some pretty funny moments. After eating a couple of paramedics, one zombie gets onto the radio to ask for more paramedics. There is another scene where zombies are luring cops towards them to eat them. "Send more brains!" A tied up woman's torso and head have a conversation with the main characters all about why zombies eat brains.

This film is not just a comedy, it contains some genuinely horrific scenes. The two guys who accidently released the military gas gradually become zombies throughout the film. It is a slow and painful dead and reanimation that is painful to watch. One of the guy's gets acid thrown into his face and is forced to stumble blindly as he tries to eat his girlfriend's brains. The other puts himself into the crematorium to burn himself alive rather than become full zombie. There are brutal scenes of zombies eating brains, the head impalement and chopping up of the original cadaver, and Linnea Quigley's character having her worst nightmare realized as a group of old men eat her alive.

This film is at its core an homage to Night of the Living Dead. The film is filled with references to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. The characters continually reference the film as a guide on how to kill zombies (without actually using the film's name). There is another great conversation where one character claims that Night of the Living Dead was a true story with some facts changed at the insistence of the U.S. Military. The ending of the film as the blinded boyfriend breaks through the attic is identical to the original Night of the Living Dead.

Finally, the soundtrack! This is one of the absolute best soundtracks for a horror movie! 45 Grave does the main theme Party Time that sets the tone for the film. The soundtrack also has TSOL, the Damned, the Cramps, and the incredible Roky Erickson. If you're a fan of punk rock or just like 1980s party songs, you have to get the soundtrack. It's so good!

The movie also contains a lot of firsts that it can claim in the zombie genre. Thanks to JD Gillam for his article at This is Horror. This movie has the first talking zombies, first fast moving zombies (almost two decades before 28 Days Later), first movie where zombies are focused on eating brains, first zombie punk movie, and first full frontal nudity in a zombie film (sort of... the filmmaker felt total full frontal would be too much so Linnea Quigley's character is wearing a prosthetic over his genitals giving her a very Barbie Doll look down there).

The film also spawned a half dozen sequels that I'm looking forward to watching soon.