The Return of the Living Dead
| Return of the Living Dead | |
|---|---|
| File:Return of the living deadposter.jpg | |
| Directed by | Dan O'Bannon |
| Written by | Screenplay: Dan O'Bannon Story: Rudy Ricci John A. Russo Russell Streiner |
| Produced by | Tom Fox Graham Henderson |
| Starring | Clu Gulager James Karen Don Calfa Thom Mathews Beverly Randolph |
| Cinematography | Jules Brenner |
| Edited by | Robert Gordon |
| Music by | Matt Clifford Francis Haines |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures Corporation |
Release date | August 16, 1985 |
Running time | 91 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4,000,000 (estimated) |
The Return of the Living Dead is a zombie horror film that was released in 1985 and was followed by several sequels.
The film came about out of a dispute between John Russo and George A. Romero over how to handle sequels to their 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead. The two reached a settlement wherein Romero's sequels would be referred to as the Dead movies, and Russo's sequels would bear the suffix Living Dead.[citation needed] Thus, each man was able to do what he pleased with the series, while still having one another's work distinct and be considered canon. Following this decision, Russo wrote a horror novel, Return of the Living Dead, which he planned on adapting into a film script. Although the film rights were initially sold in 1979, they were passed along by several different studios and directors before finally being obtained by Tobe Hooper, for whom Dan O'Bannon was hired to write a script. Hooper dropped out of the project instead to focus on the production of another feature.
Following Hooper's departure from the project, Dan O'Bannon was hired to direct the film based on his original Hooper script (with Russo adapting it into an accompanying novel), also titled The Return of the Living Dead. This project alleviated confusion amongst fans of Romero's work by including a scene in which a character acknowledges the George Romero films and explains that while they are based on true events, the events of the Return series are the "true story." In addition to this separation of the storylines, the films in the Return series are markedly more comedy based than Romero's films, employing "splatstick" style morbid humor and eccentric dialogue. The film also boasted a great deal of nudity, in marked contrast to Romero's work.
Although Russo and O'Bannon were only directly involved with the first film in the series, the rest of the films, to varying degrees, stick to their outline and "rules" established in the first film.
Plot
Medical supply warehouse foreman Frank (James Karen) informs his new protege, Freddy (Thom Matthews) that Night of the Living Dead was a true story, based on events that occurred when a gas (2-4-5 Trioxin) was released into the morgue in the basement of a Louisville Kentucky hospital. As a matter of fact, the warehouse was an inadvertent recipient of a few canisters of Trioxin, all complete with dead bodies sealed inside. Due to the canisters' poor durability (and Frank slapping it) the contents are released. The dangerous gas leaks out of control, not only poisoning Frank and Freddy (and knocking them out), but unleashing the now animated Tarman (Allan Trautman).
Freddy and Frank wake up later, having breathed their share of the poison. They realize what has happened and run upstairs. Only to see that many of the inhabitants of the warehouse have reanimated, the worst being the cadaver in the freezer. The two decide to call their boss, Bert (Clu Gulager). The three manage to cut the zombie in the brain, only to realize that hitting the zombies in the brain does not work. They decide to go nextdoor to Ernie, (Don) to have the zombie creamated. They burn the zombie. This makes the rain get poisoned and it rains all over the graveyard. But Frank and Freddy are starting to feel sick. Ernie calls paramedics, and the paramedics conclude that Frank and Freddy's have no pulse, their blood pressure is 0, and their temperature is 70, room temperature. The two paramedics go outside to get strechers, unfortunately they get eaten by the residents of the cemetery.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Clu Gulager | Burt Wilson |
| James Karen | Frank |
| Don Calfa | Ernie Kaltenbrunner |
| Thom Mathews | Freddy |
| Beverly Randolph | Tina |
| John Philbin | Chuck |
| Jewel Shepard | Casey |
| Miguel A. Núñez Jr. | Spider |
| Brian Peck | Scuz |
| Linnea Quigley | Trash |
| Mark Venturini | Suicide |
| Jonathan Terry | Colonel Glover |
| Allan Trautman | Tarman |
The Zombies
The zombies in this movie differ from those in Night of the Living Dead. Return's interpretation of zombies have influenced cultural interpretations of zombies, particularly with regard to their hunger for brains and their constant vocalization of this hunger.
- They are fast and can run
- They are as strong and intelligent as they were in their previous life, and they can also speak sometimes
- They can form words despite their physical degradation
- Instead of hunting humans for their flesh, they hunt for the humans' brains, stating that only their consumption eases the pain of being dead.
- It appears that injuries to their brains do not have any effect and the only way to fully destroy them is to cremate their bodies, although the ensuing smoke spreads the contagious gas.
