Kelly WandReturn Of The Living Dead
December 1st 2006 06:15
Dan O’Bannon began his career with the script of John Carpenter’s “Dark Star”. Whilst that film didn’t set the world on fire commercially, it did become a bit of a cult classic with more than a bit of a whiff of dope smoke clinging to it. O’Bannon presumably returned to a darkened room, smoked some more and planned his next script whilst watching television.
Somehow, after watching “It! The Terror From Beyond Space”, he got the idea for “Alien.” Taking the former’s stupid plot and playing it straight, he managed to get a mob of Hollywood producers interested in the latter. Whilst this gang included Walter Hill, he wasn’t that interested in directing the script. He had a reputation to consider. Instead they managed to convince Ridley Scott to do it and he took the material very seriously. “Alien” is admirable because it plays it totally straight but, in someone else’s hands it could have been a very different film indeed. However, O’Bannon suddenly looked like a writer you could take seriously and it probably surprised him more than anybody.
His forte was not original thought. He wrote the script for “Total Recall” and the unjustly forgotten “Lifeforce” from source material by Phillip K Dick and Colin Wilson respectively. When it came time to make his directorial debut, I suspect he broke out a couple of special cigarettes as he opted to write a kind of unofficial sequel/spoof of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead.”
According to O’Bannon, Romero’s film was based on a true story that they just changed a bit so they wouldn’t get into trouble. It seems the military had invented a chemical that had had the unfortunate side effect of bringing the dead back to life. If that wasn’t bad enough, these reanimated corpses had a need to feast upon living human brains and they weren’t particularly shy about expressing that need.
Unable to kill the dead, the army rounded them up and stuck them in large tin cans. Snafu is an American army term derived from the expression “Situation Normal: All fucked up.” One such snafu has ensured that one of these tin cans has found its way to a warehouse where all those bodies who donate themselves to science end up. Oh, I forgot. That facility is next to a cemetery. You just know that before somebody has the chance to say “zombie holocaust” there will be a zombie holocaust.
A group of punks goes to meet their friend who has just started work in the corpse warehouse. Being punks, they have absolutely no idea what time it is so they go wait for him in the cemetery. It is a good excuse to have a picnic/piss up and fantasise about being dead. The zombies are also going to need people to chase around and eat and, lets be realistic, the only people who actually hang around graveyards are punks having a piss up.
Everything went right with this one. The special effects were top of the range and the use of songs by The Cramps, The Damned and Roky Erikson in the soundtrack helped fill cinemas with trojan haircuts and safety pins. “Rude Boy” and “The Great Rock and Roll Swindle” may have been the flicks that thought they were punk rock movies but this dumb arse tale of punks picnicing in a zombie filled cemetery seemed far closer to real life. Besides, it had Linnea Quigley in it and as soon as someone starts erecting statues in honour of that woman, the closer we’ll be to an enlightened era of world peace.
Mixing humour and horror was a fairly new idea back then. I remember going to see Evil Dead 2 with a bunch of friends and complaints were made to the management because we were laughing. “Return of the Living Dead” got the mix just right. Riffing off of the absurdity of the story line, the humour actually helps us suspend disbelief.
“It’s not working.”
“It worked in the movie.”
“It’s not working now.”
“Do you mean the movie lied?”
If there was a list of must see horror films, this would have to find a home on that list. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for “Return of the Living Dead 2”. The use of poodle metal instead of punk on the soundtrack doesn’t help matters but that is no reason to condemn a film to the pit. Having an eight year old as your central hero will never help your cause in a horror film but I’m sure that doesn’t have to guarantee a film will suck.
Going for jokes and forgetting about the scares is a really dumb idea but when the jokes are so pathetically lame it is really inexcusable. This film looked like it was actually inspired by someone who had seen Michael Jackson’s Thriller video and thought that was what a zombie film should be like. Come to think of it, it isn’t even that good!
O’Bannon had nothing to do with this second film. Actually, scanning the credits, I can’t really see any one who did. The rights were probably just sold off in a job lot when Hemdale films went into receivership.
Bizarrely, however, the film does share a few cast members with the original film and they have to “re-imagine” their previous roles. The one good joke in the entire film arrives when one of these unfortunates realises he has a terrible feeling of deja vu. It’s a shame but so had the audience. Only it was better the first time.
Thankfully, just when you thought the franchise was dead, someone handed Brian Yuzna control of a third sequel. Despite being the producer of “Re-animator”, he took a gamble and played it straight. Adding a Romeo and Juliet sub plot that didn’t just cross the tracks but also the grave, he pulled the series back from the brink of cliche.
