The Return Of The Living Dead - So dark and yet so funny

Return of the Living Dead is considered, by some, to be the `unofficial sequel' to George A Romero's classic zombie shocker Night of the Living Dead. It isn't, but the writer owned the rights to the `living dead' part of the title (hence the reason all George's later offerings were simply `...of the Dead').

But, studio politics aside, RotLD takes the modern zombie genre that George is often credited for creating and refreshes it. In fact, it refreshes it so much that, to this day, it still hasn't been beaten.

It's about a group of punks who go partying in a graveyard one night, right next to a warehouse where a chemical leak resurrects the graveyard's sleeping occupants. There's nothing too original in the plot - in fact, it's pretty cheesy. However, it's the way the whole film is executed which sets it apart. There's so much right with it that what little bits that don't work are easily overlooked.

The characters are believable and, almost all the time, do logical, sensible things. Also, it's the `oldies' who steal the show. In a world where teenagers are normally the stars of horror films, it's the older, wiser characters that both get the better lines and come through as the heroes. It has some pretty interesting situations, where the zombies are `explained,' plus they're well and truly `pumped up' compared to George A Romero's `shufflers.' These guys don't die from a head shot and some of them can even solve puzzles.

Not only is the film littered with pokes at Night of the Living Dead, plus generally horror films, but there are also some genuinely humorous moments on their own. Not that this is just a strict comedy. The tone is overall very dark and depressing. The sheer strength and invulnerability of the zombies compared to the humans makes it an almost lost cause for our heroes to fight against.

There are so many zombie movies flooding the DVD racks these days, you may be forgiven for thinking that an obscure one from the mid eighties with no stars in it has much place in the horror genre. I think you'll find you're wrong. If half the modern zombie offerings had even a fraction of the class and originality of RotLD, they'd actually get out of the Bargain Basement bins in DVD stores.

9/10 almost as perfect as The Godfather