---
title: "The Return of the Living Dead"
year: 1985
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-return-of-the-living-dead"
fi1m_id: "the-return-of-the-living-dead"
imdb_id: "tt0089907"
tmdb_id: 10925
wikidata_id: "Q1475119"
fi1m_score: 79
critics_score: 75
critics_reviews: 7
published: "2026-10-07T04:31:28.003760+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T04:31:47.275398+00:00"
region: "MY"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Directed by Dan O'Bannon · 1h 31m · Comedy, Horror, Science Fiction

## Identity

The Return of the Living Dead

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-return-of-the-living-dead
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-return-of-the-living-dead
- **IMDb ID:** tt0089907
- **TMDB ID:** 10925
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1475119
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089907/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10925, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1475119

**Fi1m score: 79** · Critics 75 from 7 reviews

*In a sentence:* The dead want brains and nobody in Louisville has any to spare

> Dan O’Bannon’s zombie comedy is cheap, loud and quicker on its feet than anything the genre had managed. James Karen and Clu Gulager carry the first half; the punks in the cemetery nearly sink the second. Worth your evening, with the sound up.

## Synopsis

Louisville, Kentucky, the summer of 1984. Frank (James Karen), foreman at a medical supply warehouse, shows the new boy Freddy (Thom Mathews) what is in the basement: army drums holding corpses preserved in a gas called Trioxin, which Frank insists are the real story behind *Night of the Living Dead*. He slaps one to prove it is safe. The seal fails, the gas gets out, and everything dead in the building, including a halved dog, starts moving. Burt (Clu Gulager), the owner, is called in and decides to take the body next door to Ernie (Don Calfa), the mortician, and burn it. In the cemetery nearby, Freddy’s friends, among them Trash (Linnea Quigley) and Spider (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), wait for his shift to end, and the sky begins to cloud over.

## Review

Dan O’Bannon wrote [*Alien*](https://film.one/film/alien), and here directs a zombie film that opens by claiming [*Night of the Living Dead*](https://film.one/film/night-of-the-living-dead) was a cover story. The real dead, Frank (James Karen) tells the new boy at the Louisville medical supply warehouse, were sealed in army drums after a chemical accident and sent to the wrong address, and they are in the basement. John A. Russo and Russell Streiner, who worked on the 1968 original, share the story credit, so the joke is made with permission. What follows is cheap, loud and quicker on its feet than most comedies of its decade, and we recommend it to anyone who can watch a dog cut in half and still breathing. It runs 91 minutes and wastes few of them.

The first half belongs to three middle-aged men. Karen plays Frank as a foreman who has waited years for someone to show off to, and he slaps the drum to prove it is safe with the confidence of a man who has never been wrong. Clu Gulager’s Burt, the owner, arrives to find a corpse that will not stop moving and treats it as a matter of liability rather than theology. Don Calfa’s Ernie, the mortician next door, listens to German marches through headphones and agrees to burn the body as a favour between tradesmen. The three of them arguing over which end to saw first is the best stretch of the film.

William Stout’s production design keeps everything on the same shabby level: a warehouse of cardboard boxes and split skeletons, drums stencilled with army warnings, a funeral home with a well-used furnace, and a cemetery of flat headstones under orange light. Jules Brenner shoots it flat and bright, fluorescent indoors, like a television film of its decade. Budget, probably, but it suits men in overalls dealing with the end of the world on an evening shift. Robert Gordon cuts between the warehouse and the cemetery, where Freddy’s friends are waiting for him, so that neither story has time to look as thin as it is. Matt Clifford’s score is cheap synthesiser, and the punk songs carry the cemetery scenes when nothing else does.

We laughed, a lot, at the first half, and then the film pulled a trick we did not expect. There is a scene in the mortuary where a dead woman, strapped to a table, explains in a level voice why the dead eat brains, and the film goes quiet while she does it. We stopped laughing. O’Bannon’s zombies run, think, lie on the radio and cannot be stopped by a shot to the head, and the moment the film makes that clear is the moment it stops being a send-up of Romero and becomes something nastier. The dead here are not slow and sad. They are in pain and they are organised.

The young cast is the problem. Spider (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), Scuz (Brian Peck), Chuck (John Philbin), Casey (Jewel Shepard) and Suicide (Mark Venturini) are written as thinly as they are named, and their stretch sitting around the graveyard waiting for the plot to rain on them is the only time we checked the clock. Linnea Quigley’s Trash takes her clothes off on a tomb for no reason the script supplies. Thom Mathews’s Freddy and Beverly Randolph’s Tina are asked to carry the film’s one scene of real feeling, and neither is up to it. The adults are acting; the kids are being filmed.

Set against the serious zombie films it is poking fun at, this is the one that rewrote the rules and did not care who noticed: the brains, the speed, the dead who talk back. It also has an ending we will not describe, except to say it is abrupt, bleak and earns its 18 certificate twice over. The reviews at the time called the production threadbare, and they were right; it has not mattered.

Watch it late, with the sound up and somebody next to you who has not seen it. Alone on a sofa the cemetery scenes run longer, and the mortuary scene is still what you will remember in the morning.

*Fi1m score 79, published 7 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like it, and the praise lands on the comedy. The reviews describe a fast, gleeful film that breaks the usual zombie rules and enjoys doing so, with the humour, the gore and the lively performances coming up again and again. Several single out the dialogue and the punkish, anything-goes spirit, and the more recent write-ups treat it as a comedy-horror that has lasted well.

