It turns out the perfect antidote to zombie fatigue is actually just a zombie movie that doesn’t take it self so damn seriously.
Night of the Living Dead is on the short list of the most important horror flicks of all time. Its impact on cinema, coupled with its public domain status, has inspired countless directors to feature the film in the background of their own horror creations, so it is inextricably woven into the fabric of the genre. It also launched two branches of zombie mythos. I’ve already covered George Romero’s ambitious, thematically rich Dawn of the Dead, one of my top ten horror movies of all time. John Russo, Romero’s partner on the original Living Dead, also created a sequel, 1985’s madcap Return of the Living Dead. It is decidedly not one of the top ten horror movies of all time, and it has the thematic density of a comic strip from the back of a cereal box, but I’m very glad it exists nonetheless. The off-brand Living Dead property is 90 minutes of grisly, goofy fun with a kick-ass soundtrack and loads of moxie.
The film centers on two groups of people who inevitably collide with each other as they try to survive the zombie outbreak. There are the employees of a medical research depot who inadvertently cause all hell to break loose by releasing a mysterious gas from an old military canister they have in storage, and there is the group of party-seeking young people who are friends with one of the employees. These youths are the perfect collection of 80’s stereotypes, with preppies, punks, new wavers and scream queen Leana Quigley as some sort of death-obsessed goth nudist (with very forward-thinking personal grooming habits for the 80’s). Quigley, as she often was in the era, is a comedic highlight. Her deadpan utterances about dying and being naked are great, and the film has a fun time with giving her something to cover up with and then snatching it away moments later. It’s a cheeky performance, in more ways than one. All the actors turn in nearly perfect performances, without any of them being “good” per say. There is a difference between poor quality and incompetence, particularly in genre filmmaking where the spectrum of “bad” gets explored to its fullest extent. Incompetence is hard to watch, unless it is truly epic in its failure, but I’ll watch unlimited horror movies that have a sturdy bone structure and full commitment from the parties involved, regardless of how little actual talent is on display. Return of the Living Dead is a prime example of that philosophy, and it is far more fun than countless films of higher objective quality.
I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on the zombies of Russo’s vision, which range from bifurcated dogs nailed to boards, to naked people painted lime green, to the iconic Tar Man. I don’t care if you’ve seen this movie or not, if you are reading this blog and you aren’t familiar with Tar Man, you need to go back and study the game tapes. I can’t say for sure while still adhering to my strict no-research policy, but I’m pretty sure this is the first zombie on film to utter the phrase “braaaiiinsss…”, which is a hall of fame distinction even if he wasn’t one of the coolest creature designs in horror history, conveying both the grossness and silliness that the movie’s whole aesthetic.
…more braaaaainss!!!…
It is also interesting to note the base level of intelligence displayed by Russo’s zombies. In addition to rudimentary speech, they exhibit simple problem-solving skills. In the film’s comedic highlight, a zombie wraps up his feast of EMT workers by getting on their radio and calling for back-up, the undead version of Door Dash, if you will. I love the joke, and I love the broader, scary implications of that level of cognition. Russo and director Dan O’Bannon don’t seem too interested in exploring those implications, and indeed their ambitions are far more modest than Romero overall. There is no social commentary, no metaphor, even the scale of the outbreak seems to be relegated to a few square blocks. Yet, If all they want is to give a niche audience something dumb and outrageous to gawk at for 90 minutes, they have succeeded better than most.
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