- Year
- 1985
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 91 min
- Director
- Dan O'Bannon
- Updated
- 9 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.
Trailer
The numbers
Nobody has rated this yet. Be the first to make a claim you'll have to defend.
Your call
Where to watch
Legal options in USA
Links open in a new tab (↗). Availability data via TMDB and changes constantly, so confirm on the service. Legal options only. Checked 9 Aug 2026. All options ↗
Discuss with AI
Open a chatbot with a question about this film already typed out. Useful for a second opinion, plot detail, or where to find a copy.
Filed alongside
▶ watchobscureBoardinghouse
The first shot-on-video horror feature, blown up to 35mm and just as ugly as that sounds.
▶ watchobscureSeeding of a Ghost
Ninety minutes of restrained Shaw revenge, then twenty of rotting-corpse insanity.
cultMystics in Bali
The Indonesian one everybody means: a flying witch's head, viscera trailing, hunting in the dark.
▶ watchcultSugar Hill
Revenge via Haitian zombies. The best of the blaxploitation horror crossovers.
▶ watchcultThe Wizard of Gore
A stage magician whose tricks are real. Lewis's most interesting idea.
▶ watchcultMessiah of Evil
Made by the couple who then wrote American Graffiti. A nightmare that never explains itself.