There's a great scene in this movie that occurs approximately an hour and nineteen minutes into its runtime. Cranky character actor Clu Gulagher and a few obnoxious teenagers are trapped in his medical supply warehouse by brain-hungry zombies, and the only phone available is located in the warehouse's basement, the door of which is locked and guarded by a particularly ravenous zombie. After retrieving a baseball bat, old Clu instructs one of the kids to open the door and the others to stand back. The door swings open to admit a repulsive, shambling undead horror, its flesh rotted to an oozing, tar-like substance after decades of storage in a sealed container. A good hard swing from Gulagher knocks the thing's head clean off, and he and his young associates rush past it. About a decade ago, a good friend and I rewound and watched this scene over a dozen times. While it's not as hilarious to me now as it was when I was very drunk and in my late teens, I still can't watch this inspired bit of stupidity without laughing.

Writer/director Dan O'Bannon cut his teeth while collaborating with John Carpenter on the latter's quirky sci-fi/comedy debut, "Dark Star;" a few years later, he penned a script for an obscure movie that a few people have seen called "Alien." O'Bannon has worked sporadically over the past few decades, screen writing with occasional success, but this spin-off of George Romero's popular zombie movies is the only film in which he was able to convey his sick sense of humor and love of gore as he saw fit.

The result is impressive: "Return" is grotesque, cleverly plotted and very amusing, making the best of a tiny budget and third-rate cast. Hammy performances are abundant, and entirely appropriate for such a goofy script. Screen veteran Gulagher, who has plenty of experience in schlock productions, is particularly enjoyable to watch: when he calls a young punk "dick-brain," it's not unlike hearing your father when he's in a foul mood.

I can't fault the production design of this film. William Stout's effects are as excellent as they are vile, and it's clear that he shares O'Bannon's sensibilities in creating monsters that are equally comedic and repellant. This was clearly intended to be just another drive-in flick, and while I wouldn't call it a classic, it definitely ranks a cut above the average horror picture.

Like most of MGM's DVDs, this disc is double-sided, containing the 1.33:1 aspect ratio version of the film on one side and the original 1.85:1 version on the other. Language options include a hilarious Spanish dialogue dub, as well as English, French and Spanish subtitles. RotLD isn't a beautiful film by any means, but this edition's print looks just fine, and the sound mix isn't hard on the ears.

The special features are quite entertaining. Tobe Hooper was originally intended to direct "Return," and if you've heard the excellent commentary track that he recorded with Daniel Pearl and Gunnar Hansen for "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," rest assured that the commentary track voiced by O'Bannon and Stout on this disc is just about as detailed, informative and amusing. These two have plenty of stories to tell in regard to the production of this movie and many others! The disc's art gallery includes Stout's most recognizable storyboards and quite a lot of his production artwork, all of which is drawn in a comic book style and quite good. The "Designing the Dead" featurette consists of interviews with O'Bannon and Stout in which they explain circumstances involving the film's production in even more detail. This isn't really a necessary addition, but it's nice to see two rather underrated talents afforded some screen time. Theatrical trailers for both general and restricted audiences are included, as are well over a dozen TV spots, most of which differ only slightly from one another.

this movie made me laugh so hard. not really scary at all but funny. the zombies could talk and run

As great as zombie flicks are, they easily qualify as one of horror's most polarizing sub-genres. Movies such as Dawn of the Dead have gone on to be considered what great horror is made of, and others such as Oasis of the Zombies have quickly been filed away into most viewer's repressed memory. Return of the Living Dead, however, manages to rank up there with Romero's living dead flicks as far as classic zombie movies go, albeit in a very different way. In reality it's a horror/comedy spoof on all the whole zombie concept itself, and manages to be one of the fine examples of how it's done along the way.

We begin with Freddy who has landed himself a job at an enourmous medical supply warehouse. When co-worker Frank tells him the tale of the real "living dead" and how the corpses involved are being stored in the warehouse basement, he decides to take Freddy down to have a look at them. Unfortunately after tampering with one of the tanks storing the bodies, they release a powerful gas that brings the deceased back to life in full force. In a matter of hours the entire town is being ravaged by, contrary to tradition, running zombies that can talk and have the minds to execute attacks on the living. Not to mention that they have an undying hunger for brains!

Return of the Living Dead is a film that really doesn't require much in depth analysis since not much more can be said about it. It's an excellent example of 80's cinema, an excellent zombie movie, and perhaps most shockingly it's a horror/comedy that actually works most of the time. Not to mention the nifty punk rock theme it has going and its soundtrack to match. Gore, nudes, zombies, and cursing a-plenty, this is one to be seen at all costs!

Im a romero fan and i like classic slower moving zombies and serious movies but this movie is one of the four best zombie movies of all times,and is the only one in the group that is not from romero.Dan obannon realy did a great job when he wrote this,something special happened with this film that even is a different kind of zombie it make sense and it works great.This is realy a classic,the 80s were great for zombies,there is a lot of heart in these low budget films,thats why they are so good and timeless.By the way my 4 best of all time are night,dawn,day and of course rotld.

The classic Return of the living dead has an equally classic soundtrack. Everyone will remember "Do you wanna party" from 45 Grave and you will find this and other gems on this vintage soundtrack. Cult classic, full stop.