John Russo, the man behind the pen of Night of the Living Dead, created the story of Return of the Living Dead (ROLD) in 1978. Unable to find backers for the production, the material was handed down to Dan O’Brannon, the mastermind behind the scripts for Alien, Dead & Buried, and Lifeforce. O’Brannon went on to rewrite and script the work (as well as direct it–his debut). Instead of allowing the work to be a serious attempt as successor to the Romero original upon which ROLD loosely finds its premise (O’Brannon’s alibi being he didn’t want to step on Romero’s toes), the director crafted a horror comedy which serves as a sardonic social criticism, a wry piece of black humor, a contributor to the mythology of zombism, as well as a posits a very believable latter-day apocalypse.
On July 3, 1984, Freddy (Thom Mathews, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives) arrives at the Uneeda Medical Supply in Louisville, Kentucky for his first day at his new job. His supervisor, Frank (James Karen, Mulholland Dr., All the President’s Men, Poltergeist, Nixon), shows him around the storeroom and gives Freddy a quick run through of the shipping process. The two go on break and Frank decides to indulge the young man in the legend of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. As Frank reveals, Romero’s classic is based on true events and that the last of the chemical agent responsible for the zombification represented in the film, 2-4-5 Trioxin, is actually being stored in the basement of Uneeda. Frank ushers a curious Freddy downstairs and accidentally releases the contents of one of the canisters. Predictably, this reanimates a cadaver and canine cross-sections in the storeroom as the duo are subsequently poisoned. An ailing Frank contacts his boss, Burt Wilson (Clu Gulager), who decides to call upon the aide of his longtime friend, Ernie Kaltenbrunner (Don Calfa), the local mortician, in hopes of incinerating the born-again stock. Ernie reluctantly agrees but, as the smoke from the zombified remains filter through the chimney, a storm crackles, seeding a nearby cemetery with diluted Trioxin. Shortly thereafter, the cemetery comes alive with the reanimated undead.
What is interesting about the film is that it gets better with each viewing. Considering O’Brannon’s resume, this shouldn’t be surprising. Yet, due to the campy feel and mile-a-minute pacing, much flies by the unsuspecting viewer. For example, two out of three bumbling figures of authority are aptly named Burt and Ernie. Ernie’s last name, “Kaltenbrunner,” is a knowing nod and allusion to the Nazi Chief of the Reich Security Main Office during World War II. This theme is paralleled by the introduction of the mortuary incinerator as an end all solution of the appearance of social undesirables. If you add this to the fact that the formally dressed undead come to consume the rebellious youth of today (epitomized by punker Goths), we have a coy, metaphorical alignment of Reaganites as Nazis (the clincher to the motif being the climax). Wryly, we are also introduced to the conservative undead set hungering for–of all things–brains. Ironically, as the deceased inhabit the realm of the living, the living barricade themselves into buildings of the dead as the characters scamper for cover in a cemetery by the name of, what else?, “Resurrection Cemetery,” a mortuary (natch, “Resurrection Funeral Home”), and the aforementioned warehouse, replete with biological specimens.
Arguably, the film’s masterstroke it that the frights of the film are articulately balanced with the comedy. Aside from the foreshadowing in the various locale’s names, we have Trash (Linnea Quigley, Night of the Demons, Innocent Blood, A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers), stating that her worse-case scenario death would be “[ . . . ] a bunch of old men to get around me, and start biting and eating me alive.” Of course, the penultimate example of this ensues as the resurrected surround her a few scenes later. Yet the humor isn’t always as flippantly apparent. As the workers of Uneeda discuss how to contend with their current dilemma, an eye test chart can be seen in the background which, once the letters are aligned, reads, “Burt is a slave driver and a cheap son-of-a-bitch who’s got you and me here.” Yet, the production’s black humor is the feather in O’Brannon’s cap. After the zombie hordes consume the first round of paramedics, one of the undead, during a moment of inspiration, utilizes the crackling CB, “Send . . . more . . . paramedics,” he urges. The fun continues when, a scene later after the police are dispatched and subsequently disposed of, another zombie likewise requests, “Send . . . more . . . cops.” Arguably, one of the funniest moments comes when Frank, fully transformed into one of the undead, opts to put an end to his misery as he crawls into the incinerator: He courteously closes the crematorium door behind him.
