The Return of the Living Dead
Director: Dan O’Bannon
Cast: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
It’s The Return of the Living Dead from Scream Factory. Do I really need to tell you to go buy it? Really? I mean, you must know by now the usual excellent work Scream Factory puts into its big tent pole releases, right? And surely you have seen RotLD. I mean, it’s just not possible for any serious horror fan to have not seen it. So this one is a no-brainer. Ha, get it? If you do, then just go get this Blu-ray already. If not, keep reading.
Return of the Living Dead is one of the best, funniest, and all around enjoyable zombie flicks of all time. Oh and let’s not forget about influential. You know how zombies eat brains? Yeah, that came from this movie. Yep, before this flick, zombies were strictly flesh munchers, but after RotLD, well you go up to anyone on the street and ask them, “what do zombies eat” and chances are good they’ll say brains. Also, did you think that fast moving zombies started with 28 Days Later or the Dawn of the Dead remake? Wrong, that also began with this little groovy movie. Not to mention that these ghouls were smart, wiseasses, and nigh indestructible. Yep, no lucky head shots to save the day here. You add up all those things that turned the zombie genre on its head with a great ensemble cast of young punks (literally) and veteran genre actors, toss in an awesome soundtrack, a bunch of great gore gags that still hold up today, a very silly sense of humor, and some gloriously gratuitous nudity thanks to scream queen Linnea Quigley, and you have a movie that is the very definition of classic. All horror fans need to not only see this movie, but own it so they can watch it over, and over, and over again.
On to the impressive list of extras Scream Factory included with this new, beautiful looking Blu-ray release. First of all there are four, yes, count them, four commentary tracks to be found here. One is with co-authors Gary Smart and Chris Griffiths, who literally wrote the book, The Complete History of the Living Dead. Another commentary is with actors Thom Mathews, John Philbin, and make-up effects artist, Tony Gardner. The third track is with director Dan O’Bannon and production designer William Stout, and the last one is with various members of the cast and crew. All of the commentaries are informative and fun. Speaking of fun, there are two subtitle options that are not to be missed: there is “Zombie Subtitles” that allow you to clearly see what the zombies were moaning and screaming, then there is the often hilarious “In Their Own Words” subtitles where you can see what the zombies were thinking while chasing down and eating brains. Both are a bit of silliness that adds to repeated viewings.
Want more? Okay, what about the two hour long, excellent documentary about RotLD that is well worth the price of admission all by itself called More Brains? I love that doc and this is a huge get for this release. Then there is “The Decade of Darkness,” a 23 minute featurette on the horror movies from the 80’s that has interviews with some of the filmmakers that were making the fright flicks back then, such as Joe Dante, Stuart Gordon, John Landis, and more. There is a featurette on the FX from the movie that runs 33 minutes. “Party Time” takes a look at the amazingly 80’s soundtrack from the film that runs 30 minutes. There is a one of Sean Clark’s “Horror’s Hallowed Grounds” about the locations used in the film that is 10 minutes long. There is a 28 minutes long conversation with the late, great director, Dan O’Bannon. There is a featurette on “The Origins of the Return of the Living Dead” that’s 15 minutes long. Another behind the scenes featurette called “The Dead Have Risen” runs over 20 minutes. “Designing the Dead” is all about the look of the zombies that’s over 13 minutes long. Still not enough Return of the Living Dead love for you? Well, how about the complete workprint version of the movie? Yeah, that’s on here, too, along with a collection of trailers, T.V. spots, a stills gallery, and a second stills gallery from special make-up effects designer Kenny Myers. Man, that’s a whole lot of goodies for this film.
For all these reasons, and for the fact that The Return of the Living Dead is an absolute all-time horror classic, I can easily and highly recommend this new Blu-ray. This is a must have disc, plain and simple. Get it when it comes out July 19th.
