 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. Yes, these are things that I think I'll start doing. I'm gonna mainly do it as Request only so this one is for the return of the living dead the 1985 film and this was requested by YouTube user Uncle Pete so uncle Pete I know you're probably feeling after after you asked me a few times. Have you watched the return of living dead yet? Have you watched it? I'm sure you felt he's never gonna watch it, but I did and That's why I'm doing this video to show you. Hey, I did and hear my feelings on it So I did a like a slight bit of research So I'm gonna throw out some interesting things that I found about the film, but also just give my overall Breakdown of what I liked and potentially didn't like about the film and then I'll give it like a star rating out of five stars at The end and let you know how I felt But if you have ideas for other films that you would like me to do a Review on go ahead anyone put it in the comments, but please subscribe first I'm gonna start doing a thing where I will only I only take the the Suggestion if you subscribe as well, so please hit the subscribe Even if you're not playing on putting a suggestion out there hit the subscribe for me It literally takes you like a second and it can help the channel out a lot So if you see me continually looking down is because I actually wrote a bunch of notes Because I wanted to make sure that I say everything I wanted to say as I was watching the film. I was just kind of putting things down I actually used to do a movie review podcast for about a year and a half ish It was called Carlin and Jordan's most excellent movie night. It's still available a bunch of the episodes on iTunes maybe some other stuff. I'm not sure but you can look it up if you have interest, but That stopped some time ago But anyway, let me get into this. Let me talk about the return of the living dead from 1985. So this film was Based on okay, it was written by Dan O'Brien who also directed it It was based on a book by John Russo who worked with George A Romero on the original night of the living dead So after that film was over basically John Russo and George A Romero kind of split ways And they both went on to make more zombie films or be involved with more zombie films But they were kind of doing them separately doing their own thing So it was like this kind of release of dual zombie films, which is really cool Directed by Dan O'Brien like I said, but this is I think the only thing of note that he's actually directed I think he directed only like one other feature-length film after this So this is pretty much all he's really known for directing wise He was a writer and he's written a bunch of screenplays and I wrote down the most important ones that people might know 1979's Alien Obviously a great one 1981's Dead and Buried which I hadn't seen but I've heard really good things about I plan to see that 1985's Life Force, which I've also heard quite good things about and have not seen I believe it's a vampire or vampire-ish film and 1990s Total Recall, which I know a lot of people who really like Total Recall Full Disclosure haven't seen it yet And this is kind of a theme like the fact that I haven't seen the return of the living dead in town today Right before I started recording this is crazy. I know people are out there. It's like hold on a second You proclaim often that you're a huge horror fan. So how have you never seen the return of the living dead? It's because there's so many films out there And the big thing is I didn't really start getting into watching film until I was in college Because when I was living with my parents throughout high school middle school and elementary school They were very very strict very strict about what I wasn't was not able to watch so once I got to college is when I started, you know trying to catch up and I've been trying to catch up ever since there's so many good films that I will eventually watch that I just haven't gotten to yet. So this was one. So thank you, Uncle Pete for making sure I got to this It was on my list. I just because of your Requests I moved it up much quicker So the budget for this film was originally four million dollars It made it the box or office 14.2 million, which is pretty good considering 1985 being the year that this came out So that's awesome Like I said, it was based on that novel As far as directing goes I like I said Dan O'Vannon did it But originally it was supposed to be Toby Hooper who was going to direct it But he ended up pulling out kind of last minute because he was going to direct Life Force which Dan O'Vannon wrote the screenplay for which I thought was a kind of cool tie-in So at that point they just kind of approached Dan O'Vannon. We're just like Do you want to give it a shot? Do you want to direct it? And I think he did a good job? I think it is directed pretty well. I think the cinematography is solid So I think it went well It's kind of weird though that uh, Dan O'Vannon then didn't really direct much else Yeah, who knows so I'm just going to go down the list of Talking about things as I kind of wrote them down my thoughts So the first thing that really struck me in the film is The character of Frank Oh, by the way spoilers in this before I go forward. So if you want to watch it first and then come back, whatever Uh, so the guy who played the the character of Frank James Karen Crazy over the top acting and at first I was just like whoa Whoa, this acting is like aggressively over the top and nutty but I kind of Looked forward to it after a while. I got used to it and it was just like this is like Enjoyably bad in my opinion So I was very much looking forward to seeing more of that every time he popped on the screen I was like, oh how ridiculous is he gonna be now? Oh how ridiculous now? So I actually hated it at first and then ended up really liking it So I'm sure other people have felt that way Interesting thing about James Karen when they were making the film Originally in the script his character was supposed to end up turning into a zombie and like going out in in the rain and terrorizing the the city Or at least in the cemetery slash mortuary industrial area But James Karen did would like vehemently did not want to do any filming in the rain He did not want to get wet So he came up with the idea of having his character throw himself