MORE BRAINS!!!
Added 10/24/2009
One of the seminal horror-comedy crossovers films of all time, "Return of the Living Dead" is one of, if not the, very first movie that takes the concept of a zombie film and adds humor to it. Movies such as "Dead Alive" and "Shaun of the Dead", both awesome movies, would take influence from this classic.
Although there's no really scary moment in here, aside a few startling jumps towards the end, (and the real scary part is the underlying political statement at the end), this movie is full of zombie-related laughs that, any horror fan would love. Even though the central focus is the zombie comedy, there's lots of nudity and even some decent gore scenes in here! This is all-around strong, and will have you laughing all the way through the comedic scenes, staring at the nudity scenes and have your heart pumping during the bloodier scenes.
Overall, this is definitely a horror-comedy classic that should be viewed by every horror fan that's full of great laughs, great characters and great quotes. Check it out in time for Halloween, too! Thanks for the time, and peace.
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An oldie but goodie
Added 9/23/2009
Granted, this movie is from way back in the 80s, but I highly recommend this film for any and all horror fans. It's a little funny, but there's also some scares. I truly love this film and I hope you will as well.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS! 9.25 OUT OF 10
Added 4/26/2009
When it comes to zombie parodies, you won't find many. Although I loved Shaun of the Dead, I would have to give my nomination for best zombie parody to this film. This film is a kickass, funny as hell good time. This film is basically a parody of Night of the Living Dead (even making references to the film). This film also introduced a new kind of zombie; the super zombie, a zombie that can run, talk, and can't die from having the brain destroyed (they need to be burnt to ashes). Although it wasn't the best zombie film of the 80's (Day of the Dead all the way), it certainly is one of the most memorable zombie films of all time, and has become a cult classic.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: The story starts with an uncle and nephew working at medical facility, then the uncle tells his nephew about containers that were accidentally shipped to the facility from the Army containing corpses that had been re-animated by a substance known as Trioxin and talks about how the events in the film Night of the Living Dead were actually true, but had been switched around a bit. Then the uncle takes his nephew downstairs to show him the containers, and then when he hits one of the containers, a gas spews out and they are knocked out cold and the gas spreads around the building. When the two wake up, they realize all the dead specimens in the building have been re-animated and must get rid of them. Meanwhile a group of goth partying teenagers are waiting for the nephew to get off work, so they wait in the graveyard until he comes out. When the uncle, nephew, and boss (who came after he was called) realize these things won't die, they cut them up, stuff them in garbage bags and take them across the street to the embalmer across the street next to the graveyard and ask him if he can burn them in the crematorium. He does burn them, but the smoke from the crematorium causes it to rain acid rain containing the deadly toxin, which is now raining everywhere, including the graveyard. Then dead people begin popping out of the ground, and the zombie mayhem and brain-eating begins. So now the teens and other survivors are trapped and surrounded by the undead, and if police and paramedics try to get to the area, they are immediately killed off by dead people, and as said before, these zombies don't die by having their brains destroyed.
MUSIC: This is definitely 80's music, and I love it. I don't what it is about this kind of music, but I really enjoy it for some reason. Also for some reason I can't stop singing part of the song when the zombies start popping out of the ground; "DO YOU WANNA PARTY! IT'S PARTY TIME!" It's very catchy and I like it.
ACTION: This film is loaded with brain-eating, fighting the undead, running away from the undead, partying in the graveyard, and even some shootouts. This film is loads of fun to watch and is very entertaining seeing these hapless teens trying to survive. I loved how the gore and zombies were designed because they are very well-done. This film is very funny when you see these people fight the zombies and hear their dialogue.
ACTING: The acting is bad, but in a funny B-movie way. If you're a person who gets offended by foul language, then this is certainly not for you. The dialogue generally consists of shouting, screaming, and obscenities. Here's a little piece of dialogue that is just between the uncle and nephew after they wake up and find out that all the dead things in the building have been re-animated; "What?! You stupid ***hole!" "Watch your tongue, boy if you like this job!" "Like this job?!" The dialogue is also loaded with the F-word which certainly earns the film's R-rating. You can't help but laugh when you try and see these people try and act and hear their dialogue, especially the really goth people like this piece of dialogue before the goth girl strips off her clothes; "Have you ever fantasized about your death? Like all the horrible ways you could die?" The film's main laughs come from the dialogue and acting. I loved every moment of this film.
