The Return of the Living Dead is a 1985 American satirical comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon (in his directorial debut) from a story by Rudy Ricci, John Russo, and Russell Streiner, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Mathews, Don Calfa, and Beverly Randolph. The film tells the story of how a warehouse owner, accompanied by his two employees, mortician friend and a group of teenage punks, deal with the accidental release of a horde of unkillable, brain-hungry zombies onto an unsuspecting town.
The film, described as a "mordant punk comedy," is credited for introducing the concept of zombies specifically eating brains (as opposed to any form of human flesh) to the zombie genre. Additionally, the film's soundtrack was noteworthy, as it featured several Los Angeles-based deathrock and punk rock bands of the era.
The Return of the Living Dead released in the United States on August 16, 1985, by Orion Pictures. The film received mostly positive reviews and performed moderately well at the box office. It spawned four sequels, with a fifth one in development. The original film has been regarded as a cult classic to zombie fans.
Contents
Plot
On July 3, 1984, at the Uneeda Medical Supply Warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, foreman Frank Johnson tries to impress new employee Freddy Hanscom by showing him military drums of a toxic gas called Trioxin. The drums wound up in the basement of the building due to a delivery error years before. While hitting the side of a drum to prove it is secure, Frank accidentally unleashes the toxic gas, which seemingly melts the cadaver inside and reanimates another cadaver stored in a meat locker. The gas also reanimates other preserved specimens throughout the warehouse. Joined by their boss Burt Wilson, the three try, to no avail, to kill the reanimated corpse by puncturing the brain, then dismembering the body. They discover that every part of the zombie's body can survive independently. Burt has the zombie incinerated at a nearby mortuary crematorium by his friend Ernie Kaltenbrunner.
Meanwhile, Freddy's girlfriend Tina and his friends Spider, Trash, Chuck, Casey, Scuz and Suicide arrive at the cemetery across from the warehouse to wait for Freddy to finish work. While Trash starts stripping and dancing on a gravestone, the smoke from the cremated corpse carries Trioxin into the atmosphere. A thunderstorm returns the chemical to earth as toxic rain, reanimating the corpses in the nearby cemetery.
The zombies emerge from their graves and attack the group. Suicide is killed, and the survivors scatter. Tina flees to the warehouse, where she encounters the reanimated, horribly disfigured cadaver from the basement, later nicknamed "Tarman." The rest of the group arrives shortly after and saves her in the nick of time. After Casey realizes she saw Freddy entering the mortuary, Chuck and Casey return to the warehouse while Spider, Tina and Scuz make their way to the mortuary through the cemetery, fighting off the re-emerging zombies as they go. Trash, her body submerged in the chemical-laden mud, rises from her grave transformed into a zombie and begins to hunt and feed.
At the mortuary, the three discover Frank and Freddy growing ill from their exposure to the gas and call for paramedics, who determine that the men are technically dead despite remaining conscious. When Burt and Ernie learn that the dead are rising from their graves, they barricade the mortuary. Scuz is killed while helping defend the barricade, and the zombies overwhelm and devour the paramedics and police officers who arrive on the scene. The group manages to capture the upper half of one of the zombies and restrain her on the mortuary table. She explains that the reanimated corpses can feel themselves rotting, and eating the brains of the living helps relieve the pain of being dead.
Production
Concept
The Return of the Living Dead has its roots in a novel by John Russo, simply titled Return of the Living Dead, which served as a follow-up to Night of the Living Dead (1968) which Russo co-scribed with George A. Romero. When Russo and Romero parted ways after Night of the Living Dead, Russo retained the rights to any titles featuring Living Dead while Romero was free to create his own series of sequels, beginning with Dawn of the Dead (1978). Russo and producer Tom Fox planned to bring Return of the Living Dead to the screen in 3D and directed by Tobe Hooper.
When Hemdale Film Corporation experienced difficulty raising funds for the movie and delayed the start of production, Hooper backed out to make Lifeforce (1985). Lifeforce co-screenwriter Dan O'Bannon was then brought in to give the early script a polish and was offered the director's seat, becoming his "first big film". He accepted on the condition he could rewrite the film radically so as to differentiate it from Romero's films. The film was the first production design credit for William Stout. The appearance of the zombies in the film was inspired by the mummies of Guanajuato, Mexico and the Bog People of Wales, as well as artwork from EC Comics.
