The Return of the Living Dead 1985

 Before Dan O'Bannon was a director he was a screenwriter and at the top of his screenwriting credentials sits 1979's Alien so when he decided to try his hand at directing he could only hope he would meet with just as much success.  Little did he know that zombie comedy (or Zomedy) The Return of the Living Dead would not only become a cult classic but would also spawn four sequels.  There are a lot of unknowns in this one but it does have Mr. Pathmark himself James Karen.  Clu Gulager is also featured here who was known more for his roles in westerns and crime dramas that for horror but does a serviceable job here.  The trio of bumbling medical supply employees is completed by Thom Matthews who would later go on to play Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th part 6.  Don Calfa also stars as the neighboring mortician who helps the three get rid of the zombies by burning them in the crematorium.  Calfa was also one of the hit men in Weekend At Bernie's. 

 After George Romero and John Russo made Night of the Living Dead the two parted ways.  George Romero getting the rights to make more zombie movies and Russo was given the rights to the term "Living Dead".  O'Bannon wanted to differentiate his film from that of Romero's and in so doing made his film more comedy and slapstick.  The Return is also known as the first film to feature zombies craving brains and not just human flesh.  I feel the need to interject one more thought here and direct those that think 28 Days Later was the first zombie movie to show Zombies running, jumping, and working together to take down people that it wasn't.  Not sure if this was the first time but it definitely happened before 28 Days.   

     It's probably been close to twenty-five years since the last time I've seen this movie and I can tell you it definitely holds up.  Take out the Member's Only jacket that Burt wears and it could have been made last year.  The gross outs are good but not excessively gory and the zombie special effects are some of the creepiest I've seen in the genre even if most of them are animatronics and/or puppets.  Watching Frank and Freddie slowly make the transition from living to living dead is brutal to watch without being too gruesome makes it some of the tougher moments of the film to watch which is why they are some of the best scenes in the film.  The only negative I can say is the end does feel like a bit of a cop out as I feel there are better ways they could have set it up for sequels.  Also there is one short recycled scene that made the ending seem a little more cheap.  With that in mind compared to some of the stuff that passes as cinema these days this is one of those films that is good any time.  I gotta go 4 rabid weasels out of 5 for this one and the Horror Honey Denise agrees which proves to me this is as good as I thought as this was the first time she has watched this one.