It should be noted that being bitten by a Return Zombie does not necessarily turn someone into a Zombie (unlike other Zombie films). Zombification has only shown to caused by being poisoned by the Trioxin gas. However, since the Zombies aim for the brain, zombie bites are usually fatal. However, in the third film of the series, zombie bites are infectious and do cause somebody to become a zombie when bitten.
Soundtrack
- "Surfin' Dead" - The Cramps
- "Party Time" - 45 Grave
- "Nothing For You" - T.S.O.L.
- "Eyes Without A Face" - The Flesh Eaters
- "Burn The Flames" - Roky Erickson
- "Dead Beat Dance" - The Damned
- "Take A Walk" - Tall Boys
- "Love Under Will" - Jet Black Berries
- "Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die)" - SSQ
- "Trash's Theme" - SSQ
DVD Release
On September 11, 2007, a Collector's Edition of the film was released.
[1] DVD art for MGM's new release.
![[1]](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WZP5mR0uL._SS500_.jpg){kind=link}
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- As in its predecessor Night of the Living Dead, in the end all main characters die due to the action taken against the zombie plague. In Night, the police squad kills the last survivor, in Return, all characters supposedly die because of the artillery attack on the area.
- In the synopsis on the back of the first edition DVD the last paragraph incorrectly says that Frank and Freddie work at an "Army Surplus Store" instead of a Medical Supply Warehouse.
- The film was released on August 16, 1985, and made $14m at the box office in the USA, nearly double the amount earned by Romero's Day of the Dead, released the same year.
- The film gained quick popularity largely due to the performance of Linnea Quigley, who as the "punk queen" Trash performs a full-frontal (though wearing a crotch-covering, flesh-colored prosthetic), gyrating strip-show on top of a tombstone while blasting SSQ's "Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die)" on a boom box. Her appearance not only helped to garner the film popularity, but it cemented her place as an 80s horror icon and "scream queen".
- Throughout the 1980s, the film gained a strong following with the punk music scene; a large number of the main characters are punks, and the film features an almost exclusively punk rock soundtrack. When the film was finally released on DVD in the early 2000s after years of limited availability in a poorly edited VHS release, it became a best-seller due to what is considered a high nostalgia factor of 1980s pop culture.
- The film also sparked a new interest in the already strong punk/hardcore scene of Louisville, KY, where the movie takes place.
- The film's German title is Verdammt, die Zombies kommen, which is roughly Oh crap, the Zombies are coming, playing up the comical aspect of the film.
- The character Ernie is thought to be a Nazi due to his sharing his name with Ernst Kaltenbrunner among other indications in the film (such as the character listening to Nazi march music on his Walkman while he embalms bodies, carrying a German Walther P38 and having a picture of Eva Braun in his morgue). Dan O'Bannon, in the DVD commentary, mentions that Ernie was intended to be an escaped Nazi in hiding.
- The film features three actors who have been in Friday the 13th films: Miguel A. Núñez Jr. and Mark Venturini, both of whom were in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. Thom Mathews is as well known for his role in this film, as he is for the part of Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
- In an unprecedented move, a fan of the film started an internet campaign to get the movie released on DVD. Going beyond simple fan petitions, Michael Allred created a web page consolidating every bit of news relating to the film, and contacted many of the film's principals including the writer and director Dan O'Bannon. He went on to put O'Bannon in touch with MGM (the studio that owned the film) and work began on getting the film released on DVD. O'Bannon and others who worked on the film credited Allred and his campaign for getting The Return of the Living Dead released on DVD. [1]
- The UK punk band Send More Paramedics took their name from a line of dialogue in Return of the Living Dead.
- If the emergency telephone number printed on the canisters of the contaminated dead is dialed, a sex hotline will be reached.
- The eye-test poster in Burt's office reads "Burt is a slave driver and a cheap son of a bitch who's got you and me here" if you put the letters together.
- At the end of George A. Romero's movie, The Crazies, the main character is told that the disease might be spreading to Louisville. This is the same place where the events of Return of the Living Dead take place. The contagion in The Crazies is called Trixie, similar to the nerve agent in Return of the Living Dead called Trioxin 2-4-5.
- 4 characters in the film share a connection due to their names, Bert and Ernie are best friends from Sesame Street and Tina was Freddy Krueger's first victim in the Nightmare On Elm Street series.
- In an edited version of the film, Freddy's jacket reads "Television Version". The non-edited version reads "Fuck You".
- In the early 1990s, a longer workprint version of the film surfaced that ran 24-minutes longer that the released version.
- The 245 Trioxin reanimated Dead featured in the 4 sequels that followed - they were slower and overall impact of the zombies were far from impressive opposed to those featured in the original.