The Return Of The Living Dead Review (1985)

They're back from the grave, and ready to party! Back in 1985, nearly twenty years after George A. Romero's zombie classic, Night Of The Living Dead, a long time partner and friend of Romero's, John Russo, set out to right a sequel to Night Of The Living Dead, though Romero had already put out his own swuquel, Dawn Of The Dead. The script was sent to Dan O'Bannon, the writer of Alien, asking if he wanted to direct. He did, but he did not like the script, so with a little bit of re-working, we've come up with the 80's Grindhouse classic, The Return Of The Living Dead.

At the beggining of the film, we have one main charecter, and young teenager who is trying his hardest to get a new job at a second-hand military and medical supply store. As he is being shown the ropes, a group of his local gang friends come looking for him, but upon finding out that he has a job, they decide to hang around in a graveyard next to Uneeda Medical Supply. As the young kid is signing his paperwork, his supperior begins to tell him about the film Night Of The Living Dead, claiming that it was based on a true story, but the government threatened the director, saying if he told auidences his story was true, they would kill him. The man then proceeds to tell the kid, that some of the remaining bodies were acutally shipped to Uneeda Medical on accident "a typical army fuck-up." As they go down to the basement to see the creatures, one of the containers holding them breaks loose, and realeses a deadly gas that threatens to bring every dead human being, back to life. And lucky for them, their is a group of teenagers in the graveyard just waiting to be eaten.

No matter how hard you try, The Return Of The Living Dead has a story that you have to respect. You don't have to really respect it, but you do because this is the film that started to have the zombies yell "brains!" And I actually thought that the story was very cool, being that it is implied that Night Of The Living Dead was real. Also, its sterotypical 80's camp horror. Its what so many other TV shows and movies make fun of, but you never really see it. If you've ever wanted to, Return Of The Living Dead is defiantly for you. May I also say that this film is not for those with a weak stomach or have something agaisnt nudity in films, as this film shows it all, and holds nothing back.

The acting in this film, is what has come to be expected of it. And that is nothing much. Come on people! Its a zombie film from '85 for Christ sakes, just give it a rest. Most of the cast is made up of relitive unknowns, or those who are mostly famous for their horror and b-movie roles. The acting isn't good, and it shouldn't be expected to, I enjoyed those who put their efforts forward.

The gore in this film is outstanding to look at. In some scenes its minimalistic, and in others, they just have blood gush for every orifice of the actors body! It was simply incredible and I loved every single second of it. The now famous tar-man looked as excellent as ever, and is probably one of the most noatble zombies in horror movie history. While the main, and close-up zombies looked very nice, the background zombies were just kinda so-so. Not good, but not bad because we don't have to see them all of the time. Another thing I would like to point out is the nudity in this movie. Its almost as bad as the violence. A main female chareter strips about twenty minutes into the film, and is full-frontal from then on, as well as another zombie whose butt is on screen for about five minutes.

The last thing I would like to touch on with this film is the music. Oh. My. God. It was incredible!!! I absoloutly loved it. Every time the rock ballads came in, they were perfectly placed, and added a great deal of excitment to the film. You justed wanted to et up and move! Lastly i would like to say that this film is not only a zombie movie, but its a funny one. This was Shaun Of The Dead and Zombieland of the 80's. And whether the filmakers intened it to be funny or not it still had some really good moments.

Overall The Return Of The Living Dead is a film that is one of the best. Not only for zombies. Not only for horror. But one of the best films ever made. Period. I truly hope that this film has a theatrical re-realese, so that I can experiences it as it was meant to be. If you're a horror fan, defiantly give this a look. I promise that you will not be dissapointed. And if you were a child of the 80's this is the one for you. The Return Of The Living Dead gets Five zombies out of Five.

5/5