Return of the Living Dead
(1985)
review by Annoyed Grunt

Like most zombie films that are remembered to this day, Return of the Living Dead is a cult favourite. However, I'm not exactly sure why. Don't get me wrong, it's a good film, but everything it offers has been far surpassed by a legion of other films. There are a number of films that are far more violent and far funnier. Maybe I don't 'get it', but I'd much rather watch Re-Animator or Evil Dead II. I don't know, maybe it's the punk music.

Not only is Return of the Living Dead a horror comedy, it's based on true events. Since the opening graphics said so, it must be true. The film begins with a man named Ernie (Don Calfa) showing a new employee, Freddy (Thom Mathews), the ropes at the medical supply warehouse. Near the end of his lesson Freddy learns that Night of the Living Dead was based upon a true story and that the government captured some of the zombies and shipped them to the warehouse in sealed containers. They then check out these corpses for themselves and accidentally release a gas that re-animates the dead. Freddy and Ernie try to eliminate the cadavers in the warehouse, but soon find that none of the methods used in the movies actually work.

Meanwhile, Freddy's punk rocker friends have come to pick him up for a 4th of July party. Since his shift isn't over for a while, they decide to break in to a neighboring cemetery and start the party early. While his friends enjoy some top shelf full frontal female nudity, Freddy cremates the zombie at the adjoining mortuary. This is unfortunate because the fumes from the body make their way in to the clouds and finally end up as rain. When the rain gets in to the ground at the cemetery, the dead rise and start hunting for warm brains.

One of the best parts of the film is the zombies. These guys aren't a bunch of slow moving, shuffling morons. They run, talk and set up ambushes. There's nothing better than seeing 20 zombies run out of the shadows and tackle some poor sucker. On the downside, these zombies are almost completely invulnerable. Since you can't do anything to hunt them, the characters spend most of the movie running. At least the characters are well defined and likeable. Since they're in a no win situation you really sympathize with them. It's nice to see that they almost always do what people should be doing in zombie films. Sure, it doesn't work, but at least they don't act like complete morons. The movie is also well written and features some great lines. My favourite has to be "Send more police officers". Sure, it doesn't look like much on paper, but you have to see it in context (and I wouldn't want to ruin that for anyone). The movie also has an early 80's punk soundtrack. Not too many of the songs really caught my attention, but I seem to be in the minority. I will say they give the film a distinctive feel and suit it much better than your generic spooky music.

The main problem with the film is that it really doesn't push the envelope. It may have been more shocking when it was released in 1985, but it just looks tame compared to other film from the same time period. Maybe I've seen too many Italian horror films, but just seeing somebody pulled off screen just doesn't cut it for me. I need some blood and guts. To be fair, there were some pieces of gore, but they were few and far between. It was like watching the edited TV version of Dawn of the Dead. My other big criticism is regarding the ending. I understand what they were going for and I did find it amusing, but I also felt somewhat cheated. I don't want to ruin anything, but after following these characters for an hour and a half I wanted something a little more satisfying.

I may not have been the biggest fan of the film, but MGM did recently release a good DVD. For $15 you get a glow in the dark cover, widescreen and pan & scan versions of the film, commentary from the director and production designer, trailers., conceptual art and a making of featurette. Unfortunately, I have heard that MGM had to replace some of the music due to copyright reasons. This is a bit of a downer for hardcore fans and is a bit of a black mark on an otherwise fine disc.

I don't want to seem to down on the film since I did enjoy it, but it did not live up to the hype I've been hearing for years. It's definitely a fun film, but there are others that have a far better take on the subject matter.