#18Return of the Living Dead(Dan O’Bannon, 1985)

“I don’t know how to tell you this Ernie, but those things in the bags aren’t weasels…”

The OTHER big horror/comedy classic of 1985, “Return of the Living Dead” is the kind of movie that it’s easy for horror fans to take for granted, but also the kind that I think it deserves more love than it’s possible to give it.

Back when I did a deathblog for Dan O’Bannon last year, I said;

“What can I possibly say about ‘Return of the Living Dead’? For all my love of the strange and wonderful and poetic and obscure in cinema, if you were to feed me enough beer and ask me about the elements that go together to create a GREAT MOVIE (as opposed to a good film), ‘Return..’ is pretty much the dictionary definition. For any Halloween “get drunk and watch movies” type party, it’s always the number one choice, now and forever – satisfaction guaranteed for horror freaks and innocent bystanders alike. Frankly, I think the fact the guy who directed ‘Return..’ died without a long and illustrious string of directing credits to his name speaks very poorly of the human race as a whole.”

And that still stands I think. The banter and three stooges capers of Burt and Frank and Ernie are little short of genius – honestly some of my favourite comic acting in any film. Giving those guys equal screen-time to the identikit dopey teenagers is a masterstroke, but the film’s tongue in cheek fake ‘punks’ are a riot too, a great parody of the kind of ludicrously unlikely ‘teen gangs’ who were routinely rampaging through cheap American movies at the time. O’Bannon’s script is a wonderfully smart piece of work - by all accounts completely reinvented from the straight-laced attempt at an alternative NOTLD sequel submitted by John Russo. O’Bannon’s addition of humour to the mix functions in much the same way it did for Southern & Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” script, opening up the material to endless new freedoms and possibilities for grotesque, self-reflective fun – a comparison perhaps reflected in the welcome introduction of some absurdist cold war satire into proceedings here.

Whilst it may be tons of goofy, drunken fun, “Return..” certainly isn’t stupid, and I think the streak of nasty, pitch black wit running through it (Ernie’s spine-chilling dialogue with the captured zombie, Burt’s final phonecall to the military, the doomed ironic ending) has a lot to do with how well the movie stands up today. Add plentiful, imaginative gore, a genuinely engaging zombie survival showdown, and The Cramps, The Flesh Eaters and Roky Erickson on the soundtrack and I think you’ve got a pretty much perfect rollercoaster of an endlessly rewatchable good time horror movie. For any friends you’ve got who don’t like watching horror movies, I think this is the best one to bring over to try and and show them what they’re missing.

Deathblog: Dan O'Bannon(1946-2009)

I haven’t had much time for writing over the past few days, but thought I owed it to myself to at least get down a few words to mark the passing of Dan O’Bannon, a man who I guess never really quite made the grade as a household name or a big deal auteur, but was nevertheless to be found hovering in the background behind many of the most entertaining and influential sci fi and horror movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s, and, being some hopeless kind of nerd, his name has certainly been lodged in my mind since I was busy watching ‘em all as a teenager.

I’d imagine most obits will have him down as “guy who wrote ‘Alien’ dies”, and whilst I’m sure it was a fine script and all, he gets eternal respect from me for two other projects he was involved with.

Firstly, there’s his directorial debut from 1985, the kind of directorial debut that would have had me writing cheques for a ten picture deal, although sadly things didn’t work out that way, ‘Return of the Living Dead’!

What can I possibly say about ‘Return of the Living Dead’? For all my love of the strange and wonderful and poetic and obscure in cinema, if you were to feed me enough beer and ask me about the elements that go together to create a GREAT MOVIE (as opposed to a good film), ‘Return..’ is pretty much the dictionary definition. For any Halloween “get drunk and watch movies” type party, it’s always the number one choice, now and forever – satisfaction guaranteed for horror freaks and innocent bystanders alike. Frankly, I think the fact the guy who directed ‘Return..’ died without a long and illustrious string of directing credits to his name speaks very poorly of the human race as a whole.



Over a decade before all that, O’Bannon was also co-writer/editor/production designer/actor etc etc. on John Carpenter’s student film turned directorial debut, ‘Dark Star’ (1970/74), a film I love deeply, however much it bored and baffled me as a fourteen year old. For all its obvious debt to ‘2001’, ‘Dark Star’ is a beautifully strange, stoned, dreamlike, funny and affecting thing, the like of which neither of its creators attempted in their subsequent careers.

In fact, however goofy and low budget it may be, I think this might still be the most beautiful ending to a film I’ve ever seen. It gets me every time, and it’s a perfect way to end an obituary post. R.I.P. Dan O’B, hope Benson’s close by.