THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 1984

In the mid eighties cinema attendances were in decline, partly due to indifference and partly due to the event of the VCR. This left studio execs in a bit of a quandary as the only people going to the cinema with any frequency were adolescent teens hopeful of a bit of a feel in the back row. There was little point at throwing good money at worthy movies so they settled for cheap, mostly second rate, Teen Slasher flicks to draw the crowds. This, they recognised, would also offer a second bite of the cash cow when the movies eventually made their way onto VHS.

Thankfully, for those of us who couldn’t even get a date with the fat bird from Dairy Queen, not all of these movies were bad. And some, The Return Of The Living Dead included, were little gems in amongst the cow shit.

The Return Of The Living Dead is a vague homage to The Night Of The Living Dead and spawned one of the best horror movies of the decade RE-ANIMATOR (1985).

Centering itself on a group of attractive adolescents (one of whom gets her kit off just in time to be eaten alive), a medical supply warehouse & a crematorium The Return Of The Living Dead uses all manner of, now very dated, special effects to raise the inhabitants of a nearby grave yard from their slumber with predictable consequences. What is unexpected though is the sheer amount of slapstick and genuinely funny one liners that this movie trots out from start to finish.

Twenty five years on it still makes me laugh.