The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Directed by Dan O’Bannon. Starring Clu Gulager, Don Calfa, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., James Karen, Thom Matthews, Beverly Randolph, Jewel Shepard, John Philbin, Brian Peck, Mark Venturini, Linnea Quigley, Jonathan Terry, Cathleen Cordell. [R]

The decaying zombie movie sub-genre gets a punk rock spin by writer and first-time feature director O’Bannon, reinventing the form as a ghoulish comedy vehicle for tongue-in-cheek transgression and blood-sprayed stylishness. Although not a sequel to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, that walking-dead touchstone is referenced early on as having been inspired by a true story of a chemical affecting corpses back in the late-60s, and what good luck, the person telling the story has those sealed bodies in the basement, and what bad luck, the container erupts with toxic gas and the dead are on the rise again. Grisly fun in fits and starts, the misshapen story structure takes a toll on the pacing, and the movie runs out of steam about an hour in, but fans of grotesque gags and good-natured gore aren’t likely to get too restless. Most inspired choice: allowing the ghouls to get some of the biggest laughs (“Send…more…cops”). Playing the punk girl known as “Trash,” B-movie “scream queen” Quigley proves to be a good sport by spending nearly all of her screentime (living or otherwise) in her birthday suit. Developed a cult following and spawned several sequels.

67/100