THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985).
Collector's Edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray
Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: Region-Free (UHD), A (BD)
Duration: 91 Minutes
Rating: R
Video: 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Englisg DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono, DTS-HD MA 2.0, DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English subtitles
Director: Dan O'Bannon
Cast: Miguel A. Nuñez Jr., Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, Brian Peck, Clu Gulager, Don Calfa, James Karen, Jewel Shepard, John Philbin, Linnea Quigley
Dan O' Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead (1985) was hands down my VHS horror tape all through high school and beyond. Having grown up on a steady diet of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978) I was primed and ready for this '80s punk rock zombie movie when it landed on VHS with that very cool artwork that caught your eye on the shelf. It had everything a young me needed as a horny teenager who loved horror; plenty of splatter, some tasty black comedy, a nude Linnea Quigley and an awesome 80s punk rock soundtrack featuring The Damned, TSOL, The Cramps, particularly that iconic "Partytime" tune by 45 Grave. The blend of pitch blac humor and gore was unrivaled at the time, and its the rare movie that even comes close nowadays, few can rival this classic. Many a day I would come home from school bummed after a long day of remedial academia and social teen leprosy feeling defeated, but I only needed to toss this on the TV and let the apocalyptic good times wash away my teen aged worries.
The movie opens at the Uneeda Medical Supply warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky as supervisor Frank (James Karen, Poltergeist) shows a new employee named Freddy (Thom Mathews, Return of the Living Dead Part II) around the place, cracking a few jokes before showing him some military drums that were accidentally shipped to the warehouse, which are kept down in the basement. He tells Freddy that the events from the movie Night of the Living Dead were based on reality, that inside the drums are reanimated corpses that were brought back to life during a military experiment gone wrong. While showing the newbie the drums Frank accidentally breaks the seal on the container and unleashes the toxic gas inside, and the two are knocked unconscious and awaken a short time later feeling ill after having been contaminated.
Returning to the main floor of the warehouse they are startled to find that a cadaver stored in the walk-in freezer has been reanimated. Frank reluctantly call the warehouse owner Burt Wilson (Clu Gulager, The Initiation) to help come assist with the bizarre situation. All three are panicked by the events and end up beheading the yellow-skinned cadaver with a hacksaw after pinning it's head to the ground with a pick-axe. The cadaver however refuses to die, causing the three men to dismember the cadaver, placing the parts in garbage bags. Now what to do about those reanimated body parts in the bags? The three men take the parts to the mortuary next door where the mortician Ernie (Don Calfa, Foul Play) hears the strange story. Calfa is fantastic as the mortician, who may be a Nazi in hiding based on his name and some visual clues dropped in the movie. After a bit of convincing Ernie lets them dispose of the reanimated body parts in the mortuary incinerator, but the toxic chemicals contaminate the air, reanimating hundreds of corpses buried beneath the ground in the cemetery next door.
Meanwhile Freddy's punk rocker friends having learned that he has a new job have decided to pick him up at the warehouse. We have Freddy's girlfriend Tina (Beverly Randolph, Sacred Grounds: Forbidden), Suicide (Mark Venturini, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), Spider (Miguel Nunez, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning), Trash (Linnea Quigley, Nightmare Sisters), Scuz (Bran Peck, The Last American Virgin), party girl Casey (Jewel Shepherd, Christina), and new waver Chuck (John Philbin, Children of the Corn). They arrive at the cemetery next to the warehouse to wait for Freddy. As the sun sets pun girl Trash strips off her close and does an erotic nude dance atop a grave stone. When it begins to rain the toxic tainted smoke from the mortuary mixes with the rain and soon the dead are rising and begin munching on punk rockers.
The zombies from The Return of the Living Dead were way ahead of their time, they were fast, they were somewhat intelligent, and they even spoke rudimentary words. This is the movie that set the precedent that zombies eat brain, before this movie you didn't have kids on Halloween shambling around in zombie make-up moaning "braaaaaains", which is mighty impressive. In a scene the living interrogate one of the zombies, asking it why they're eating brains, the dessicated corpse responds to "ease the pain of death", which is both chilling and fascinating, it actually rattled me as a kid, what a terrifying tbought. Of course I have to mention the Tarman, one of the greatest zombie creations ever put onscreen, my hats goes off to special effects creators William Munns, Tony Gardner, Kenny Myers And Craig Caton-Largnet who did some awesome practical effects work on the movie, and their work still holds up under contemporary scrutiny.
