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The Return of the Living Dead (1985)The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

A classic, endearingly silly zombie romp that established genre tropes for generations to come

Comedy, Drama, Horror

7.9

movie

United Kingdom, United States of America
English
Action-packed, Easy, Funny
1985
Dan O'Bannon
Allan Trautman, Beverly Randolph, Brian Peck
91 min

Synopsis

rotten tomatoes
imdb
wikipedia
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.

Our Take

7.9
The Staff

Perfect for Halloween marathons with friends, The Return of the Living Dead treads the now well-worn template of zombie apocalypse movies with outstanding practical effects and a refreshingly unserious attitude. What the film might lack in terms of character writing or deeper themes, it more than makes up for with a relentless forward momentum. There isn’t any grand mission to be accomplished when these morticians collide with a group of young punks, other than understanding what drives the undead creatures outside in order to survive the night. As a result, this is a movie that lives firmly in the moment, with thrills aplenty and its greatest moments found in the freaked-out reactions of its ensemble cast. The late James Karen, with his hilariously exaggerated hollering and whimpering, only nearly steals the show from the film’s wonderful animatronics and disgusting prosthetic makeup. It’s a great zombie movie for the reluctant horror newbie.

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