Clearly the phrase “low budget” was on everyone’s lips but, rather than remaking the same old scenes badly it boldly stepped straight out onto video. We still have a corrupt and incompetent military, barrels of zombies and some gruesome special effects. “Return of the Living Dead 3” is well worth a visit to the bargain bin.
Somehow, after watching “It! The Terror From Beyond Space”, he got the idea for “Alien.” Taking the former’s stupid plot and playing it straight, he managed to get a mob of Hollywood producers interested in the latter. Whilst this gang included Walter Hill, he wasn’t that interested in directing the script. He had a reputation to consider. Instead they managed to convince Ridley Scott to do it and he took the material very seriously. “Alien” is admirable because it plays it totally straight but, in someone else’s hands it could have been a very different film indeed. However, O’Bannon suddenly looked like a writer you could take seriously and it probably surprised him more than anybody.
His forte was not original thought. He wrote the script for “Total Recall” and the unjustly forgotten “Lifeforce” from source material by Phillip K Dick and Colin Wilson respectively. When it came time to make his directorial debut, I suspect he broke out a couple of special cigarettes as he opted to write a kind of unofficial sequel/spoof of George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead.”
According to O’Bannon, Romero’s film was based on a true story that they just changed a bit so they wouldn’t get into trouble. It seems the military had invented a chemical that had had the unfortunate side effect of bringing the dead back to life. If that wasn’t bad enough, these reanimated corpses had a need to feast upon living human brains and they weren’t particularly shy about expressing that need.
Unable to kill the dead, the army rounded them up and stuck them in large tin cans. Snafu is an American army term derived from the expression “Situation Normal: All fucked up.” One such snafu has ensured that one of these tin cans has found its way to a warehouse where all those bodies who donate themselves to science end up. Oh, I forgot. That facility is next to a cemetery. You just know that before somebody has the chance to say “zombie holocaust” there will be a zombie holocaust.
A group of punks goes to meet their friend who has just started work in the corpse warehouse. Being punks, they have absolutely no idea what time it is so they go wait for him in the cemetery. It is a good excuse to have a picnic/piss up and fantasise about being dead. The zombies are also going to need people to chase around and eat and, lets be realistic, the only people who actually hang around graveyards are punks having a piss up.
Everything went right with this one. The special effects were top of the range and the use of songs by The Cramps, The Damned and Roky Erikson in the soundtrack helped fill cinemas with trojan haircuts and safety pins. “Rude Boy” and “The Great Rock and Roll Swindle” may have been the flicks that thought they were punk rock movies but this dumb arse tale of punks picnicing in a zombie filled cemetery seemed far closer to real life. Besides, it had Linnea Quigley in it and as soon as someone starts erecting statues in honour of that woman, the closer we’ll be to an enlightened era of world peace.
Mixing humour and horror was a fairly new idea back then. I remember going to see Evil Dead 2 with a bunch of friends and complaints were made to the management because we were laughing. “Return of the Living Dead” got the mix just right. Riffing off of the absurdity of the story line, the humour actually helps us suspend disbelief.
“It’s not working.”
“It worked in the movie.”
“It’s not working now.”
“Do you mean the movie lied?”
If there was a list of must see horror films, this would have to find a home on that list. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for “Return of the Living Dead 2”. The use of poodle metal instead of punk on the soundtrack doesn’t help matters but that is no reason to condemn a film to the pit. Having an eight year old as your central hero will never help your cause in a horror film but I’m sure that doesn’t have to guarantee a film will suck.
Going for jokes and forgetting about the scares is a really dumb idea but when the jokes are so pathetically lame it is really inexcusable. This film looked like it was actually inspired by someone who had seen Michael Jackson’s Thriller video and thought that was what a zombie film should be like. Come to think of it, it isn’t even that good!
O’Bannon had nothing to do with this second film. Actually, scanning the credits, I can’t really see any one who did. The rights were probably just sold off in a job lot when Hemdale films went into receivership.
Bizarrely, however, the film does share a few cast members with the original film and they have to “re-imagine” their previous roles. The one good joke in the entire film arrives when one of these unfortunates realises he has a terrible feeling of deja vu. It’s a shame but so had the audience. Only it was better the first time.
Thankfully, just when you thought the franchise was dead, someone handed Brian Yuzna control of a third sequel. Despite being the producer of “Re-animator”, he took a gamble and played it straight. Adding a Romeo and Juliet sub plot that didn’t just cross the tracks but also the grave, he pulled the series back from the brink of cliche.
Clearly the phrase “low budget” was on everyone’s lips but, rather than remaking the same old scenes badly it boldly stepped straight out onto video. We still have a corrupt and incompetent military, barrels of zombies and some gruesome special effects. “Return of the Living Dead 3” is well worth a visit to the bargain bin.
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