Return of the Living Dead (USA. 1985)

Director/Writer: Dan O’ Bannon

It’s difficult to review flat-out classics. It’s even harder to do it when they are loved by die-hard uber fans who have glow in the dark t-shirts, play with LIMITED EDITION dolls and spout the catchphrases on a daily basis. I'm going to try here. I guess it helps that I'm one of those zomb-bo's who love to groan "Send more...Parameddddiiiics". ‘Return of the Living Dead’ may get frowned upon for being part of the go-to genre of the day (especially in today’s market, over saturated with walking corpse films) but at the time of its release it was a breath of refreshingly rotten air to a genre that either took itself deadly serious or winked and nudged the audience till their elbow punctured our lungs.

ROTLD was the first zombie film I ever saw in which made me feel "Well, people would probably react this way". Don’t get me wrong, the going ons here are still wildly over the top in a true grue fashion, but the difference between this and Dawn of the Dead can be summed up as Comic Book Vs Grimy Underground. DOTD pops with larger then life heroes, technicolor gore and broad moral lessons. ROTLD is populated with people scared out of their wits, dirty basements and stupid decisions. DOTD may have had a glimmer of hope for humanity in its empty eye socket, but ROTLD is bitterly cynical all the way to it’s brain stem. The only thing that keeps ROTLD from being a classic is the fact that it’s impossible to think of it as anything other then a child of the 80’s. The clothes, music and mannerisms on show reek of moldy social norms that are almost impossible to take with a straight face.

The idea of making the zombies mildly sentient, as well as quick moving, reeks of desperation. If you can’t stop them by removing the head then you can't get out of there alive! The film knows this and never cheats its way out of it (As opposed to the sequel’s depressing “You can kill them with ELECTRICITY”(!) cop-out). As the story pushes along things get more and more desperate for our cast of characters till the explosive finish (which I thought as anticlimactic the first time I saw it) plays out exactly like it would in the real world. Return of the Living Dead gets permission to wear its COMEDY/HORROR pin proudly. It actually works as both and that’s a rarity in a world that would rather have spurting amounts of blood then actually work as a narrative film that can involve the audience.

DVD:

Dirt cheap priced. Director/Writer Dan O’Bannon and the main effects designer have a low key but enthusiastic, discussion over the film and also participate in a talking heads video about the film in question. There’ another DVD that was released that’s supposedly the “Director’s Cut” but I haven’t spotted it on the shelves yet.