OVERALL: If you love zombie films, then you got to have this film! It's hilarious and is totally kickass. Wonder if its four sequels are any good? Oh well, I'll just have to find out eventually.
THE GOOD: The zombies, the gore, the bad acting and dialogue, the music, and the film's overall cheesyness.
THE BAD: Some parts are a little too cheesy.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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I have been waiting forever to get this little gem into my DVD collection. I remember first watching it on Laser Disc, and I fell in love. This is a must for any zombie movie afficionado. The ending alone is enough reason to watch it. I also favored the characters of Suicide and Trash. They were the most interesting. And how can you pass up a movie where two of the characters are named Burt and Ernie?
Thank you, Amazon! You put a smile on my face today when this was delivered.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Holds up well
Added 11/15/2008
There's a great scene in this movie that occurs approximately an hour and nineteen minutes into its runtime. Cranky character actor Clu Gulagher and a few obnoxious teenagers are trapped in his medical supply warehouse by brain-hungry zombies, and the only phone available is located in the warehouse's basement, the door of which is locked and guarded by a particularly ravenous zombie. After retrieving a baseball bat, old Clu instructs one of the kids to open the door and the others to stand back. The door swings open to admit a repulsive, shambling undead horror, its flesh rotted to an oozing, tar-like substance after decades of storage in a sealed container. A good hard swing from Gulagher knocks the thing's head clean off, and he and his young associates rush past it. About a decade ago, a good friend and I rewound and watched this scene over a dozen times. While it's not as hilarious to me now as it was when I was very drunk and in my late teens, I still can't watch this inspired bit of stupidity without laughing.
Writer/director Dan O'Bannon cut his teeth while collaborating with John Carpenter on the latter's quirky sci-fi/comedy debut, "Dark Star;" a few years later, he penned a script for an obscure movie that a few people have seen called "Alien." O'Bannon has worked sporadically over the past few decades, screen writing with occasional success, but this spin-off of George Romero's popular zombie movies is the only film in which he was able to convey his sick sense of humor and love of gore as he saw fit.
The result is impressive: "Return" is grotesque, cleverly plotted and very amusing, making the best of a tiny budget and third-rate cast. Hammy performances are abundant, and entirely appropriate for such a goofy script. Screen veteran Gulagher, who has plenty of experience in schlock productions, is particularly enjoyable to watch: when he calls a young punk "dick-brain," it's not unlike hearing your father when he's in a foul mood.
I can't fault the production design of this film. William Stout's effects are as excellent as they are vile, and it's clear that he shares O'Bannon's sensibilities in creating monsters that are equally comedic and repellant. This was clearly intended to be just another drive-in flick, and while I wouldn't call it a classic, it definitely ranks a cut above the average horror picture.
Like most of MGM's DVDs, this disc is double-sided, containing the 1.33:1 aspect ratio version of the film on one side and the original 1.85:1 version on the other. Language options include a hilarious Spanish dialogue dub, as well as English, French and Spanish subtitles. RotLD isn't a beautiful film by any means, but this edition's print looks just fine, and the sound mix isn't hard on the ears.
The special features are quite entertaining. Tobe Hooper was originally intended to direct "Return," and if you've heard the excellent commentary track that he recorded with Daniel Pearl and Gunnar Hansen for "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," rest assured that the commentary track voiced by O'Bannon and Stout on this disc is just about as detailed, informative and amusing. These two have plenty of stories to tell in regard to the production of this movie and many others! The disc's art gallery includes Stout's most recognizable storyboards and quite a lot of his production artwork, all of which is drawn in a comic book style and quite good. The "Designing the Dead" featurette consists of interviews with O'Bannon and Stout in which they explain circumstances involving the film's production in even more detail. This isn't really a necessary addition, but it's nice to see two rather underrated talents afforded some screen time. Theatrical trailers for both general and restricted audiences are included, as are well over a dozen TV spots, most of which differ only slightly from one another.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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MORE BRAINS!!!
Added 10/24/2009
One of the seminal horror-comedy crossovers films of all time, "Return of the Living Dead" is one of, if not the, very first movie that takes the concept of a zombie film and adds humor to it. Movies such as "Dead Alive" and "Shaun of the Dead", both awesome movies, would take influence from this classic.
