Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland might have convinced young’uns like me that this generation has the best zombie spoof films, but watching The Return of the Living Dead this week reminded me that the older film generation created (and spoofed) the zombie genre before I was even born. The Return of the Living Dead is gory, inventive, bloody-splattering goodness, and if that weren’t enough, it made me laugh so hard that Diet Coke nearly came out of my nose. Film geeks and horror fans should seriously consider adding The Return of the Living Dead to their Blu-ray collections.
In The Return of the Living Dead, Frank (James Karen) is walking new hire Freddy (Thom Mathews, channeling Cheers-era Woody Harrelson) through his first day of work at a medical supply warehouse. The warehouse is full of human and animal cadavers, and unfortunately for everyone in the movie, there are several barrels of a chemical that reanimates the dead and turns the living into zombies. Within the first few minutes, Frank accidentally breaks one of the barrels, and the cadavers start to rise from the dead. Coincidentally, the medical supply warehouse is located right next to a graveyard, and the chemical soaks into the ground, bringing the entire graveyard to life. In another unhappy coincidence, there is a group of stupid teenagers partying amongst the headstones. What is the secret chemical inside the barrels? Can the heroes stop the zombies? Will anyone make it out alive? It’s not a bad question, Burt, but the most important question is, will there be brains? Soft, goopy, yummy brains? Absolutely.
Like Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland, The Return of the Living Dead is first and foremost a great zombie movie. Dialogue is snappy and smart, and the script pokes fun at the genre without losing focus on the story. Since it is a straightforward genre film, there are a lot of stock characters. Freddy is the lovable but dopey teenager, and he has great chemistry with Frank, the older warehouse employee who passes the time by messing with the gullible Freddy. Ernie (Don Calfa) is the pipe-smoking mortician next door, and Burt (Clu Gulager) rounds out the heroes as the owner of the medical supplies warehouse who would just wants to destroy the evidence and pretend the whole thing never happened.
Partway into the film, Freddy, Frank, Ernie, and Burt team up with the teenagers who survived the first round of zombie attacks. The teenagers can be summed up as the punks, the slut, the geek, and the goody-two-shoes. Imagine if, after detention, the kids from The Breakfast Club headed out to the cemetery to party all night long. Each of them meets a predictable end. For example, the slut tells her friends in the cemetery that she wants to die with old men eating her body, and before the credits roll, she gets her wish.
What I love about this film, though, is the little touches. When the chemical is released, half-dog cadavers (dead dogs cut in half which are often used by medical schools) come to life. Unable to move, they bark and wiggle on the ground, still trying to get some brains. I couldn’t help but laugh, and yet this low-tech special effect stuck in my mind for days after I saw the movie. Director Dan O’Bannon might not have had a large budget, but he created scenes that made me laugh and a few that made me cringe. In a particularly creepy scene, a half-rotted female corpse continues to attack despite having no legs and only a stump of a spine left. Young up-and-coming filmmakers should take note because The Return of the Living Dead proves that creativity trumps money any day of the week.
The Return of the Living Dead had a humorous take on zombie films which was ahead of its time, and unlike the more recent Zombieland, The Return of the Living Dead succeeded on a tiny budget. I cannot recommend this movie enough, and I think that The Return of the Living Dead on Blu-ray is a must-own for film buffs and horror fans alike.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The Blu-ray transfer is pretty impressive, but the disc’s special features make The Return of the Living Dead worth the purchase. There is a making-of featurette with a cast reunion and interviews on the film’s cult following. A “Bloody” theatrical trailer and a second “Even Bloodier” trailer are both included, and fans can watch the film again with director and cast commentary tracks or “zombie subtitles.”
"The Return of the Living Dead" is on sale September 14, 2010 and is rated R. Action, Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi. Directed by Dan OBannon. Written by Dan O'Bannon, Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo, Russell Streiner. Starring Beverly Randolph, Clu Gulager, Don Calfa, James Karen, Jewel Shepard, John Philibin, Miguel A Nunez Jr, Thom Matthews.
