Oct 11 2004
Movie: “Return of the Living Dead” (1985)
“Return of the Living Dead” (1985) directed by Dan O’Bannon.
(MF Title: “I can’t believe its not deader!”)
Starring: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph and Linnea Quigley.
Zombie Film Rating: 
Overview: Punk Rockers stumble across the undead in a graveyard, and desperately fight for their survival.
Summary: Freddy has just got himself a job at the Uneeda Medical Supply company, he’s being trained by Frank who kills a little time by telling Freddy about some of the “wierd stuff” he’s seen in his time at the supply company.
Frank tells Freddy that the movie “Night of the living dead” was based on a true incident, that the details were changed and in fact it was a chemical that leaked into the morgue at a VA hospital, and caused the bodies to “jump around”. When asked for proof Frank tells him that the Army Corp of Engineers screwed up and delivered some of the bodies to this very facility.
Frank shows Freddy the barrels containing the bodies, and in the process accidentally breaches one of them, releasing the gas contained within, and worse.
They both lose consciousness, and when they wake up they discover that the formerly dead items in the warehouse are now a little less than dead. They’re scared and contact the boss in an effort to cover up their error. After much screwing around, and some hand to hand combat with a cadaver its decided that they have to get rid of all the evidence before the army comes in and closes the warehouse down.
Fortunately the graveyard across the street has a crematorium, and the mortician (Ernie Kaltenbrunner) is an old friend of Burts, they enlist his help in burning the evidence, and closing this unfortunate chapter in their lives.
As if…
Burning the remains of the infected cadaver results in the chemical being carried up into the atmosphere, and returned to the ground via rain. Rain that falls straight onto the graveyard, and the corpses buried there. As the punkers wonder where Freddy has gotten to, the dead start climbing out of their graves, much to their chagrin.
Meanwhile back at the crematorium things aren’t going too well. Both Freddy and Frank and feeling extremely unwell after their exposure to the gas, and Ernie insists on calling the Paramedics. While they’re waiting for the medics to arrive the punkers come knocking at the door, and explain that there are alot of pissed of dead people wandering around the graveyard.
In the meantime the paramedics have arrived, and after a short examination of both Freddy and Frank have determined that the two of them are clinically dead. News that the two take rather well all things considered. The medics run back out to their ambulance, and are ambushed by hordes of zombies. These zombies are not satisfied with just two paramedics, and call over the radio for additional personel.
Meanwhile the group inside the funeral home has begun frenetic efforts to barricade themselves inside, and have fought a few minor battles with the zombies in the process. Despite losing one of their number, they’ve captured a corpse, and interview her once she’s tied down. She explains that “brains” temporarily release the dead from the pain of being “dead”.
An effort to escape goes awry, and Frank and Burt make their way back to the warehouse to contact the military (thanks to a stencilled phone number on the side of the barrels), and then contact the police warning of the zombies. Naturally the police barricades are overrun pretty much as soon as this call is patched through.
The military responds with their “hail mary” option, deploying a tactical nuclear weapon against the area affected by the zombies. Initial reports from the area indicate all is going well, with only some civil unrest in the immediate area, and reports of burning skin.
Naturally what we know is that they’ve succeeded in spreading the chemical far more effecively….
Critique: My second favorite zombie movie after “Dawn”, this one has been on my list for years (and I am suprised I’ve not thrown a review up for it until now). The soundtrack is entertaining, and the movie works quite well. Theres very little “zombie killing” in this movie, and we’re not sure exactly how the zombies can be stopped (nukes don’t work it seems).