in The oven which honestly, I think it worked I think that portion of the film worked pretty well And I guess dana bannon signed off on it and kind of agreed he was like, yeah, I mean we could do that Sounds good. So I mean it ended up working But at the same time I was kind of like when I read that I was just like james karen was like Oh, I don't want to get wet. It's like come on Whatever anyway, uh practical effects were great Really like the practical effects, especially like that half zombie that was very much skeletal Who they ended up strapping to the um embalming table and talking to Really good tarman everyone everyone cites tarman even though he's not like a huge part of the film I mean plot wise he's a huge part of the film because that's where the initial infection basically comes from but Um He doesn't have a lot of screen time But his design is really awesome Like he looks great and the fact that he can talk Actually, the zombies can talk at all in this is a really cool thing And I'll talk a little bit more about that later one thing that really hit me about the practical effects The scene early on when there's that body that they they cut the head off And the the headless body is just kind of like running around aimlessly I was like, oh man, that's a lot like reanimator It just reminded me of reanimator because that happens in that film And I looked it up and I was just like both these films are from the same year Because I was wondering if like one had seen the other and kind of was like, oh, I like that idea and they used it But it's not I don't think so because both those films came out in 1985 So I just found that kind of that kind of interesting that they're very similar Scenes and concepts and practical effects that were used And they came out the same year just interesting The music the music is really good The use of the punk soundtrack I felt like kept the film Kind of light and fun, which I really like that feel of it. It's a really good mix of like horror and comedy slash camp and I don't know. I just I just really like horror films from the 80s like that So this was really hitting the kind of sweet spot for me when it comes to that like I like comedy. I like horror Separately, but I also really like the the nice mix of comedy and horror and it can go wrong There are films that I've seen where it definitely goes wrong. It just doesn't work It's either too much on the horror too much on the comedy or they just don't mesh properly But there are plenty of films where it does work and the return of the living dead is definitely one where it definitely works And I don't think either of them take away from each other because there definitely are times where You know, you can have too much comedy where it actually takes away from the horror too much Horror where it takes away from the comedy. It just doesn't land But I feel like this is integrated in such a way and I think the soundtrack helps Uh to make sure that those things are symbiotic. So There's that I like the tie into night of living dead How they were basically saying I think it was frank's character was like, oh, yeah The the movie night of living dead everything that happened in there is actually true. It was just exaggerated So I like that tie in and the fact that tarman is basically supposed to have been involved in those true life events Which I don't know. I just like that. Also the fact that I think it was freddy the character freddy had referenced the fact that um In the movie if you take care of the brain That's supposed to kill the zombie. So that's what they tried, but it doesn't work So I thought that was also a really nice tie in so um, the choices of setting to shoot at I thought Um, we're effective for what for the film they were doing, but I also felt like It definitely made sure to keep the budget low. That was just I mean When doing my research, I didn't find anything saying that but just me You know staying on on my toes while I'm watching the film just started thinking all of these Probably would have been very easy to get into and would be super super cheap for shooting And if you notice they didn't really hit a ton of different locations. They I think they really only had like three main locations it was the industrial building where the medical supply company was the mortuary and the The cemetery and they were all supposed to be right there. I I don't know if they really were or not the other thing to say about setting is that the film supposed to be done in um Louisville, Kentucky But actually I think only the outside of the cemetery was actually shot there And everything else was done in california, which You know really no big surprise there because that's that's something that that film has done for a long time They'll be like, oh, this is set in this state, but everything was filmed in california. That's common So, you know, but I just thought that, you know, all those settings probably kept the budget low, uh The acid rain twist with the infection Of you know, when the body was the initial body was burned and then it just goes into the air And it basically took the infection into the air and then right came down in the rain And the tie into acid rain was cool I'm assuming very timely because acid rain I remember was something that was really just starting to be talked about in the 80s So it was very topical. So I kind of like that tie into it. Also I just think it was a cool vehicle for the larger infection that ended up happening. So And that's one of the things that I think this film did in general was to Bring a bunch of new stuff to the zombie film Not that it was necessarily needed at this point in time because The zombie genre wasn't mined as heavily as it has been over time But back then in 1985 like it had been done a little bit, but people weren't tired of it at the moment I don't know about you people, but I am tired of it. I've been tired of it for I don't know at least 10 years to be honest. It's just I don't know But this was refreshing to go back to and be like, oh, this is good. Uh, yeah, so the acid rain really liked Uh real quick I wrote in my condolences to Linnea Quigley I felt bad for the fact that she was nude like the entire film pretty much the entire film And not to mention that a large part of that there was rain involved So she's like naked in the rain. She must have been really