The Return of the Living Dead **** (1985, Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa) – Classic Movie Review 7702

The zombies encountered in George A Romero’s Living Dead series are revived when a medical supply warehouse duo accidentally release a canister of toxic chemicals, and the re-animated dead terrorise an assortment of young punks in a mortuary in Louisville, Kentucky, in the 1985 The Return of the Living Dead. It stars Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa and Thom Mathews.

Extremely black humour dominates writer-director Dan O’Bannon’s spectacle of gore and this jovial homage to Romero is a real treat for fans of the splatter genre.

In-jokes abound, the soundtrack is a punchy mix of rock and punk, while the tone of the film is hysterical. The dénouement undercuts all the conventions of the horror film, yet is one of the few logical moments in this biting satire of capitalism.

The Return of the Living Dead is perfect late-night midnight movie horror viewing.

Also in the cast are Jewel Shepard, Beverly Randolph, Miguel A Núñez Jr, Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Mark Venturini, Jonathan Terry, Cathleen Cordell and John Philbin.

RIP James Karen, star actor in Poltergeist (1982), The Return of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead: Part II, who died at 94 on 23 October 2018.

George A Romero (1940–2017) is the director of Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009).

Return of the Living Dead: Part II followed in 1987 and Return of the Living Dead: Part III followed in 1992.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7702

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