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Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Country
of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1985
Running Times: 91 mins
Format: colour 35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1 (negative ratio) 1.85:1
(intended ratio)
Sound: mono
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Cinema 84/Hemdale Film
Corporation/Orion Pictures Corporation
Executive Producers: John Daly, Derek Gibson
Producer: Tom Fox
SCRIPT
Script: Dan O'Bannon
Story: Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo, Russell Streiner
DIRECTION
Director: Dan O'Bannon
Assistant Director: David M. Robertson
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Jules Brenner
Assistant Camera: Robert L. Blatman
Key Grip: Richard Mall
Best Boy Grip: Andreas Crawford
Cameras: Panavision Cameras and Lenses
Labs: Consolidated Film Industries, Hollywood,
California, USA; DeLuxe
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Robert Gordon
MUSIC
Music: Matt Clifford
Additional Music/Musical Advisor: Robert Randles
Song Performed By: .45 Grave (Partytime (Zombie Version))
SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS
Special Make Up Effects: Allan A. Apone, Makeup and
Effects Laboratories Inc
Half-Corpse Make Up Effects: Tony Gardner
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Fantasy II Film Effects; Wizards Inc
Creature Crew: Craig Caton
Model Shop Supervisor: Michael Joyce
DESIGN AND SET
CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: William Stout
LOCATIONS
Locations: Burbank, California, USA; Palos Verdes
Peninsula, California, USA; Sanibel, Florida, USA;
Sylmar, California, USA
STUNTS
Stunts: Ben Jensen
Stunt Driver: Kim Robert Koscki
CASTING
Casting: Stanzi Stokes
CAST
Clu Gulager (Burt Wilson)
James Karen (Frank)
Don Calfa (Ernie Kaltenbrunner)
Thom Mathews (Freddy)
Beverly Randolph (Tina)
John Philbin (Chuck)
Jewel Shepard (Casey)
Miguel A. Núñez Jr (Spider)
Brian Peck (Scuz)
Linnea Quigley (Trash)
Mark Venturini (Suicide)
Jonathan Terry (Colonel Horace Glover)
Cathleen Cordell (Ethel Glover)
Drew Deighan (paramedic 1)
James Dalesandro (paramedic 2)
John Durbin (radio corpse 1)
David Bond (radio corpse 2)
Bob Libman (squad captain)
John Stuart West (foot cop 1)
Michael Crabtree (foot cop 2)
Ed Krieger (foot cop 3)
Robert Craighead (cop 1)
Paul Cloud (cop 2)
Derrick Brice (Gunnery Sergeant Jefferson)
Leigh Drake (dispatcher)
Terrence M. Holliman (yellow cadaver)
Allan Trautman (tarman)
Robert J. Bennett (headless tarman)
Jerome 'Daniels' Coleman (legless corpse)
Cherry Davis (half woman corpse)
PLOT SUMMARY
Employees at a medical
supply warehouse accidentally release a toxic gas that
caused the dead to return as zombies near Pittsburgh in
the late 60s. Washed into the soil of a local cemetery
during a rainstorm, the chemical soon reanimates dozens
of brain-hungry zombies who besiege the employees and a
gang of teenagers.
CAPSULE REVIEW
Something of a guilty
pleasure and a real rarity - an 80s horror comedy that
still works today. Return of the Living Dead
is an enjoyable tribute to a much loved genre classic
which, despite it's many flaws (lousy music, variable
acting, one too many gag that simply doesn't work)
perfectly lampoons many of the elements that made the
zombie sub-genre so popular; it mixes explicit gore with
a few laughs, has no pretensions to being anything other
than a violent head stomper, and rarely lets the action
flag.
AVAILABILITY
UK
Laserdisc Distributor: Tartan (TVL 0001 (1992))
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Hemdale Picture Corporation /
Orion Pictures Corporation
Laserdisc Distributor: Image (ID 6851 HB)
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Australia
Rating: M
France
Rating: -12
Germany
Rating: 18
Norway
Rating: banned
UK
Rating: 18
USA
Rating: R TIMELINE
1985
May
15: France - theatrical release
August
16: USA - theatrical release
POSTER TAGS
They're back... They're Hungry... And
they're not vegetarian.
They're Back From The Grave and Ready To
Party!
I love you - I want to eat your brains.
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Battalion - Japanese title
El regreso de los muertos vivientes - Venezuelan title
Il ritorno dei morti viventi - Italian title
Verdammt, die Zombies kommen - German title
LINKS
SEQUELS
Return of the
Living Dead Part II (1988)
Return of the
Living Dead 3 (1993)
SEE ALSO
Night of
the Living Dead (1968)
Braindead (1992)
FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Future Shock (1993)
REFERENCES
BOOKS
Elliot's Guide to Films on Video p.
654
credits, review KEYWORDS
zombies; punks; gore; mortuaries; skeletons; cemeteries; nuclear weapons; helicopters;
cremation; decapitation; paramedics; brains; teenagers; switchblades; dismemberment
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