The Return of the Living Dead
The Return of the Living Dead
R | 16 August 1985 (USA)
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When foreman Frank shows new employee Freddy a secret military experiment in a supply warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, the two klutzes accidentally release a gas that reanimates corpses into flesh-eating zombies. As the epidemic spreads throughout the town, and the creatures satisfy their hunger in gory and outlandish ways, Frank and Freddy fight to survive with the help of their boss and a mysterious mortician.

Reviews
AshUnow

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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Adeel Hail

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

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Nayan Gough

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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Portia Hilton

Blistering performances.

John austin

Return of the Living Dead is over-the-top zombie action that ranks up there with the greats. Two dimwits in a medical supply house crack open a long forgotten army barrel that contains gas that brings the dead back to life. The gas seeps into the graveyard next door, and the zombies rise from their graves.It's definitely as much comedy as it is horror. Clu Gulager and James Karen in particular are hilarious, but don't be fooled- seeing this again recently I have to say that it's a violent movie. Linnea Quigley also shows a lot of skin in this, so if you're sensitive to that, please be advised. Whatever it is, it's a great 1980s B movie, so if you're in to that- this is one of the best from that era.

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TarkovskyFanGirl

Probably some spoilers here, but if your viewing experience is ruined by spoilers, then it probably wasn't a good movie, anyway. The military sends a bunch of canisters containing zombies to be held in a medical supply warehouse , but they seem to forget that they did so, and they don't have any records of it. So the two bumbling employees accidentally crack the canister with an ol' pat on the back and breathe the stuff in, while the fumes are also circulated to a cadaver and everything escalates from there. Nothing is really all that funny. It's just sort of goofy and absurd, like zombies calling for backup so they can eat more BRAINS. The split dogs content is hysterical—other than that, it's all exaggerated acting, a bunch of silly punks who listen to '80s trash. And comedy elements are obviously going to diminish the horror aspects. Like most comedy horror, it's a bastardized oddity that never really merges the two well.The pacing is quite slow, and the gore is often rather tame compared to many movies of the era. Not really any pig intestines or effects outside of zombie makeup—most of the zombies, other than the one in the canister, also look quite normal and bland. They only eat brains, not people, as one of the captured zombies tediously elaborates upon, so it's far less messy... Hell, when the aptly named "Trash" has her fantasy of being torn apart by men ironically and unsurprisingly met, she's subsequently left wandering around naked, not a mark on her body and no evidence of head trauma. There's not much tension because of the silliness either, so it's just boring. The ending is rather hilarious after everything the characters have been through, and, in typical '80s fashion, leaves an opening for a franchise, which did occur. Some footage, however, is reused during the ending, which makes it appear even cheaper.Decent for fans of '80s schlock, but mostly a waste of time.

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Aaron1375

Clu Gulager kicks butt as Burt and Linnea Quiqley heats things up! This zombie film kind of fuses two eras of horror together for a very fun zombie film and the only zombie series that I know of that really has zombies chomping on brains, yet the film had to have made an impact because a lot of people will say that zombies eat brains, when in most zombie films they simply eat people. How is this a merger you ask? Mainly in the way it was cast. In the 70's, a lot of horror films would feature a notable actor or two in a prominent role. They may of not been an A list star, but it was someone a person would recognize. In the 80's the casts became young stars who were usually not very recognizable. This movie features both sets and they kind of do their own thing until the middle of the film where the two groups meet and clash for the remainder of the film. The film also was one of three zombie films released during 1985 and I will say that this one had the best cast, I would say Day of the Dead had the best zombie effects and action and I would say Reanimator had a bit better visuals than Return and a better cast than Day. This one and Reanimator would feature humor, while Day is the bleak film of the trio. All three I find good and I have a hard time picking which one I do enjoy more.The story has a couple of guys in a medical warehouse where one of them is showing the new guy the ropes. While doing some paper work, Freddie (the new guy) asks Frank what is the strangest thing he had ever seen. Frank tells him of a story about how Night of the Living Dead was based on true events and proceeds to show him some tanks in the basement of the building that contain dead corpses. Unfortunately, the young guy then asks if the canisters could leak, which the older gent then says, "No way" before hitting the canister and it proceeds to shoot out its contents. This fog envelopes the warehouse and revives some of the dead objects within including butterflies, split dogs and a cadaver! The two men lose consciousness before reviving and calling the owner of the warehouse and after a few humorous incidents, they take the reanimated objects to Ernie, the local mortician to burn the items which sends fumes into the air and revive the dead! Caught up in all this is Freddie's girlfriend and I am going to guess his friends as she sticks out like a sore thumb. Soon the two groups meet up and must try to work together to try and survive the zombie onslaught! The film starts out with a lot of comedy in it, but as it goes on it becomes a bit darker and soon nearly all the humor is gone. The sequel to this film would keep the humor all the way through it and it was pretty much less of a sequel and more of a spoof of this film. The cast in that one was not as good either as sure James Karen would return as would Thom Matthews in what is essentially same roles, but the one who made this one great was Clu Gulagar. Linnea was good too, but mainly for that one dance sequence in the cemetery and for still having a great bod even as a zombie. Though I still say the female zombie from Junk was the hottest zombie as she still had a cute face too.This is a favorite of mine and memorable as I actually saw this film at the theater when it came out. My parents and I actually saw a trailer for this one while watching the low budget, but still good, zombie film, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. It almost looked like it had the same premise, but this one turned out vastly different. I still remember my mother attempting to cover my eyes during Linnea's dance. The tone is a bit uneven as it does start out in a more humorous way and it does get rather dark towards the end, but overall it was a very fun zombie film. The zombies looked good in this one at times with the tar man being the highlight as well as the blond one that they talked too, but a lot of the zombies in this one you could tell were just people smeared with mud. That is okay, as with this one it is not the zombies as much as the cast and their reactions that make this one.

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mcampbell-165-838229

Combination of horror, comedy and great acting make this one of my favorite films of all time. A few famous (or at least recognizable) actors certainly helped the acting but the unknown ones are good too. I like that they didn't have a bunch of dumb girls being chased around. There is never a slow moment in this film, like riding a roller coaster. It tells a great story. It isn't too gory but gory enough. The special effects, especially the "dead" talking and moving around, are great and very realistic. You definitely have to see the second Return of the Living Dead as it continues with some of the original characters and is also a great film. The third installment was a bust but viewable. I highly recommend this fun film.

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