The Return of the Living DeadYear: 1984 Director: Dan O'Bannon Written by: Dan O'Bannon Threat: Zombies Weapon of Choice: Baseball Bat Based upon: Original |
Other movies in this series:
Return of the Living Dead Part II
Return of the Living Dead 3
The tyranist's thoughts
Zombie movies are cool. Funny zombie movies rock!
What happens when you have an industrial accident that re-animates the dead? A
military cover-up, followed by a military screw-up, followed by zombie mayhem. And
Linnea Quigley getting naked. And staying that way. For the whole movie.
It is almost impossible to speak coherently of this must be seen movie. It is wildly
funny in parts and surprisingly scary in others. With my man O'Bannon in charge
though, how could it not be wonderful? Come on. This is the man who brought us
Alien, Lifeforce, and Screamers.
I suppose you have a point about Bleeders,
but still . . .
If you haven't seen this particular zombie fest and you are into zombie movies, you
should perhaps rethink your status as a zombie lover. See it.
Rish's Reviews
So how DO you kill something that's already dead?
I believe this was one of the films I coerced my grandma into renting for me as an
evil young man. I watched it over and over, enjoying the dialogue, the gore, and
especially the nudity. Because of childhood burnout, I never watched it again. But
the other day, my mick friend invited me over for our monthly horror flick and I saw it
again for the first time in fifteen years.
And it's a very entertaining flick. The music was nice. The effects were good,
especially the living skeleton (puppets are better than CG any day). The acting was
over the top, but fun. Written by the always-reliable Dan O'Bannon, as well as
Night of the Living Dead
carry-overs John Russo and Russell Streiner, the script is pretty tight. It gets praise
for being funny, and it is funny, but it is a pretty downbeat little movie, with a blackly
hopeless situation and majorly unhappy ending.
The punk aspect, as well as the songs that accompany it, are sort of annoying,
but also endearing in the nostalgic way that most things 80's are. The ultra-bizarre
character of Trash, naked and obsessed with death, is pretty much what made
Linnea Quigley famous.
Still, the film doesn't compare to the Romero films, and the zombies aren't at all scary
(except maybe Linnea Quigley's naked blue one). The moaning of "brains" is entertaining,
but humanises the undead, and makes them funny more often than scary.
My favourite part (and the part that's resonated most with me all these years since)
was when the Me character (ie the geek) is alone with the stuck-up girl and she says,
"Chuck, I never did like you. Oh, but God, hold me tight." At that moment (and a
couple of others to a lesser degree), the film raises itself above the level of stupid
Horror and becomes something greater, if only for a time. Good stuff.
Line To Remember: "Send . . . more . . . paramedics."
I'd Recommend It To: Gorehounds with a sense of humour.
(oh, and by the way, Bleeders was much better than Screamers)
Total Skulls: 18
Sequel | ||
Sequel setup | ||
Rips off earlier film | ||
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie | ||
Future celebrity appears | ||
Former celebrity appears | ||
Bad title | ||
Bad premise | ||
Bad acting | ||
Bad dialogue | ||
Bad execution | ||
MTV Editing | ||
OTS | ||
Girl unnecessarily gets naked | ||
Wanton sex | ||
Death associated with sex | ||
Unfulfilled promise of nudity | ||
Characters forget about threat | ||
Secluded location | ||
Power is cut | ||
Phone lines are cut | ||
Someone investigates a strange noise | ||
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door | ||
Camera is the killer | ||
Victims cower in front of a window/door | ||
Victim locks self in with killer | ||
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls | ||
Toilet stall scene | ||
Shower/bath scene | ||
Car stalls or won't start | ||
Cat jumps out | ||
Fake scare | ||
Laughable scare | ||
Stupid discovery of corpse | ||
Dream sequence | ||
No one believes only witness | ||
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth | ||
Music detracts from scene | ||
Death in first five minutes | ||
x years before/later | ||
Dark and stormy night | ||
Killer doesn't stay dead | ||
Killer wears a mask | ||
Killer is in closet | ||
Killer is in car with victim | ||
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes | ||
Unscary villain/monster | ||
Beheading | ||
Blood fountain | ||
Blood hits camera | ||
Poor death effect | ||
Excessive gore | ||
No one dies at all | ||
Virgin survives | ||
Geek/Nerd survives | ||
Little kid lamely survives | ||
Dog/Pet miraculously survives | ||
Unresolved subplots | ||
"It was all a dream" ending | ||
Unbelievably happy ending | ||
Unbelievably crappy ending | ||
What the hell? |