The Return of the Living Dead [Blu-ray]

Director: Dan O'Bannon Dan O'Bannon

Overview

Like George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, whose central premise it loosely reworks, this seemingly standard-issue gore-fest offers more than meets the eye. It's not a genre-defining masterpiece like the source of its inspiration, but it is a relatively clever popcorn flick with more gruesome imagery and self-aware humor than most such films that glutted the mid-'80s marketplace. The punk rock trappings of its young cast were years out of date by the time of release just like in the John Hughes movies that ruled the multiplexes at the time. And in many ways, Return of the Living Dead comes off like The Breakfast Club, dressed up, or down, in dingy horror movie threads. Played with a knowing wink and a splash of special effects, juvenile-delinquent stereotypes provide a convenient framework for the inevitable escalation of cannibalism and thrills. By positing that the original Night of the Living Dead was based on a real incident involving a chemical that turns human corpses into brain-thirsty monsters, director/co-screenwriter Dan O'Bannon gets to thread in a slyly humorous subplot about a vigilant army officer. Even better is the campy dialogue of the titular zombies and the queasily funny set pieces. One sequence involving a warehouse full of medical specimens suddenly come to life gives rise to the indelible image of a "half-dog" and an angry butterfly collection surely worthy twists on a concept Romero himself revisited again and again.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/13/2011
UPC:	0883904250838
Original Release:	1985
Rating:	R
Source:	Mgm (Video & Dvd)
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	15,545

Special Features

Audio commentary with cast, crew and undead; Audio commentary with director Dan O'Bannon and production designer William Stout; The decade of darkness featurette; The Returnof the Living Dead - the dead have risen featurette; Zombie subtitles for the film; Designing the dead featurette; Theatrical trailer: bloody version; Theatrical trailer: Even bloodier version; In their own words - the zombies speak

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Clu Gulager	Burt
James Karen	Frank
Don Calfa	Ernie
Thom Mathews	Freddy
Beverly Randolph	Tina
John Philbin	Chuck
Jewel Shepard	Casey
Miguel A. Nunez Jr.	Spider
Linnea Quigley	Trash
Mark Venturini	Suicide
Jonathan Terry	Col. Glover
Cathleen Cordell	His Wife
Drew Deighan	Paramedic
James Dalesandro	Paramedic
John Durbin	Radio Corpse
David Bond	Radio Corpse
Bob Libman	Tac Squad Captain
John Stuart West	Riot Cop
Ed Krieger	Riot Cop
Michael Crabtree	Cop
Robert Craighead	Cop
Paul Cloud	Cop
Leigh Drake	Dispatcher
Derrick Brice	Gunnery Sergeant
Terrence M. Houlihan	Yellow Cadaver
Allan Trautman	Tarman
Robert Bennett	Headless Tarman,Headless Tarman
Brian Peck	Scuz
Jerome "Daniels" Coleman	Legless Corpse
Thom Matthews	Freddy
Stanzi Stokes	Actor
Alexandre Trauner	Tarman
Cherry Davis	1/2 Lady Corpse
Matt Clifford	Composer
Barry Goldberg	Composer

Technical Credits

Dan O'Bannon

Rudy Ricci

John A. Russo

John Daly	Executive Producer,Producer
Tom Fox	Producer
Derek Gibson	Executive Producer,Producer
Graham Henderson	Producer
Dan O'Bannon	Director,Screenwriter
Rudy Ricci	Screenwriter
John A. Russo	Screenwriter
William Munns	Special Effects
Ron Judkins	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Like George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, whose central premise it loosely reworks, this seemingly standard-issue gore-fest offers more than meets the eye. It's not a genre-defining masterpiece like the source of its inspiration, but it is a relatively clever popcorn flick with more gruesome imagery and self-aware humor than most such films that glutted the mid-'80s marketplace. The punk rock trappings of its young cast were years out of date by the time of release -- just like in the John Hughes movies that ruled the multiplexes at the time. And in many ways, Return of the Living Dead comes off like The Breakfast Club, dressed up, or down, in dingy horror movie threads. Played with a knowing wink and a splash of special effects, juvenile-delinquent stereotypes provide a convenient framework for the inevitable escalation of cannibalism and thrills. By positing that the original Night of the Living Dead was based on a real incident involving a chemical that turns human corpses into brain-thirsty monsters, director/co-screenwriter Dan O'Bannon gets to thread in a slyly humorous subplot about a vigilant army officer. Even better is the campy dialogue of the titular zombies and the queasily funny set pieces. One sequence involving a warehouse full of medical specimens suddenly come to life gives rise to the indelible image of a "half-dog" and an angry butterfly collection -- surely worthy twists on a concept Romero himself revisited again and again.

All Movie Guide - Brian J. Dillard