I figured why the hell not do it now? Two classic zombie movies from the 80s. Honestly, some strangely interesting ones at that. I will point out many interesting stuff that not a lot of people knows. More likely might've noticed that's it at best.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
A little legal history to help some confusion. Yes this is important I dive into this before I even discussed the zombie movie. Following the release of Night of the Living Dead (1968 version). George A. Romero had a disagreement with writer John A. Russo.
This actually went to court with the judge ruling. Romero has claim of Dead in future zombie movie titles while Russo ended up with Living Dead. Russo wrote a book called The Return of the Living Dead. The book was officially a follow up to Night of the Living Dead book he's written.
The actual movies has no real relationships to Romero's Dead series. Russo actually appeared in Night of the Living Dead movie as well. I know some of that was a little confusing to follow. To clarify, only through the books written by Russo the two franchises are connected.
The Return of the Living Dead is still among the craziest zombie movies I ever seen!!! Yes this was the zombie franchise widely known for zombies saying Brains!!! Two employees by accident caused gas from a container to leak infecting both of them.
This led to some dead bodies within where they work to become zombies. There's some amazing looking zombies in this movie including Tar Man. Along with their boss works with some punks to attempt surviving the undead.
These are surprisingly smart zombies as shown in a few scenes. We actually see an handful of them tricking emergency personal to come out. The biggest being a lot of police cars swarmed by a huge horde of zombies!!!
No these zombies won't die if you attempt destroying their brains. The only two things that killed them were burning them to ashes or later getting nuked. Yes there's an actual nuclear missile in the movie!!! The ending is among the most wtf endings in anything zombies I ever seen!!!
A medicine supply boss called the military. He gets tricked into believing him with a small group of people going to be saved. Nope it turns out they send a nuke to wipe out everyone!!! The rain is a notable factor because every major zombie death led to the gases going air bound.
Suddenly following getting nuked, the undead following a rain are rising once again. It's also important to mention among the many characters was an actress. Who at the time was a stripper that agreed to be in the movie.
It's quite obvious which one with a famous strip scene. The Return of the Living Dead plays a bit on dark humor like Evil Dead series. Honestly, the movie held up amazingly well. I wish I could say the horror movie franchise you could check out.
I will say this it's a vastly different take on the concept. A rather ridiculous one at that instantly sticking with you for a long time. There's great kill scenes in the movie. I actually felt everyone acted quite in the movie.
Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
A bit of a loose sequel to the original zombie movie. A military personal didn't notice one of the containers fell off the truck. This container gets found by a few kids. Two of them against many red flags opened up that container to end up becoming infected themselves.
You can tell they attempted to tone the movie down a little bit. It still ended up being a decent zombie movie. The main protagonist is a little boy who tried to warn his older sister about the zombies. There's a few characters that isn't bright.
Two of them were played by two actors from the original zombie movie. James Karen and Thom Matthews were part of a deal. It turns out the Japanese audience loved their performance in the original movie.
To the point, they had to come back as other characters now being grave robbers. Obviously no one survived the original movie making that a bit weird. Just like that movie, Matthews' character has a girlfriend.
He wasn't happy being part of this entry at all. Personally I liked him best as Tommy Jarvis in Friday the 13th Part VI. His girlfriend in the movie Brenda played by actress Suzzanne Snyder. She survived against the klowns but not against zombies.
She started in Killer Knowns from Outer Space as Debbie the same year!!! Even she would agree Debbie was smarter than Brenda. Just like the original zombie movie, the duo gets infected by breathing in the gas while grave robbing.
I actually some of my favorite zombie looks is in this movie. Yes that also includes the short Thriller Michael Jackson zombie as well. What actually kills the zombies is getting shocked by electricity. Yes this is what stops majority of the undead leading to a rather cool huge death scene.
I also felt this one successfully ended the zombies properly. This also doesn't feel rushed with a few years gap. I do think removing an handful of characters would've made the movie a little bit better. One of the bullies attempts taking out the kid a few times.
There's some rememberable scenes with some being rather unexpected. Like the unfortunate pet shop scene or watching a single zombie trying to find the kid. The same zombie gets shot as well as hit with steam still going!!!
The military was focus keeping whoever in the city inside it's radius. Although some of the soldiers gets overwhelmed by the undead. This is more of a weird zombie movie that just works. It doesn't quite feel like a sequel to the original movie.
In comparison, it's the only sequel to feel like one to me. Return of the Living Dead 3 might get a possible revisiting in the near future. I will say this is a well written horror movie. I actually felt the main group was among the best in the series.
This might not feel as 80s as the first zombie movie. But it still was a rather nice addition. Some might view their stories being a bit too similar. I could agree with two shared actors whose virtually playing the same characters twice situation.
It's hard to say which zombie movie had more actual zombies off hand. At least in the big kill scene we see most of them getting fried. The zombies aren't as smart as in the first zombie movie. I still say among the best sequels within a zombie movie franchises I ever seen!!!
Return of the Living Dead Part II is more about the story. Some situations could've been easily prevented. But being a horror movie that would've been a bit boring. This also held up amazingly well in it's own right.
Conclusion
I don't plan to revisit all the movies. I just wanted to rewatch the first two entries. Despite internet kept going out, I still had a lot of fun rewatching them. Two amazing zombie movies that I highly recommend to people.
Honestly, two rather unusual zombie movies that quickly differ themselves from anything else zombies. I know more people talks about the original. But a lot of people still heavily remembered Part II. This also would be the prefer where to stop before things goes down in quality.
I will confirm I don't view Return of the Living Dead 3 as a bad zombie movie. But the two following zombie movies avoid at all costs!!! Depending on your taste differs which zombie movie you may like more?
Personally I do prefer the original a little bit more. I felt most of the characters were better written. How some of the story plays out is a bit more chaotic. The ending just stands out by itself. I felt Part II had some of my favorite moments without question.
Yes the duo do become zombies with a slightly different ending to their stories. Thom gets nuked then later shocked. Karen does himself in by cremating himself then later shocked. I still haven't seen anything like that with one notable exception being Return of the Living Dead 3.
You really can't go wrong with either zombie movie. The original zombie movie is among the most ridiculous. Part II was a surprisingly decent follow up that had it's own strengths. To me, the last truly decent entry in the series.
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