There's so much to love about this movie, which was the first movie directed by Dan O'Bannon, who was already known for writing the screenplays for Alien, the cult-classic Dead And Buried and the sci-fi horror epic Lifeforce. It is a bit surprising that he was able to knock this out of the park with his directorial debut, but he did it, this is a classic horror-comedy that in my mind is still unrivaled. A lot of the movies success is pinned on the great casting beginning with the duo of Thom Mathews and James Karen who have such a great chemistry and vibe well off each other, as does Clu Gulager and Don Calfa, each of their memorable line deliveries is pitch perfect. Then we have the assortment of punk rockers and new wavers, the most iconic for me being the bright-haired Linnea Quigley as Trash who is mostly nude for the duration of the movie, she's death obsessed and horny, and it makes for a fun watch.
Audio/Video: The Return of the Living Dead (1985) arrives on 3-disc 4K Ultra HD + Bu-ray from Scream Factory with a brand new 4K scan from the OCN, as where their 2016 Blu-ray was a 2K scan of the interpostive, and it's a nice upgrade if not a game-changer. Right from the get-go you can see grain is tighter and better managed, details are more textured, and depth and clarity are slightly improved. The biggest difference for me was the addition of the Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grading, The UHD is a tad darker, skin tones look warmer and more natural, and also getting a new scan from the OCN the colors are better saturated and look revived, and the black levels and contrast are more nuanced. Again, the color-grading is certainly improved, but it's not gonna be a wow-factor upgrade for most, but it is an appreciable upgrade with tighter and more nuanced visuals, looking the best it ever has.
No Dolby Atmos upgrade, but we get the same solid set of DTS-HD MA audio options, we have the 2.0 Dual-Mono, 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround with optional English subtitles. I gave all three options a shot and still feel the 2.0 dual-mono is the way to go. To my ears the stereo and surround mixes lack the upfront strength of the mono presentation, the music is too low in each of the non-mono mixes in my opinion, and this is a movie best enjoyed loud! The score and 80's punk rock soundtrack sound fantastic with inclusions from The Cramps, T.S.O.L., Tall Boys and of course the iconic "Party Time" from 45 Grave! Unfortunately we are still missing The Damned’s “Dead Beat Dance”, which still could not be cleared for inclusion on the disc, but otherwise the original audio is as first heard in the theaters when the film played first-run.
On the UHD disc which features the film we get four commentary tracks, first-up is the Audio Commentary with Director Dan O'Bannon And Production Designer William Stout, plus another Audio Commentary with the Cast And Crew Featuring Production Designer William Stout And Actors Don Calfa, Linnea Quigley, Brian Peck, Beverly Randolph, Allan Trautman, and a third Audio Commentary With Gary Smart (Co-author Of The Complete History Of The Return Of The Living Dead) And Chris Griffiths, plus Audio Commentary With Actors Thom Mathews, John Philbin And Make-up Effects Artist Tony Gardner. Oh, and we also get the Zombie Subtitles - In Their Words The Zombies Speak, which is still a super-corny extras.
Onto the Blu-ray we get the feature film in 1080p HD; notably this is the new scan and not a recycled 2016 disc, which is fantastic. Extras on the second disc include the same four audio commentaries, The Zombie Subtitles, plus the 23-min featurette The Decade of Darkness featurette which looks back at 80s horror, containing interviews with directors Joe Dante, John Landis, Stuart Gordon, author John Kenneth Muir, Fangoria's Tony Timpone and actor Bill Mosely with clips from Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Fog, Pumpkinhead, Motel Hell, Dolls, TCM2 and Dressed to Kill. If you're any kind of horror fan this is standard entry level stuff, but again is a nice inclusion. The second disc is buttoned-up with 9-min of Theatrical Trailers, 5-min of TV Spots and Still Galleries with over 100 images of the posters, lobby cards, stills, behind-the-scenes photos, behind-the-scenes photos from special make-up effects Artist Kenny Myers' personal collection.
