The Return of the Living Dead (1985) ****

Return of the Living Dead is a parody of the George Romero Living Dead films that instead of a depressing, feeling of dread throughout the picture, we get an almost comic book style film with wit.

In Return the film Night of the Living Dead is actually a fictionalized account of what happened at a V.A. hospital during a chemical spill. Two medical warehouse employees (James Karen and Thom Matthews) stumble on some barrels containing zombies that have been accidentally delivered to the warehouse. When the seal breaks on the canister we are treated to the terror that can only come with the living dead rising from the grave.

What's great about this film is that where a Romero zombie film is deadly serious, Return doesn't take itself seriously at all. The characters are way over the top, especially the teenagers who are so stereotyped within themselves you'll wonder why they're hanging out together in the first place. Clu Gulager plays the stereotypical boss trying to cover his ass when the tanks are compromised and Don Calfa sealed his cult status by playing the mortician Ernie who carries around a German pistol and smokes a pipe. These are the kind of over the top characters that I'm talking about. Return of the Living Dead is a parody of a genre that long needed one.

I'm not calling Return a masterpiece. It's far from it. But what it represents is a film that not only scares you, but makes you laugh and this formula has been reused time and again (Freddy Krueger's comedic switch, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) but Return is the perfect example of that. Over the top actors and over the top acting with great effects and directorial style make this film a cut above in a genre that has been glutted with pure garbage.