Day 295: Return Of The Living Dead

Return Of The Living Dead

Party time! Excellent! Woo-ooo-ooo!

When you say “zombie movie” the average person instinctively think of George Romero and his slew of movies. Horror fans, though, know of another series of zombie movies that have been terrifying movies goers for years. John Russo was a co-writer on Night Of The Living Dead. After Russo and George Romero went their separate ways, Russo kept the rights to any title featuring “Living Dead” and wrote a book titled Return Of The Living Dead. While the movie had essentially nothing to do with the book it was based on, it still served as a good jumping-off point for violence and mayhem.

Return Of The Living Dead is a 1985 zombie horror movie starring Clu Gulager (The Last Picture Show, The Tall Man) as Burt Wilson and Thom Matthews (ER, Return Of The Living Dead Part II) as Freddy. Freddy has just started his new job at the Uneeda medical supply warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky. The foreman Frank (James Karen, Any Given Sunday, Apt Pupil) shows Freddy the ropes when he decides to let him in on a little secret. He explains that the events of the movie Night Of The Living Dead are based on a true story. An experimental gas called 2-4-5 Trioxin escaped from the morgue in a VA hospital in Pittsburgh. The gas reanimated corpses and they had to be contained in giant drums. Due to a military mix-up, Uneeda received the drums, which they kept in the basement for years. Frank takes Freddy down to the basement to look at them and are accidentally hit in the face with gas from the drums, knocking them out. At the same time, Freddy's girlfriend Tina (Beverly Randolph, Underground Entertainment, More Brains!: A Return To The Living Dead) and her friends, a group of punk rockers, head to Uneeda to get Freddy. They have to wait until 10:00 for him to get out, so they break into the shuttered cemetery across the street. Frank and Freddy awake to discover that the corpse inside the drum is missing and that the gas has reanimated a cadaver in a meat locker. When their boss Burt comes, they try to subdue the raging zombie, hitting it in the head with a pick-ax. When that doesn't kill it, they dismember the body, but it keeps moving. They fill garbage bags with the body parts and head across the street to the mortuary run by Ernie Kaltenbrunner (Don Calfa, Bugsy, Weekend At Bernie's). Meanwhile, Tina has gone to Uneeda to find Freddy, but instead discovers the zombie that escaped the drum. She locks herself in a closet as the zombie tries to pry it open, screaming about eating her brains. The punks hear her screams and go to help her and one of them (Suicide) is killed in the rescue. Back at the mortuary, Ernie has cremated the zombie, sending it's ashes into the sky. Acid rain begins to fall, seeping into the ground in the cemetery, reanimating all the corpses. At the same time, both Freddy and Ernie have started to change into zombies themselves. How will the two groups survive against this horde of unkillable zombies with an unending lust for brains? 

"Oh my god! It's Justin Bieber! EEEEEEEE!"

Though it may not be the most well-known zombie movie (by mainstream standards), Return Of The Living Dead has managed to creep it's way into common knowledge. When you see references to zombies eating brains, they're most likely talking about this movie, not any Romero zombie film. Return Of The Living Dead is a fun zombie movie with lots of action and suspense. The movie mixes a lot of comedy into the horror which can be good or bad depending on your preference. It seems that every time the movie starts to focus on horror, they feel the need to crack a few jokes. It's not slapstick comedy, so it's nothing over the top or ridiculous, but it's enough to take the edge off the horror, which is unfortunate. The movie does have some genuinely scary moments like when Ernie speaks to half of a rotting corpse and learns that the zombies eat brains to reduce the pain of being dead. The puppet used in the scene is very creepy and it's eerie whisper-like voice still haunts me. There is a good bit of violence throughout the movie, though not as much explicit gore as you'd expect.

"Do I have zombie breath? I feel like I have zombie breath."

The story is pretty good with the action starting almost immediately. The inclusion of 80's punks to the story adds a fun uniqueness to the film and gives us a full-frontal naked dance scene in a graveyard. Unnecessary, but I won't complain. Director/Writer Dan O'Bannon (Alien, Total Recall) shot some classic scenes such as a horde of zombies swarming police cars as the pull into the cemetery. I do have a few nits to pick with the film, though. Why make the zombies unkillable? This takes the feeling of hope completely out of the film. All other zombie films have a way of killing the zombies, thus giving the characters and the audience a feeling of hope that they will survive. These zombies are also far smarter than the usual undead and they can also speak. The smarter thing, fine, I can deal with it, but how can they speak, especially zombies that are more bones than flesh? We get the iconic “Braaaaaains!” but I still don't like the ability of speech coming from a rotten corpse. Another issue, which may be the biggest, is the movie's inconsistency with bites. One of the punk girls, Trash, is attacked by a group of zombies. Later, she reappears, pale and demonic-looking, as a zombie. Beyond the fact that she is still in one piece despite being engulfed by zombies, why is she a zombie when some of the other punks are bitten? We see the same thing as a bitten police officer becomes a zombie, waving in more cops just to be ambushed by zombies. Consistency would have been nice.

 We're the kids in America!

