''Return of The Living Dead'' (1985)

By Crusader1307

 Zombies (as we have seen) in film have undergone a long evolution. From the 1930s to 1968, ''They'' were often pale white humans, placed under a ''spell'' by Voodoo or Witchcraft (sometimes they were dead other times not). With George Romero's 1968 ''Night of The Living Dead'', Zombies underwent a radical departure. They were portrayed as ''dead'' humans risen (by nebulous means), to consume ''living'' human beings. The change in the genre would go one to create some of the most terrifying characters forever more in Horror Films and Television. With 1985s ''The Return of The Living Dead'', the genre was further advanced by featuring Zombies that could talk (somewhat), and gave them the hunger for consuming human brains (a first). And while the film was unintentional humor, it was also a ''time capsule'' for the typical 1980s ''wayward teen'' film and of course, great make-up and gore.


The film (which linked a plausible explanation to the Black & White 1968 Romero classic), finds that The US Government was experimenting with a chemical known as Trioxin. The plan was to use it re-animate dead soldiers and use them as a type of unstoppable ''killing machine''. When a cargo train crashed and ''released'' the gas (in 1968 Pennsylvania), the result as The Undead of the first film. The Government ''thought'' they had contained and found all missing barrels of gas...they were wrong. Two were unrecovered and they had been looking for them ever since. Flash forward to a Medical Supply Warehouse. The Owners accidentally received the barrels in a long ago shipment and stored them in their basement. When a Manager is showing the ''finds'' to a new employee (a slacker on His first job, with equal ''nuts jobs'' waiting for Him to get off work at a local nearby Cemetery), an accidental release, spreads the Trioxin. As the Gas spreads, it starts to rain (of course), with the Gas being soaked into the grounds of the aforementioned Cemetery. The result, The Dead (in all manner of decomposing remains) begin to rise – and hunger for (you guessed it)....Human Brains!


Silly (most of the times), but with great special effects (for the Era), The Films would go on to spawn no less than (7) sequels. Only the 2nd and 3rd installments are even remotely related. But the first three are recommended more so. Well worth a giggle and a scream or two on a boring Weekend Night!