I re-watched it back in late february/early march, for the first time in far too many years, or so. And I LOOOOVED IT!
Cannot believe I waited that long to give it a go, once more. But I guess sometimes, these things just happens, and it is so deliciously good when they finally do, as the film just becomes even better with age, and far more impressive than what you remembered it as.
"It hurts to be dead"
Two rather nosy and clumsy employees working at a local warehouse, one day makes a big mess of it all when they stumble upon a "well hidden" secret from the past.
But due to a fatal accident, they end up smashing one of the chambers open, and it soon releases all this nasty stuff right into the air.
This will end up creating a horrific chain reaction, that will eventually be followed by a total mayhem of chaos and death all over town, esepcially when it gives "birth" to a whole army of brain eating zombies, looking for a fast midnight snack.I often take notice of how many seems to just "label" it as a comedy, okay, horror-comedy, and I can sure understand that, but believe me, watching this one for the very first time, as a kid, it truly was one of the most shocking and nightmarish movies I had ever witnessed.
Back in the 90s we used to have these weekly friday movie nights, where we would sit down with lots of junk food, candy and snacks, then watch all these rented or borrowed VHS tapes, and I remember that we were all sitting down in the basement of a friend of mine, and suddenly his far older brothers came along with all these cool horror films, and sure, I guess they kind of wanted to play a trick on us, by letting these little "brats" watch movies that certainly were anything but "child friendly".
Of course, nobody wanted to chicken out, so we all gathered along and somehow
The Return of the Living Dead (1985) was brought up and put on.
Again, nobody wanted to chicken out or cover they eyes or ears, but it was all so very confusing and frightening at the same time, not made any easier by the fact that the much older boys were laughing so hard they almost crapped their pants, while me, I was just completely and utter terrified of what went on the big screen.
For me, this was anything but funny or hilarious, it was all REAL. I mean, it said so early on, this had happened in a small american town, and where all its citizens had been eaten in large numbers, by the living dead.
Of course, when you are a kid, and one with maybe a bit too much of a imagination as well going on, this was quite a way of getting introduced towards the whole 1980s horror movie genre, and it left a huge impression that would follow me for almost a year or more. Tarman, just seemed to be "everywhere", and I could not shake of the whole idea or tought of how horrible it would be to stumble upon that kind of zombies, as portrayed in the film.
Well, time flies by and when I finally got around to see it once again, I was already well into my teenager years. However, incredible enough I had somehow forgotten the title of the film, and so I ended up buying the wrong movie when one day stumbling upon a DVD copy, back in the early 00s.
The one I brought home, was actually
Return of the Living Dead Part 2 (1987), but I realized quickly that it was surely not the one I was on the look out for, so I returned the day after, and thankfully a very helping lady at the music and movie store, ordered the right one.
This time, I was more "ready" for the film and all the stuff that went on, and of course the black comedy and slapstick jokes and so on, did not go way above my head, but still, I feel the more gruesome and scary stuff still holds up, and I think Return of the Living Dead is surely one of the best ones of making use of both comedy and horrror, but never turned it all the way into a constant "laughing riot", as that is much thanks to brining in a whole new kind of zombies, that I guess at the time was rarely seen before.
"Send... more... paramedics."
Instead of having all these classic slow moving rotting stiffs from the Romero movies coming at you, the ones you could almost crawl away from, but now all of a sudden they come running at you with full force, chasing in packs like a bunch of hungry wolves, and even at times have their very own guerrilla warfare going strong, when they use a rather clever "hide-and-seek" strategy, in order to lure in more potential victims, or food into a very effective and nasty death trap.
No, we are surely not talking about your "ordinary" braindead, rotten, grunting and drooling corpses, who may look very creepy and all, but who you could easily outrun.
Instead, we get individual creature, who can make up their mind and take decicions on the spot, and that is pretty damn scary and unsettling thought.
For now, the undead is not only almost impossible to overpower, but they can think and act very differently and upredictable, but are also able to be almost as quick and strong as a live human being.
In most zombie movies that I have encountered over the years as a horror fan, there are rarely many memorable zombie-creatures to bring up, and I guess I can almost count on one hand, how many I have met over the past 10-15 years or more.
Of course, maybe I should really pick up on my zombie-watching, but beside a few from the classic George A. Romero Living Dead trilogy, I really have trouble coming along with that many others.
But, again, this is where The Return of the Living Dead stands out, and in such a fine way, as you not only get one, or maybe two, but so many colorful and cool looking zombies, and they just seem to keep on coming throughout the film.
Almost everyone seems as different or unique in look or behaviour.
We got the "yellow dead guy" who screams his way almost through the steeldoor where he has been living inside a big fridge, and that part was just creepy as f..k when I first saw it, waaaaay back.
