The Return of the Living Dead

Today's horror film was the zombie classic The Return of the Living Dead. As I was picking today's movie I realized that my binge so far this year had been oddly devoid of zombie movies; as in, I haven't watched any. What up with that?

So, anyway, The Return of the Living Dead. What a damn fun movie. This is classic zombie fare: morons running around from the undead, lookin' sexy while dying, and literally having "BRAIIIINNNNSSS" screamed at them as they're chased down. It's just fun, without being anything it isn't. 

In the last 10 or so years there has been an attempt make zombie fare more heady and less schlocky. That isn't always bad and has in fact created some stellar, genre-progressing zombie movies. Let's be honest, though: zombies are inherently schlocky. They're dead, usually slow and stupid, and pretty damn easy to kill. The idea that (beyond a huge horde bearing down on you) zombies pose a huge threat is kinda ridiculous. That's Living Dead's biggest strength: it steers into the skid. 

The Return of the Living Dead doesn't want to be anything other than goofy, gorey, re-animated fun.  The zombies can use phones and radios (which they use to call for more brains. Brilliant!), characters making just the worst decisions, and there's a punk rock crew that is giddily stereotypical. Speaking of the punk rock crew, let's talk about that for a second. Each character in the crew seems to be handpicked from an 80s sterotype: there's the girl with the scrunchies, big hair, and neon jumper; the Rick Astley wannabe complete with boombox; the preppy athlete couple; the punk rock kids in their chains, leather, spikes, and The Lost Boys vests; and, most gloriously of all, Trash, the death-obsessed punk who strips on a tomb and spends literally the rest of the movie running around completely naked. So... yeah. Basically the horror movie Breakfast Club. 

That's more 80s than Van Halen blaring at a ski resort while people race in neon ski suits to save the mountain.

I guess what I'm saying here is that The Return of the Living Dead is a blast and is a great leftover from when zombies weren't taken so seriously. It's a perfect slice of the horror era in which it was made and gives zombies their ridiculous, over-the-top dues.

9/10