Now, I’ve probably lost some credibility among the highterups of the horror community for liking the gorefests that are slasher films. Now allow me to sullididate my place as being a shitbag in the horror community with no chance of ever taken seriously again. Along with slasher films, I also like zombie films. Granted, to a lesser extent to slasher villains. At least there’s some creativity to slasher villains, while most zombies are just the same. But thankfully, we’ll be looking at a film that does things a little differently. That film would be 1985’s Return of the Living Dead.



Okay, first off, some history on this film. Return of the Living Dead is not part of the George A. Romero film franchise, like Night of the Living Dead, Day, Dawn, any of those films. Return of the Living Dead is not a part of those movies. There was an argument between George A. Romero and author John A. Russo, before they both decided to work on their own series being a sort of split timeline of sorts. Now, please don’t make me decide which one I like more, the Dead series or the Living Dead series, because I don’t wanna pick. Anyway, with that said, the plot of the movie is a typical zombie film. After a military chemical in an old warehouse breaks loose, it revives the dead and they attack a small town, consisting of typical 80s punks and rockers that look like they walked out a Sex Pistols concert. If they waited a decade, god knows they would have a style like Good Charlotte, Sum 41, or The Offspring. But my knowledge of garbage 90s bands aside, let’s talk about the film already.
Now this is not a typical zombie movie. It was pretty clear that George A. Romero popularized the zombie trope of having to destroy the brain in order to kill a zombie, that they are humanoid creatures that feast on human flesh. Well, not these zombies. Living Dead zombies are different in every single regard. No matter what they are, be it corpse, skeleton, or even dissected animals, they all come back from the dead. These zombies are far more crafty than the typical moaning living corpse. They are able to talk more, so they use that to their advantage, tricking people into falling for their tricks. They also don’t eat human flesh, just the brains. They state that it is only the brains they eat and leave the rest of the human body alone because it is the only enjoyment they get, living as a rotting corpse. And finally, and my favorite part of these zombies, they cannot be killed. You can cut off their heads, cut them to pieces, they will not die. If you cut off their arm, that arm is now it’s own creature and will go off on its own. And if you burn them, their ashes go into the sky, and when it rains, it will only bring back anything on the ground that is dead and turn them into zombies. It makes you wonder how they even kill these things, when it doesn’t seem like there is a way to kill them. I think this is my favorite type of zombie, these unkillable, talking ones. They have a lot more potential to be a far more scary group… And they are in a zombie film that is considered a comedy.
Yeah, Return of the Living Dead is a horror comedy. And it definitely has its moments of slapstick humor, but it can be a really effective horror film when you look into it. Sure, it doesn’t have the insane amount of gore or the amazing satirical undertones of a George A. Romero film (And this isn’t me shitting on Romero films. I love them. Rip in peace you wonderful man). But this film is amazing with its style of humor, it’s unique zombies, and it’s insane characters and how they aren’t just a bunch of idiots that fall for basic cliches that all horror films at the time were doing. This movie does its job as a zombie film and does a great job of it.
Return of the Living Dead was successful enough to get four other sequels. I never saw them, but I don’t think I’m missing anything. They just seemed to get worse and worse from there. I love Return of the Living Dead. At least enough to buy a special Halloween version of it, along with Young Frankenstein. It’s even got a neat little Dia de Los Muertos art on the front. If you are like me and love the lowest kinds of horror films, Return of the Living Dead is an all time classic that must be watched. Check it out if you want a good zombie film.