Return Of The Living Dead is a fun, unique take on the zombie genre that adds it's own creative spin, which has become part of zombie canon. Many punk and metal bands have used sound clips from the movie in the songs. The zombiecore/thrash metal band Send More Paramedics get their name from a scene in the movie where a zombie gets on the radio in an ambulance. There is plenty of suspense, action, and violence to satisfy any horror fan. The acting is good and the directing is spot-on. The zombies look good, especially the more rotten-looking corpses. There are some genuinely scary moments along with comedic ones. The movie does have a few things in it that I didn't like in regards to zombies, such as being unkillable and inconsistencies with biting. If you're a zombie purist, little things like that may get to you. Overall, Return Of The Living Dead is a fun zombie movie and worth going out of your way to watch.

8/10

Day 224: Bruiser

Bruiser

Hey, wasn't this guy in "Dick Tracy"?

It's no secret that I love George Romero's “...of the Dead” series of movies. I even like the new set of “Dead” movies that have come out in the past few years, though not as much as the original trilogy. One of the reasons why I started doing this blog is to watch horror movies that I have always wanted to see, but never had to chance to. Another reason is to see less popular movies by directors I love. Sure, just about everyone knows that George Romero is the father of the zombie genre, but what about his other movies? I previously reviewed one of his non-zombie movies, Monkey Shines and while it wasn't ahmazing, I still enjoyed it for what it was. I might as well check out another Romero movie.

Bruiser is a 2000 horror film written and directed by George Romero (Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead) and starring Jason Flemyng (Snatch, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) as Henry Creedlow. Harry works at a fashion magazine called Bruiser under the abrasive and uncouth owner, Milo Styles (Peter Stomare, Fargo, The Big Lebowski). Henry tries his best to create a happy life with his wife Janine (Nina Garbiras, The Nanny Diaries, You Can Count On Me), despite an unfinished house and not having as much money as he once thought. People have walked on Henry all his life, but he lets things go. Despite his efforts, he goes fairly unnoticed at both work and at home, though he does have a good connection with Rosemary (Leslie Hope, Human Cargo, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Milo's wife. At a party, Rosemary hands Henry a white, featureless mask to paint, but before he can, he spies Janine cheating on him with Milo. That night, he mentions seeing them, but Janine verbally abuses Henry and drives away, eliciting no response from him. The next morning, Henry wakes up to discover that his face has been replaced by the featureless mask from the party. Scared and confused, Henry observes his housekeeper stealing. Rather than letting it go like he used to, Henry kills her in a fit of rage. At the Bruiser office, Milo is caught having sex with Janine by Rosemary. While Milo tries to explain himself to her, Henry confronts Janine. He wraps an extension cord around her neck and throws her out a window. Det. McCleary (Tom Atkins, Creepshow, Escape From New York) investigates her death, believing Henry might be the culprit despite Rosemary being seen at the building. Now a featureless blank slate, Henry is free to express himself and take revenge on those who have wronged him. Henry has lived his life as an anonymous nobody, but now everybody knows that he is a killer. Will Det. McCleary be able to stop him and what will happen to Henry if he completes his revenge?

Joan Rivers in her most convincing role ever

It's no secret that George Romero loves social commentary as it is on full display in Bruiser. The movie brings to mind Arthur Miller's play, “Death Of A Salesman.” Both Willie Lowman and Henry Creedlow are down on their luck with their world's slowly crumbling around them. Even their names are thinly-veiled descriptions of who they are. By replacing the main characters face, Romero allows the audience to project whatever they want on to the main character, but it will most likely be their own face. Doing so provides both satisfaction and disgust as we, the audience, may want to gain revenge, but acknowledge that we can never lose control. It's this loss of control that is scary, far scarier than anything else in the movie. Somewhere along the line, the movie forgets to be a horror film and focuses more on the revenge fantasy. I mean, the poster says “Meet the new face of terror” but there is no real terror to speak of in the movie, unless we're getting abstract. While I understand the significance of having Henry work at a modelling magazine, it seemed out of place for a movie in the year 2000. That type of setting would fit better for the 80's or even early 90's.

Jason Flemyng was a good choice for his role as he is fairly nondescript without a lot of face or name recognition. His soft, monotone voice is perfect for the role, making him all the more creepier. Peter Stomare is purposely over the top, but is almost to wild to believe. Tom Atkins plays his part well enough, but I feel like Romero was trying to go with an old-school film noir style with his character. Det. McCleary says “dame” so many times I expect him to be in black and white. There is also a cameo towards the end by the legendary horror punk band, The Misfits. They contributed songs to the soundtrack and appeared in the movie in exchange for Romero directing a video for their song “Scream”. The movie has plenty of Romero touches with it's bleak outlook and showcase of ugly people. The ending is a bit disappointing with no real lessons learned. It was far too simple for a movie with complicated social commentary. The movie does drag a bit in-between killings, which should have been more plentiful. There is some blood and violence, but there really should have been more of it, just to show how far Henry has changed from mild-mannered to bloodthirsty lunatic. 

Famous Monsters

Bruiser is a clever movie with smart social commentary. The action is limited, despite focuses on revenge. The movie needed a lot more blood and gore than was provided. Even though it was billed as a horror movie, there isn't much horror and no scary scenes. Romero does a good job of bringing his brand of storytelling to the screen, though some of the dialogue and characters are too over-the-top. Jason Flemyng is very good in his role and the makeup used for his blank face looks very good, allowing him to emote properly without much room for actual expression. Though not as good as his zombie movies, George Romero still manages to make Bruiser entertaining for what it is.

6.5/10