The Return of the Living Dead stands out as one of the earliest (and still best) zombie comedies and it's a highly entertaining romp that's not afraid to mix brain munching mayhem with Three Stooges like shenanigans. Originally starting its life as an intended follow-up to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, due to this being based on a novel and an early screenplay by Night co-writer John Russo, its entire structure was changed when Dan O'Bannon (Alien, Lifeforce) came on board to direct. By making things less of a straight-forward horror flick and distancing itself from Romero's work, O'Bannon hit a magical sweet spot that's made this the cult movie it is all this time later - too bad it has been sullied by four exceedingly low quality sequels over the years.

It's Friday night at the Uneeda Medical Supply warehouse and Frank (James Karen) is showing new employee Freddy (Thom Mathews) the ropes. They've got everything you can think of from human skeletons to half-dogs but it's what's in the basement that's most special. Seems they've been storing government owned corpse-filled barrels and, when our two bumbling workers, accidentally crack one open they unleash a deadly gas that not only leaks into the air outside but also reanimates the dead - including the cadaver hanging in the freezer - leading to the first, of many, humourous encounters with our zombie-like creatures that ramps up the slapstick to silly levels.

Around the same time the guys are (poorly) dealing with this outbreak, Freddy's girlfriend Tina (Beverly Randolph) and a group of his punker friends show up and decide to hang around the cemetery nearby waiting for him to get off work. Yeah, that's a pretty bad idea, even if the death obsessed punkette Trash (Linnea Quigley, in full Scream Queen mode) takes time out to dance naked on top of a gravestone. Soon enough our punkers and medical workers, who are joined by coroner Ernie (Don Calfa) from next door and Uneeda boss Burt (Clu Gulager), have to hole-up in the warehouse and fight off the undead hordes while the Military tries to deal with it.

The Return of the Living Dead has so many memorable moments; it would be hard to pick just one. O'Bannon has ramped up the comedy and when we're not laughing at the interplay between the inept Frank and Freddy, we're chuckling at a zombie muttering "Send more paramedics" on an ambulance CB, and grooving out to a soundtrack filled with lots of awesome mid-80s punk bands - the best, of course, being 45 Grave's "Party Time" which is used to great effect. This just hits a great balance between comedy and horror that I can't think of many other flicks that can match it. In fact, all that really comes to mind is Peter Jackson's Dead Alive, the second Evil Dead entry, and Shaun of the Dead. Throw into the mix some really cool practical effects and the scene stealing "Tarman" zombie who just looks gnarly with all his dripping gooeyness and craving for "Brrraaaiiinnnsss!", a few good moments of suspense, and a satirical finish and you have a movie you could easily watch every Halloween season.

Despite being surrounded by veteran characters actors Karen, Gulager, and Calfa; Mathews holds his own and shows some good comedic timing. He'd play the hero role in the following years Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and would also return for the first sequel playing a different, if similar, character. His interplay with Karen is definitely a highlight and when Calfa joins into the proceedings they have a lot of fun arguing amongst themselves. Gulager, who started in Westerns but will forever be a cult actor because of this, also gets a lot of amusing one-liners - he'd also appear in the second Nightmare on Elm Street flick as well as b-movies like The Hidden and From a Whisper to a Scream. The rest of the young cast also handle things great with Randolph playing a good "damsel in distress", Quigley giving us our skin quota, Miguel A. Nunez, Jr. stealing a few scenes as Spider, and B-movie favourite Jewel Shepard (Party Camp, Hollywood Hot Tubs) playing yet another California girl type. This is probably one of the strongest ensemble casts put together for a fairly low-budget horror flick to this day.

Almost thirty years after it was released, The Return of the Living Dead still works. Here in 2014, when I'm writing this, the zombie sub-genre has become overdone and overplayed. This is why it's important to remember that this was one of the first of its type and is still one of the best as well. You probably want to avoid the sequels, though I admit to getting a few mild chuckles from part two and the odd body-modification angle of Brian Yuzna's third entry does give it some curiousity. Otherwise, crank it up and enjoy the ride! (Chris Hartley, 10/28/14)

Directed By: Dan O'Bannon.
Written By: Dan O'Bannon.

Starring: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews.