- Year
- 1985
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 91 min
- Director
- Dan O'Bannon
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- known (18/100)
- Also known as
- Return of the Living Dead I · Return of the Living Dead
The Return of the Living Dead
Punk soundtrack, running zombies, and the film that invented 'BRAINS'.
The zombie comedy that gave the genre its brains obsession. Dan O'Bannon takes the premise sideways: these dead run, talk, and specifically crave brains, released by a military chemical into a Kentucky suburb full of punks. It is fast, funny and mean.
The punk soundtrack, the melting effects and the pitch-black ending mark it as a very 1985 film, and O'Bannon directs his own script with real wit. It runs directly counter to Romero's solemnity, on purpose.
The most purely fun zombie film on this shelf.
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