cold So I hope that in between scenes they had Very warm uh bath robes for her to be wearing The other thing is this is not something that would really be happening nowadays in a horror film as much I mean, you still had nudity, but back in the 80s and into the 90s nudity in horror films was a really big thing It was very acceptable. Everyone really liked it. It was just a different time Nowadays that's not really happening. So, um, I just thought that like Linnea Quigley What a trooper to go along with that role and put herself in that position because there are a lot of people who wouldn't and I believe I had heard On a podcast where she was being interviewed as a Mick Garris's post mortem podcast That her mom like vehemently was like don't do this But she ended up doing it anyway. So Or actually, I think she was also saying that the there was someone else who's offered that Role and their mother found out about the role and was just like, oh, you're definitely not doing this. So You know big ups to her for You know Being bold being bold to do it I'm not sure I could have uh, so this Like I was saying before like the fact that there was a lot of new stuff that came up with zombies The other big thing was the the eating of brains. This is the film that marked uh, the incorporation into the zombie Genre the idea of them needing to eat brains and even further I really like the fact that they kind of developed the zombies as being Not quite sympathetic But like a little bit sympathetic because when they find out when the one the half one is strapped to the the um Embalming table basically says we eat brains because we're in pain like it hurts And Eating brains is the only thing that that relieves that pain. It's interesting because We're in a lot of other um, zombie films, especially prior to this one. You don't get that Understanding it's just kind of here are the evil things and they're just evil. Like that's just how it is They're they're reanimated And they they can't really think so much. They're just like primal now and they just eat they just eat flesh And that is the thing before they just ate flesh So this is where the brain things started and I just like that they had a reasoning behind it It's a an additional level of development in the story that I really appreciated so that uh Fun mix of horror and comedy already went over that The the feelings of the zombies being brought into it just talked about that Uh, I liked this the zombie food delivery service in this film basically where they Because they could talk which I at first was like, I don't know how I feel about the zombies talking But it ended up being incorporated very well Uh, that ended up going very very well for me because I loved every time they were like Send more paramedics or more cops and they just kept coming paramedics cops And you just see them get out of their cars and then mobbed by the zombies and it literally was Delivery food delivery for the zombies. That's exactly what they're doing And I I don't know if it was intentionally thought of as that But that's how I viewed it and I thought that was an additional level of comedy to it for that reason And I appreciated it. It was fun And then the last thing I have written down here is that The soundtrack I think I talked about this a little bit, but the soundtrack really helped to keep it fun Like I was saying like the mix of horror and the mix of comedy Um It sometimes actually needs a little bit of help and the soundtrack really did help with that The stuff that was not like actual punk music that was just more instrumental Was a good mix of like dread and kind of like campy Uh kitschy horror music and it just kind of like set the tone for you let you know like hey It's there's dread in here and there's horror, but it's also Very much kind of light and you should laugh a little bit and just have a good time so anyway I don't want to make this like a half an hour or anything like that But those were all my feelings that I had that I wrote down And overall like I said, I'm going to give it a star rating out of five I would give this four out of five stars Um It's not a perfect film obviously, but it is quite good and considering what it is and what it was going for. I think they Accomplished a lot of it. I think they accomplished so much and I'm glad I finally saw this film. So thank you uncle Pete for recommending it and I'm happy Well, I have to see what uh, if anyone makes any recommendations coming up that I haven't seen I'll still rewatch stuff that I have seen if you're putting it in the comments and you subscribe And you say hey, could you do a review on whatever? But no that when you ask for that it might take a week or two for me to get it done because I use um netflix dvd service So they have a really good selection. That's why I still do that I do the streaming obviously and I also do like the shutter streaming service But the thing is I keep the dvd option for netflix because their library is very good Because there's a lot of stuff that's not on blue right now Or not on streaming services because streaming services are very limited So I just like to have that continual option of getting older stuff through dvd option And that's how I got the return of the living dead because it wasn't available on any streaming services. So Yeah, and I don't own it, but maybe I should now anyway But just know that if you make a recommendation it might take a little bit for me to get it because I have to Get rid of whatever dvd. I have right now You know get the other one sent to me all that jazz, but Thank you for checking this video out once again. Thank you uncle peed. Hope you're happy with this review Please comment down here and let me know how you feel about it And just in general like give a little bit of your own review on it If you want to do a video in response to this and give your full review That would actually be awesome And if you do let me know because I would enjoy that I'd watch it But everyone please hit the subscribe takes you literally a second can be very helpful And especially if you're going to recommend a movie for a review Put it down there hit the subscribe also just comments in general likes are fun I don't think it really does anything, but it's fun Like hitting that But anyway, thank you everyone for checking this out And until next time keep it brutal range