LogFAQs > #972017666

24. Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Directed by Dan OBannon
Score: 195

Suprak: 7
Fortybelow: 8
Inviso: 14
Mythiot: 14
Plasma: 16
Johnbobb: 24
BetrayedTangy: 26
GavsEvans: 28
PrinceKaro: 28
Pokewars: 30

8. Forty
Braaaiiiins! I only own a handful of physical movies these days, but RotLD is one of them. I love zombie movies and this one is a wild, kitschy cult classic thats a top gem in what is arguably horror's best decade, the 80s. Its silly, but also hugely important as it helped define the entire genre by introducing the concept of zombies hungering for brains. I believe its also the first example of zombies being impervious to headshot damage. The soundtrack is amazing, mixing creepy synth-infused music with a variety of gritty, aggressive rock subgenres like punk, death rock, and psychobilly. The acting is overly campy at times, and the ending is not very good at all, but the naked graveyard partying, gory brain munching, and over the top 80s schlock make it a definite classic.

14. Vis
Ive seen a decent number of zombie movies in my life (plus the entirety of the Walking Dead franchise), so it would be very easy, even for satire, for a film to talk a very cliched and standard approach to its storyline. However, Return of the Living Dead really impressed me in terms of its plotting. Having the characters openly discuss an existing zombie movie as a means for figuring out the rules to how zombies work was clever, and it made the subversion of those rules all the more terrifying. These zombies cant be killed by hits to the head, like one would expectand in fact, there really isnt a surefire way to kill them. As such, you have a cast of humans who are JUST forced to run and hide, completely defenseless throughout the entirety of the film. I think thats what makes the satire so effective: the audience (nowadaysprobably less so at the time) has an expectation of how to survive a zombie apocalypse, and the movie just demonstrates how impotent those strategies really are.

Also, while the zombies themselves are utterly disgusting (some of them, at least), I appreciate just how intelligent they are. Sure, it works for comedic effect, to have them summoning victims to them, but it also makes them scarier, knowing theyre smart enough to go toe-to-toe with the humans. And it gives them a genuine and understandable motivation: they want to eat brains because brains are like morphine to them, and temporarily help them forget about their pain receptors and how they can feel themselves rotting in the afterlife. All of this makes for a really solid film, even if I still ranked several others above it.

14. Mythiot
So this is where zombies eat brains came from! Very entertaining horror comedy in which carelessness with hazardous materials (used to destroy marijuana plants) causes the dead to rise, fully sentient and in the kind of pain that only brains can satisfy. Manages to be absurd and fun, especially when the individual dead limbs move on their own, and the cartoonish punks come into play, while being genuinely disturbing and morbid. Great makeup and gore effects as well. Is it sacrilege to say I prefer this to Dawn of the Dead?

16. Plasma
Satire or not, this is a good zombie story. You have two main plotlinesthe medical warehouse team trying to suppress the outbreak and the partying teens goofing offthat merge in a clever way. I love the concept of burning zombies and creating a dangerous acid rain that raises the dead. Thats more creative than what 95% of zombie stories offer, and I even enjoyed a few laughs along the way. C

24. John
Pretty decent movie, kinda funny, phenomenal 80s punk soundtrack. Trash deserved better.

26. Tangy
I believe this is my third viewing of RotLD and based on this ranking its pretty obvious that Im not a big fan of it. Yet despite that, something keeps drawing me back to it. Naturally the premise is super clever and is culturally relevant to the evolution of zombies in mainstream media. Im also a sucker for this films style, the zombie designs are great and they clearly made the most of its budget with set design and costumes that are so over-the-top 80's I can't help, but enjoy it. Once you move past that though this movie just kind of feels like a mess. Since the entire plot revolves around characters making dumb decisions, it becomes hard to be invested in said characters. Movies like Cabin in the Woods or Tucker & Dale work, because the mishaps are actually tied to the story as a whole as well as the characters' personalities. Whereas here it's done just to move the plot and jokes forward, which gets old fast.

That said I do really enjoy the zombies in this. They have a ton of personality and in a weird way they're cuter than they are threatening. In fact I think if they just made the zombies the main characters, I'd be so much more on board with this movie as a whole, but I do imagine they probably didn't have the budget for something like that so oh well.

Biggest Laugh: The zombies ordering delivery

28. GavsEvans
Man, the people in this film are dumb. True, horror characters are rarely beacons of rational thought, but the initial zombie outbreak is contrived even by the genres standards. The military misplaced zombie canisters and took the best part of 20 years to find them again. The recipient of said canisters doesnt report the error, instead showing them off to employees and then hitting them, which releases the zombifying gas. The canisters werent even well made and properly secured! Zombie outbreaks are usually caused by unforeseen problems, but this one was entirely avoidable.

Fortunately, the real outbreak isnt caused by stupidity, but by an attempt to remedy the situation which unintentionally makes thing worse. From there, the mortician and a gang of teenage punks must survive as the zombies try to break into the highly elaborate and grand morgue, which has opulent corridors and even a chapel. It must have been the same architect who designed the Raccoon City Police Department. At least theres no mucking about opening locked doors with arcane keys.

Unlike most zombies, these ones retain their intelligence, and successfully lure humans into traps several times. Admittedly, that isnt as impressive as it would otherwise be given how dumb the humans are. When the morgue car park is full of abandoned ambulances and police cars, with their occupants dead or newly recruited members of the growing zombie horde, maybe its time to stop sending more resources there? Just a thought. I did like the synth soundtrack though. It was appropriately spooky.

28. Karo
A group of tropey teenagers runs afoul of the not-so-dead thanks to some very poor life choices in this sendup of the zombie apocalypse.
Unfortunately, it is way too heavy handed with the delivery of its humor and its exaggeration of its characters, and the result is that it doesnt really work on any level whatsoever. These kind of movies are already generally extremely stupid, so making one that is stupid as a joke just seems... redundant.
It is just an uninspired and unfunny slog that is just as much of a bad piece of shlock as the movies it tries to make fun of.
Zombie satire has been done better. Much better. Many times. This shit can go straight back to the bargain bin where it rightly belongs.