The reservations are about brains rather than entrails. Time Out finds the film fun and bloody but short on ideas, and Variety, writing at the time, thinks the opening is funny before a threadbare production and a familiar story let it down, though it credits James Karen’s goofball turn with much of the early comedy. Even an admirer at Empire admits uneven patches. The spread is fairly narrow: nobody dislikes it, the older reviews are cooler than the newer ones, and the one New York Times notice could not be read.

## Straight answers

**Is The Return of the Living Dead worth watching?**

*The Return of the Living Dead* is worth your evening if you can laugh at a halved dog that is still breathing, and we scored it 79. James Karen, Clu Gulager and Don Calfa carry the first half as three tradesmen arguing over a corpse that will not lie still; the punks waiting in the cemetery nearly sink the second. Watch it late, with the sound up.

**How long is The Return of the Living Dead, and what is it rated?**

*The Return of the Living Dead* runs 1h 31m. It is a comedy and horror film.

**Where can I watch The Return of the Living Dead in Malaysia?**

*The Return of the Living Dead* is not on any streaming or rental service in Malaysia at the moment. It is available in 24 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is The Return of the Living Dead, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Return of the Living Dead* is an 18 certificate and not for children: it has a dog cut in half and still moving, zombies who cannot be stopped by a shot to the head, nudity in a cemetery and an abrupt, bleak ending. It plays as comedy for most of its 91 minutes, but a quiet mortuary scene turns nasty, and the squeamish should expect gore throughout.

**How does The Return of the Living Dead compare to Night of the Living Dead?**

*The Return of the Living Dead* is the comedy that claims [*Night of the Living Dead*](https://film.one/film/night-of-the-living-dead) was a cover story, and the two could hardly be more different in tone. Romero's film is cold, straight-faced and still makes us feel unsafe; O'Bannon's is loud, cheap and fast, with dead who run, talk and eat brains. The original is the more frightening film; the later one is the funnier and the more influential on how zombies behave.

### Reviews we read (7)

- **Slant Magazine**, Jeremiah Kipp (4.5/5): Kipp calls this the definitive home-video release of the film. He praises its sharp, detailed 4K image and the extensive extras. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-return-of-the-living-4k-uhd-review-dan-obannon/)
- **Empire**, Chris Hewitt (85/100, inferred): Hewitt calls the film essential, enormous fun, celebrating its gleeful subversion of zombie conventions. He singles out its black comedy, inventive plot turns, and punkish anything-goes spirit, while noting uneven patches. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/return-living-dead-review/)
- **Time Out** (65/100, inferred): The review finds O’Bannon’s zombie romp fun and suitably gory, but held back by a lack of brains. It praises the film’s gore-drenched take on zombie tradition while faulting its ideas. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/the-return-of-the-living-dead)
- **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The URL identifies a New York Times review of the 1985 film. The page content is inaccessible, so its verdict and any specific praise or complaint cannot be verified. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/16/movies/screen-return-of-the-living-dead.html)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (55/100, inferred): The review is mixed, praising the film’s terrifically funny opening while finding the production threadbare and the story familiar. It singles out James Karen’s goofball performance as a key source of the early comedy. [Read](https://variety.com/1984/film/reviews/the-return-of-the-living-dead-1117794424/)
- **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (90/100, inferred): Kermode finds the film hugely entertaining, with real thrills and gore beyond its parody. She praises its exuberant humor and creepy, relentless zombies, calling it a zombie-comedy classic that has stood the test of time. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-return-of-the-living-dead-film-review-by-jennie-kermode)
- **Den of Geek**, Duncan Bowles (85/100, inferred): Bowles celebrates the film as fast-paced, funny, and endlessly entertaining. He particularly praises its lively performances and sharp dialogue, alongside its exuberant gore and unconventional take on zombie rules. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/return-of-the-living-dead-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Dan O'Bannon
- **Director:** Dan O'Bannon
- **Screenplay:** Dan O'Bannon
- **Story:** John A. Russo, Rudy Ricci, Russell Streiner
- **Cinematography:** Jules Brenner
- **Editor:** Robert Gordon
- **Music:** Matt Clifford
- **Production design:** William Stout
- **Producer:** Tom Fox
- **Cast:** Clu Gulager as Burt; James Karen as Frank; Don Calfa as Ernie; Thom Mathews as Freddy; Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Spider; Brian Peck as Scuz; John Philbin as Chuck; Linnea Quigley as Trash
- **Runtime:** 1h 31m
- **First release (Italy):** 25 April 1985
- **Genres:** Comedy, Horror, Science Fiction
- **Budget:** $4 million
- **Box office:** $14 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf8Lenwa984

## Where to watch in Malaysia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Malaysia at the last check.

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IN, IT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PL, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Night of the Living Dead* (1968), Fi1m 88: The straight-faced original this one claims was a cover story; still cold and frightening. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/night-of-the-living-dead.md)
- *Re-Animator* (1985): Same year, same gleeful bad taste, with a severed head doing most of the acting.
- *Braindead* (1992): Peter Jackson’s New Zealand splatter comedy; a lawnmower, a lounge and no restraint at all.
- *Dellamorte Dellamore* (1994): An Italian cemetery caretaker shoots the returning dead and falls in love; strange and melancholy.
- *One Cut of the Dead* (2017): Japanese zombie comedy about making a zombie film; stay past the first forty minutes.

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-return-of-the-living-dead