Onto the third disc, a dedicated Blu-ray chock full of extras, we get more archival bonus junk, starting of with the Return of the Living Dead Work Print which runs about twenty minutes longer that the theatrical cut. It's sourced from a poor-looking VHS source but it is an awesome extra. Other featutettes include The FX Of The Living Dead with Production Designer William Stout, FX Make-up Artists William Munns, Tony Gardner, Kenny Myers And Craig Caton-Largnet, Visual Effects Artists Bret Mixon And Gene Warren Jr. And Actor Brian Peck (Expanded Version) (33 mins), Party Time: The Music Of The Return Of The Living Dead with Music Consultants Budd Carr And Steve Pross And Soundtrack Artists Dinah Cancer (45 Grave), Chris D (The Flesh Eaters), Roky Erickson, Karl Moet (SSQ), Joe Wood (T.S.O.L.), Mark Robertson (Tall Boys) plus Musicians Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks) And John Sox (The F.U.'s, Straw Dogs) (Expanded Version) (30 mins), The Origins Of The Living Dead – An Interview With John A. Russo (15 mins), The Return Of The Living Dead – The Dead Have Risen – Interviews with Cast Members Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Brian Peck, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, Linnea Quigley (21 mins), Designing The Dead – Interviews With Writer/Director Dan O'Bannon And Production Designer William Stout (15 mins), Sean Clark's Horror's Hallowed Grounds which is always a favorite feature of mine. Clark visits a few of the locations used in the movie in Los Angeles including the railroad crossing, General Glover's house, the Uneeda Medical Supply Company, and the Resurrection Cemetery which is now part of the 'burbs. Finishing up the disc appropriately is A Conversation With Dan O'Bannon – His Final Interview (29 mins)
The three-disc set arrives in a black keepcase with a flipper tray housing each disc on it's own hub. It comes with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork which is also featured on the slipcover. Each of the disc have their own unique artwork featuring scenes from the film.
Special Features:
DISC 1 – (Feature Film – 4K UHD)
- NEW 2022 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative
- In Dolby Vision (HDR 10 Compatible)
- DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0
- Audio Commentary With Gary Smart (Co-author Of The Complete History Of The Return Of The Living Dead) And Chris Griffiths
- Audio Commentary With Actors Thom Mathews, John Philbin And Make-up Effects Artist Tony Gardner
- Audio Commentary With Director Dan O'Bannon And Production Designer William Stout
- Audio Commentary With The Cast And Crew Featuring Production Designer William Stout And Actors Don Calfa, Linnea Quigley, Brian Peck, Beverly Randolph, And Allan Trautman
- Zombie Subtitles - In Their Words The Zombies Speak
DISC 2 – (Feature Film – Blu-ray)
- 2022 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative- DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 2.0
- Audio Commentary With Gary Smart (Co-author Of The Complete History Of The Return Of The Living Dead) And Chris Griffiths
- Audio Commentary With Actors Thom Mathews, John Philbin And Make-up Effects Artist Tony Gardner- Audio Commentary With Director Dan O'Bannon And Production Designer William Stout
- Audio Commentary With The Cast And Crew Featuring Production Designer William Stout And Actors Don Calfa, Linnea Quigley, Brian Peck, Beverly Randolph, And Allan Trautman
- The Decade Of Darkness - Featurette On '80s Horror Films (23 min)
- Theatrical Trailers (9 min)
- TV Spots
– Still Galleries: Posters, Lobby Cards, Movie Stills And Behind-The-Scenes Photos (88 Images)
- Still Galleries: Behind-The-Scenes Photos From Special Make-up Effects Artist Kenny Myers' Personal Collection (25 Images)
DISC 3 – (Special Features – Blu-ray)
- The Return Of The Living Dead Workprint - Includes 20 minutes Of Additional Footage (In Standard Definition) (118 min)
- More Brains: A Return To The Living Dead - The Definitive Documentary On The Return Of The Living Dead (120 min)
- The FX Of The Return Living Dead - With Production Designer William Stout, FX Make-up Artists William Munns, Tony Gardner, Kenny Myers And Craig Caton-Largnet, Visual Effects Artists Bret Mixon And Gene Warren Jr., And Actor Brian Peck (Expanded Version) (33 min)
- Party Time: The Music Of The Return Of The Living Dead - With Music Consultants Budd Carr And Steve Pross And Soundtrack Artists Plus Musicians (Expanded Version) (30 min)
- The Origins Of The Living Dead - An Interview With John A. Russo (15 min)
- The Return Of The Living Dead: The Dead Have Risen - Interviews With Cast Members Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Brian Peck, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, Linnea Quigley And More… (21 min)
- Designing The Dead - Interviews With Writer/Director Dan O'Bannon And Production Designer William Stout (15 min)
- Horror's Hallowed Grounds - Revisiting The Locations Of The Film (10 min)
- A Conversation With Dan O'Bannon - His Final Interview (29 min)
Scream Factory do excellent work upgrading their previous definitive Collector's Edition Blu-ray of The Return of the Living Dead for UHD with a new 4K scan from the OCN and all the extras from the previous edition - making it...err...even more definitive? ROTLD is an all time favorite, a high-energy punk rock horror-comedy classic that continues to kill me year-after-year. Dan O'Bannon made an instant cult-classic with this one, and in my opinion it only gets better with age - a must-own movie.
Screenshot Comparison:
Top: Scream Factory Blu-ray (2016)
Bottom: Scream Factory Blu-ray (2022)
