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1985, a bumper year for the horror genre nonetheless, heralded the release of three disparate zombie films: "Day of the Dead", the bleak conclusion to Romero's seminal trilogy, Stuart Gordon's gore-laden "Re-Animator", and "Alien" scribe Dan O'Bannon's directorial debut, "The Return of the Living Dead". In terms of ranking the individualistic merits and themes of each film, "The Return of the Living Dead" is the least clinical, unconcerned with the human condition or science, herein the cause of the zombie plague is bureaucratic error. However, similarly to Romero's trilogy, the bulk of the story centres on a vicinity: a medical supplies warehouse, the cemetery and its adjacent mortuary. A warehouse foreman shows around a new hire, and in doing so, shares with him that the film "Night of the Living Dead" was in fact based on a true life case: a military chemical spill which caused widespread reanimation. Although controlled and concealed from the public domain, the original zombies affected by the chemical were contained in drums and as a result of a clerical blunder, sent to the medical supplies warehouse, where they have remained for fifteen years. Unfortunately, during the revelation and subsequent idiotic gesticulation, the drum is accidentally pierced, allowing toxic gas to escape; the foremen are poisoned and the cadavers in the warehouse are reanimated, setting in motion a series of events defying all logic and rationale, but somehow utterly convincing.
"The Return of the Living Dead" pastiches the hardcore punk rock movement of the 1980s, and in turn, reverses the genre's usual teenage character composite of bimbos and dullards; despite being bedecked in piercings and leather, the punks are surprisingly unaware of and largely blameless in what is about to unfold, and crucially, no more asinine than their elder counterparts, thus creating an unlikely camaraderie within the besieged group. In the quest for survival, the harried, incompetent warehouse operators and kooky mortician next door overshadow the droll teenagers in terms of sheer histrionics and comic value, and the dire consequences of their nonsensical irresponsibility and resulting meltdowns are compelling to say the least. Suitably gross and surprisingly droll, the titular living dead and their all-consuming desire for brains are deftly executed and performed, with particular credence given to their new abilities: they cannot be destroyed in the traditional sense, and are much faster on their feet. Even incinerating these zombies culminates in unintended chaos, and as such, acid rain and ashes become equally dangerous as being bitten by the undead in Romero's universe. Radically different from Romero's films, O'Bannon's rewrite of an intended sequel to "Night of the Living Dead" includes an undertone of black comedy that never overshadows the horror elements, striking the perfect balance of farcical and corporeal to sustain its entertaining qualities and healthy dose of morbid humour throughout the breezy run time. A punk edit of the zombie formula, establishing new rules and tropes, "The Return of the Living Dead" is a sensational, hidden gory gem that deserves to be reappraised for its technical assets, thematic innovation and mordant edginess.