The story's featured "2-4-5 Trioxin" chemical developed by the "Darrow Chemical Company" for the military was a play on the real-life Dow Chemical Company and its involvement in the 1960s with the manufacture of Agent Orange, scientifically known by the name "2,4,5-T Dioxin" and used in the US Military's Operation Ranch Hand and on Canada's CFB Gagetown Canadian Forces Base in rural New Brunswick during the Vietnam War as a powerful defoliant. Return of the Living Dead makes up a lighter purpose for the chemical's usage, with character Frank suggesting that it was being sprayed on cannabis crops in the 1960s.
Filming
Although the movie is set in Louisville, Kentucky, it was filmed in Burbank, Sylmar, and Downtown Los Angeles in California. The "Tarman" zombie is performed by actor and puppeteer Allan Trautman.
Release
The Return of the Living Dead was initially set to open in Los Angeles and New York in September 1984 before gradually expanding through October, but following positive test screenings, Orion Pictures became confident enough to give it a wide release on August 16 1985.
Reception
The Return of the Living Dead was a moderate critical and a box office success, grossing approximately $14,237,000 domestically on an estimated budget of about $4 million.
The film holds a 71% approval rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes based on 117 reviews. Its consensus reads: "The Return of the Living Dead is a gleefully grotesque horror-comedy, though its broad performances and cheap thrills sometimes detract from its sharper moments." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. It was also nominated for four Saturn Awards, including Best Horror Film, Best Actor for James Karen, Best Director and Best Make-up, by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, writing that the film is "kind of a sensation-machine, made out of the usual ingredients, and the real question is whether it's done with style. It is." Stephen Holden of The New York Times called the film a "mordant punk comedy," and stated that it "is by no means the ultimate horror movie it aspires to be."
Colin Greenland reviewed The Return of the Living Dead for White Dwarf, and stated that "The movie sprawls shapelessly but comfortably, with plenty of gruesome jokes."
Rotten Tomatoes lists the film on its 100 Best Zombie Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer.
Soundtrack
"Surfin' Dead" by The Cramps
"Partytime (Zombie Version)" by 45 Grave
"Nothin' for You" by T.S.O.L.
"Eyes Without a Face" by The Flesh Eaters
"Burn the Flames" by Roky Erickson
"Dead Beat Dance" by The Damned
"Take a Walk" by Tall Boys
"Love Under Will" by Jet Black Berries
"Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die)" by SSQ
"Trash's Theme" by SSQ
"Young, Fast Iranians" by The F.U.’s: 1991 Hemdale version and subsequent DVD and Blu-ray Releases, though not on official soundtrack album.
"Partytime (Single Version)" by 45 Grave: Version actually used in the film, though not on official soundtrack album.
"Panzer Rollen in Afrika vor" by Norbert Schultze: Song playing on Ernie's walkman, though not on official soundtrack album.
Home video
The Return of the Living Dead was first released on Betamax and VHS by Thorn EMI HBO Video in 1986.
The Return of the Living Dead was originally released on DVD in the U.K. by Tartan Home Video in 2001. Up until 2012, this was the only time it had been issued in its original form. In early 2002, a fan-led online campaign was started, which attracted the attention of the director and many of the cast and crew. Several of them commented online that the popular and robust efforts of campaign organizer, Michael Allred, were the direct result of not only the DVD release but that MGM created new supplements due to overwhelming fan support.
In 2002, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the owner of Orion Pictures, released a Special Edition DVD in the U.S. with a new cut of the movie (with music alterations due to copyright issues) with a commentary by O'Bannon and a documentary on the making of the film. The cover of the DVD case for the 2002 release glows in the dark. In 2007, a Collector's Edition of the film was released with additional extra features involving the cast. The different home video releases have featured different soundtracks, often changing the songs used. Also, the basement zombie's ("Tar-Man") voice was altered. Originally, the zombie had a higher, raspier voice that can still be heard in the end credits montage, theatrical trailers and releases that contain the original audio.
A 25th anniversary edition was released in 2010, exclusively for Blu-ray Disc. The Blu-ray Disc version is a 2-disc combo pack with both a Blu-ray Disc and DVD. This release was very similar to the MGM/Fox print from three years earlier.
In 2012, Second Sight Films in the UK released DVD and Blu-ray Disc versions of the film where the original audio and soundtrack in its original form can be selected, the first time since 2001 a release has had this option. The release had its first insight into the movie with the inclusion on a booklet (claimed to be based on Ernie's notes from the events of the film) which was edited from Gary Smart and Christian Seller's publication The Complete History of The Return of the Living Dead.
Scream Factory released a 30th anniversary Collector's Edition Blu-Ray in 2016. It contains a new 2K scan of the interpositive, along with including the original mono audio. Though note while everything else was restored (the original "Tar-Man" voice and the other songs), the song "Dead Beat Dance" by The Damned could not be restored. MGM also released another edition with hand-drawn cover art.