Dan O’Bannon’s name might not be the most recognisable but his contribution to horror pivots on a horror classic. That film was Alien with a creature that secured his legacy as a writer and has seen his name credited on every Alien film since. Return of the Living Dead (1985) was his scripted contribution to the genre that George Romero had reinvented and made his own and both Romero’s trilogy ( at that time) and O’Bannon’s film were connected by John A Russo who had worked with Romero but had parted ways over sequel ideas and wrote the story for Return of the Living Dead himself . This original treatment was optioned by Tom Fox who set up production giving the script to O’Bannon who felt that it intruded too much on Romero territory and rewrote it with far more humour
His script saw Freddy (Thom Mathews) on his first day of work at the Uneeda Medical Supply Warehouse when his co-worker Frank (James Karen) decides to show off the airtight canisters filled with human remains in the basement, lost by the military long ago. One of the canisters unexpectedly leaks a poison gas and sets into motion a full-scale uprising of the undead, against which warehouse boss Burt (Clu Gulager), mortician Ernie (Don Calfa) and Freddy’s punk friends (including scream queen Linnea Quigley) may be the last defence. If the zombies don’t eat their brains first!
And it was the eating of brains that was a move away from Romero’s zombies that were rabid flesh eaters. O’Bannon’s zombies were after brains leading to some effects that in light of this were surprisingly tame and a bit campy. But this quest for brains did mean that the only person in the world who was safe was Prince Harry though he doesn’t feature here. It would O’Bannon’s first feature= film as director too having helmed only a short film previously. The film would prove to be a far from enjoyable experience to such a degree that he only directed one more film after this that would be six years later after which he stepped away from directing altogether
The cast are clearly revelling in the film with the Don Calfa performance at a constant level of hysteria whereas Clu Gulager was far more grounded despite the subject matter. The punks led Mark Venturine as Suicide ( we’re guessing that wasn’t his characters real name) were a rabble of punks dressed by the costume department in an era when certainly the British punk movement had long finished with only bands like The Exploited, Charged GBH and Crass keeping the movement going albeit mostly underground. So the punks were dressed more like what the costume & make up departments though a punk looked like more than anything else although for Linnea Quigley she spent the majority of the film naked in the filmmakers successful bid to attract a teenage male audience.
Return of the Living Dead is campy fun with decent enough make up effects notably Tarman , a zombie that looks like its sweating black treacle and unlike Romero’s zombie films its light on gore and that combined with its levity opened it up to a broader audience making $14m off its modest £4m budget and leading to a sequel three years later which the original ending had lent itself too with O’Bannon’s zombies, unlike Romero’s, unable to be killed with a shot to the head
This release on limited edition blu-ray is one that is sure to please fans a huge amount of bonus features that includes:
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando Arocena
• Perfect bound collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Gary Smart and a preview of the forthcoming sequel comic Revenge of the Living Dead
• Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Orlando Arocena
DISC ONE – FEATURE
• 4K restoration from the original negative
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Original★ lossless mono audio plus DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by writer-director Dan O’Bannon and production designer William Stout
• Audio commentary by Stout and actors Don Calfa, Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Beverly Randolph and Allan Trautman
• Audio commentary by actors Thom Mathews and John Philbin and make-up effects artist Tony Gardner
• Audio commentary by fans and filmmakers Gary Smart and Chris Griffiths
• The Origins of the Living Dead, an archive interview with author John Russo
• The FX of the Living Dead, an archive featurette on the special effects
• Party Time: The Music of Return of the Living Dead, a featurette on the film’s soundtrack
• Horror’s Hallowed Grounds, an archive tour of the locations by Sean Clark
• The Dead Have Risen, an archive featurette with Calfa, Peck, Quigley, Randolph, Trautman, Clu Gulager and James Karen
• Designing the Dead, an archive featurette with O’Bannon and Stout
• The Decade of Darkness, an archive featurette about 1980s horror classics
• Deleted scenes from a VHS workprint
• Theatrical trailers and TV spots
DISC TWO – MORE BRAINS! (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE)
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of the 2017 feature-length documentary about the making of the film, featuring extensive interviews with cast and crew
• A Conversation with Dan O’Bannon: The Final Interview
• Deleted scenes from the documentary
• Return of the Living Dead in 3 Minutes
• Resurrected Settings: The Filming Locations Today
Unfortunately much of this is archive from previous releases ( O’Bannon passed away in 2009) but the documentary on the making of the film alone makes the disc a worthy addition to any horror fans collection.
related feature: Getting scalped by a helicopter – HeliZombie Jim Krut talks, ‘Dawn of the Dead’
related feature: Why 28 Years Later had an intimacy co-ordinator……
Here’s the Return of the Living Dead trailer……
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