O’Brannon’s undead are forerunners in the new generation of zombies which move with the fluency of the living (we get to witness a zombie complete an NFL-worthy tackle of a police officer), retain enough of their cognitive abilities to use tools (one devises a makeshift winch no less), and–however infantile–murmur “brains,” that is, what they long for. In O’Brannon’s vision, zombies long for the contents of one’s cranium because the pain of death only subsides after the consummation of brains. Also, to add insult to injury, the new undead cannot be killed with a blow to the head as Romerian legend erroneously leads the characters to believe, as Burt acutely observes “Well, it ain’t workin’ now” after positing a pitchfork squarely in the forehead of one of the newly resurrected. The only manner in which to kill the new age zombies is to incinerate them, which becomes problematical for the characters in that there are hundreds at large. However, luckily for the distraught crew, victims of the zombie plague do not return after the undead have finished their feast.
O’Brannon’s masterstroke is that he doesn’t get preoccupied with the humor as we are issued a believable, dauntingly apocalypse. However, the viewer needn’t wait until the film’s resolution for the horror to be evoked because the director induces and sustains a taunt claustrophobia throughout as the characters pen themselves into various buildings while the rain restricts the audience’s visibility as the zombie droves continue their mount.
However, ROLD isn’t without its faults, most of which are forgivable considering that O’Brannon presents multiple storylines in a work which, given its agenda, could have contented itself with much less. Some argue that Frank’s inaccurate report that the events in Night of the Living Dead occurred in 1969 instead of 1966 provides the viewer with a sense of the character’s unreliability. However, if this was O’Brannon’s purpose, the information is too brief and fleeting because, only moments later, Frank’s managerial sway is superceded by his superior. (I still argue this to be on oversight in that Frank states the events occurred fourteen years ago, thus setting the film, by his count, in 1973, and not in the obvious mid-’80’s.) Other qualms include, as always, Quigley’s sub par acting (especially her opening monologue); the temporal faux pas that July 3, 1984 landed on a Tuesday, not a Friday, as issued at the film’s opening; Tina (Beverly Randolph)–the “average girl”–hanging out and apparently accepted by the counterculture set; and the little nuance that a zombie without lips would have difficulty with the word “brains,” the term, at best, being delivered as “ains.” Lastly, O’Brannon dedicates quite a bit of time to the topic of rigor mortis but we watch as Frank and Freddy’s bodies begin to atrophy while they continue to vocalize their suffering. Apparently r.m. stops at the neckline.
Return of the Living Dead warmly deserves its status as a cult classic due to the fact that it remains one of the most droll, witty horror comedies that not only offers laughs, but presents coy social criticism while maintaining a breakneck pace before culminating in a grand, awe-inspiring apocalypse which would make George Romero shed a tear. By giving equal consideration and attention to both the horror and comedy, Dan O’Brannon directorial debut stands one of the most poignant works in the genre to date.
The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack contains a lot of extra features. Both Blu-ray and DVD include audio commentary with the cast, crew and the undead, as well as with Director Dan O’Bannoon and production designer William Stout, They also both include The Decade of Darkness, The Return of the Living Dead: The Dead have Risen and the Designing the Dead Featurettes, along with Zombie subtitles. The Blu-ray disc includes two Theatrical Trailers and In Their Own Words – The Zombie Speak feature.
Trivia tidbit: In between Russo’s conception and its cinematic birth by O’Brannon, ROLD was originally slated to be directed by Tobe Hooper.
– Egregious Gurnow
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