Then you have the "half-parted" old lady, who kind of gives us an interesting look into how the zombies actually work or function, in that they crave human brains so badly.
Not only because they are hungry, but since it makes the "pain" go away, and that it hurts to be dead.
And not to forget about the very unlucky duo, that is surely the two of Frank and Freddy, who gets sprayed with that nasty "air" from the chamber in the basement,
This all leads up to that point where Freddy finally must give into his unrelenting apetite for human brains, while however, Frank takes a shocking look at what will soon become his fate, and decided that he will not be part of that, so instead he goes up in "flames" later on.
But, out of all the memorable and unique looking creatures in this film, maybe even most of the zombie genre, I have to say that Tar-Man (Allan Trautman) surely is an unforgettable sight, and stands along with the evil looking endoskeleton from the first The Terminator (1984), as two of those incredible creepy and nightmarish figures, who still from time to time comes along in my dreams, or should I say nightmares.
I mean, Tar-Man is such a nasty, creepy and just downright disgusting thing, and not only has the guy a solid pair of teeths, but he is even a very quick learner.
To think how it must be for poor Tina, to have this absolute monster trying to get to you, and even when hiding inside a locker, you eventually know and watches on, that he will do so, in not much long time.
I had almost forgotten how cool, and incredible the special effects, the gore, and how all these zombie creatures walked, talked or just how impressive it were all put out.
The sounds, and details, it worked like a charm.
Tar-Man not only looked or sounded like a nasty, nasty piece of "work", but so much that I could almost smell him through the tv-screen.
One scene that truly shocked me, was when I think the punk-leader, Suicide gets his head eaten by Tar-Man, like it was an bite of a an apple or something.
Then followed the horrible scream and the terrifying death cramps.
Shit, there was nothing hilarious or even funny about that, and even now seeing it as an adult, I did not laugh or feel, yeah this is some funny "shit" right there. It is just brutal as hell.
But I guess what is funny or comedy for others, might not work the other way around, and so. But hey, even now, I do admit that Tar-Man is still as creepy as ever, and I felt like my heart began to beat much faster, when I realized he was soon to appear on screen.
"Hey, somebody get some light over here, Trash is taking off her clothes again."
However, they are not all as disgusting as Tar-Man, that I guess we can thank the lovely Linnea Quigley for, as she and her memorable character Trash sure is something special, alright.
She pretty much walks around halfway nude, most of the time in this film.
Trash even gets her "wish" fulfilled later on, when a bunch of old hungry guys take a bite of her.
Linnea is just one big firework her, and speaking of comedy, one of the funniest moments has to be where the punk-leader Suicide is all busy preaching about his way of living and been taken seriously, all while Trash is almost jumping his bones.
I also crack up at the whole "random" stripping part at the graveyard, as where Trash is going at it, again and everybody is like,
"yeah, lets bring along some lights and have a big show" like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Anyway, enought of the zombies and the dead, I think what really makes it so good is all the interesting and colorful human characters we we meet up with, specially those of Freddy and Frank, who slowly turns into these terrifying creatures, and they are trying to cope with the fact that they also will suffer the same cruel fate, but of course seems to react or handle it in a complete opposite way.
But two of my favorites, has to be Burt, the boss of Freddy and Frank, and who seems to be more interested in trying to cover things up, than to actually bother having a look at all the crazy stuff that is going on, and just trying to save his own skin.
Still, he comes kind of "clean" as he delivers quite a heroic and bad ass part, where he takes a small army of zombies, only armed with a hammer or something like that, in order to get a hold of a police car, nearby.
Then you have the pretty creepy but still likeable "nazi"-doctor who operates his own crematorium, and seems to be a very "special" kind of guy, but one you surely want on your side, and not against you.
When it comes to the special effects, as mentioned earlier, the gore, blood, design, details, everything for me, is just, right up there as truly fantastic work, and I love how they never go over-the-top, I mean there is lots of nasty scenes, but not waaaaay overboard with gore and I think it is just the right combination that was made here.
SSQ - Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die)The music also plays a huge factor, in getting the right party-mood atmosphere, and it was quite clever in combining the whole punk and new wave look and sound, in order to get the right attitude.
All in all, Dan O'Bannons low budget homage/parody of George A. Romero and his films, seemed to hit off so much, it later on got lots of "sequels", but I think very few zombie movies ever come close of being this well made or original by bringing alone a very much needed breath of "fresh" air.
The "funny" thing, is that when I actually saw this film for the first time, all these years ago, it began to rain, just as I was walking home from my friends.
And, while not more than a few minutes of walk to my home, it felt like an eternity, and it was dark, wet and everywhere I looked in the woods or bushes, Tar-Man and his pals would lie await for me, to attack and eat my brain, any moment.
8,5/10