Although there's no really scary moment in here, aside a few startling jumps towards the end, (and the real scary part is the underlying political statement at the end), this movie is full of zombie-related laughs that, any horror fan would love. Even though the central focus is the zombie comedy, there's lots of nudity and even some decent gore scenes in here! This is all-around strong, and will have you laughing all the way through the comedic scenes, staring at the nudity scenes and have your heart pumping during the bloodier scenes.
Overall, this is definitely a horror-comedy classic that should be viewed by every horror fan that's full of great laughs, great characters and great quotes. Check it out in time for Halloween, too! Thanks for the time, and peace.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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An oldie but goodie
Added 9/23/2009
Granted, this movie is from way back in the 80s, but I highly recommend this film for any and all horror fans. It's a little funny, but there's also some scares. I truly love this film and I hope you will as well.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS! 9.25 OUT OF 10
Added 4/26/2009
When it comes to zombie parodies, you won't find many. Although I loved Shaun of the Dead, I would have to give my nomination for best zombie parody to this film. This film is a kickass, funny as hell good time. This film is basically a parody of Night of the Living Dead (even making references to the film). This film also introduced a new kind of zombie; the super zombie, a zombie that can run, talk, and can't die from having the brain destroyed (they need to be burnt to ashes). Although it wasn't the best zombie film of the 80's (Day of the Dead all the way), it certainly is one of the most memorable zombie films of all time, and has become a cult classic.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: The story starts with an uncle and nephew working at medical facility, then the uncle tells his nephew about containers that were accidentally shipped to the facility from the Army containing corpses that had been re-animated by a substance known as Trioxin and talks about how the events in the film Night of the Living Dead were actually true, but had been switched around a bit. Then the uncle takes his nephew downstairs to show him the containers, and then when he hits one of the containers, a gas spews out and they are knocked out cold and the gas spreads around the building. When the two wake up, they realize all the dead specimens in the building have been re-animated and must get rid of them. Meanwhile a group of goth partying teenagers are waiting for the nephew to get off work, so they wait in the graveyard until he comes out. When the uncle, nephew, and boss (who came after he was called) realize these things won't die, they cut them up, stuff them in garbage bags and take them across the street to the embalmer across the street next to the graveyard and ask him if he can burn them in the crematorium. He does burn them, but the smoke from the crematorium causes it to rain acid rain containing the deadly toxin, which is now raining everywhere, including the graveyard. Then dead people begin popping out of the ground, and the zombie mayhem and brain-eating begins. So now the teens and other survivors are trapped and surrounded by the undead, and if police and paramedics try to get to the area, they are immediately killed off by dead people, and as said before, these zombies don't die by having their brains destroyed.
MUSIC: This is definitely 80's music, and I love it. I don't what it is about this kind of music, but I really enjoy it for some reason. Also for some reason I can't stop singing part of the song when the zombies start popping out of the ground; "DO YOU WANNA PARTY! IT'S PARTY TIME!" It's very catchy and I like it.
ACTION: This film is loaded with brain-eating, fighting the undead, running away from the undead, partying in the graveyard, and even some shootouts. This film is loads of fun to watch and is very entertaining seeing these hapless teens trying to survive. I loved how the gore and zombies were designed because they are very well-done. This film is very funny when you see these people fight the zombies and hear their dialogue.
ACTING: The acting is bad, but in a funny B-movie way. If you're a person who gets offended by foul language, then this is certainly not for you. The dialogue generally consists of shouting, screaming, and obscenities. Here's a little piece of dialogue that is just between the uncle and nephew after they wake up and find out that all the dead things in the building have been re-animated; "What?! You stupid ***hole!" "Watch your tongue, boy if you like this job!" "Like this job?!" The dialogue is also loaded with the F-word which certainly earns the film's R-rating. You can't help but laugh when you try and see these people try and act and hear their dialogue, especially the really goth people like this piece of dialogue before the goth girl strips off her clothes; "Have you ever fantasized about your death? Like all the horrible ways you could die?" The film's main laughs come from the dialogue and acting. I loved every moment of this film.
OVERALL: If you love zombie films, then you got to have this film! It's hilarious and is totally kickass. Wonder if its four sequels are any good? Oh well, I'll just have to find out eventually.
THE GOOD: The zombies, the gore, the bad acting and dialogue, the music, and the film's overall cheesyness.
THE BAD: Some parts are a little too cheesy.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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