@@skeletalk Trash was the same she started to die in the car from the extensive about of rain water and ingesting it... her actual death was in the mud(inhaled the mud) in the grave yard she had no boldly injuries meaning the zombies cold not smell her brain as it was dead from a little earlier....
@@kylereese4822 OH thats really clever I love that!!! this movie had completely changed everything I knew about how to deal with this situation because of the rain xD
The idea of Frank throwing himself into the furnace came from the actor, James Karen, himself. He felt that it would add a depth to the character. And he was right. Incidentally, James Karen also played the real estate agent in POLTERGEIST.
And Poltergeist used real corpses in the scene when the corpses float up. They were the corpses of people who donated their bodies to science, and the movie studio bought them, without the families' permission. The families were really angry, and it's totally true.
@@AliceBowieYes perhaps, and no. Pre 1985 India supplied pretty much the whole world with human skeletons used in anatomy classes. And those skeletons were, as far as I understand, mostly the remains of real people. But those skeletons were not from people donating their bodies to science. They did not have that system in India. But they had plenty of unclaimed corpses in the morgues. Still, it's not rocket science to make copies of bones if you have two skeletons to start from. So the claim that they used real human remains because it was cheaper than to make copies isn't a 100% convincing to me. But sadly the death industry is far from spared of rotten eggs making a$$hole moves just to earn a few $.
This is one of the most influential zombie films of all time. This is the first time zombies ever ran, and this where zombies first said "Braiiinnnss!" Also, while being every bit a horror film it is also brilliantly funny and has a banging soundtrack. "You wanna party!!!?" Yes. Yes I do.
A lot of people don't seem to understand the barrels the army put the original zombies in. They figured out there was no way to actually kill them, short of cremation, which as was seen, turns out bad lol. They sealed them in barrels full of the same chemical that reanimated them and they would remain dormant as long as submerged. Also why they spent lots of resources trying to find them and came up with the contingency plan to nuke them.
It's funny. The scene where Trash is dancing nakie on the grave was filmed about 3 times, each time they had to tone it down to what you see in the final cut of the film. The first time they shot it, she wasn't shaven so the studio heads got a good look at the dailies and said no, because they can't show pubic hair or else it would get a much higher rating. So they filmed again and once the studio saw the new scene they freaked out because now that she was groomed down there you could see all her lady parts and so that was a no go. So they opted to make a type of prosthetic that would cover her bits and still allow her to dance around as intended. I mean sure, they could have easily just cut the scene from the movie, but no it was totally necessary for her character arc and also it just proves that any sensible person would do anything to see a hot punk/goth chick dance nudie in a cemetery. It's art and I love it. 😋
@@skeletalkThere's a Tarman in nearly every Return of the Living Dead movie, but I think the original look was the best. The last movie, "Rave to the Grave" really did him rotten. Just had him trying to hitchhike.
I'm one of the ones who brought this up on your AoD video. Glad to see you decided to give it a go. Even though this is a black comedy, it actually always scared me more than any other zombie movie when I was younger. I think it's because of the hopelessness. It seems like there is just no way to win against these sort of zombies. Also the "eggs have hatched" line is just code letting them know it was too late and already spread.
Yeah that sudden realisation that there's nothing that they could do was an absolute smack in the face, set up for an amazing twist of an ending. Thank you for the recommendation it was so worth the watch!
Just creative decisions based more on entertainment than science. For example in space movies like Star Wars you hear ships exploding when in reality space is completely silent because there is no air, but since that wouldn't be any fun they disregard science and we are better for it. Same goes for zombie movies, it's probably and impossibility to reanimate a dead body but you can do anything in a movie.@@dokidaddy1056
The best way to see these zombies is that theyre not just corpses given life. But actual people trapped in their own corpses. In this universe, it's like the soul remains attached to the body and both are just 'switched off' at death. The trioxin gas reactivates the body. So its like their own spirit is possessing their own corpse. But the pain drives them mad. Thats why they scream instead of moan. (Waking up in a coffin burried 6 feet under can't help either.) As the movie says, the only way to dull the pain temporarily is to feed on the electrochemical signals of a live brain.
The producer fired the effects guy who created the skeleton the came out of the grave because he hated that you could see the wires and he thought it was too clean looking which is weird because they used the shot of it coming out of the grave twice. There's a making of/retrospective documentary called More Brains! A Return To the Living Dead from 2011 that comes with most blu-ray copies of the movie.
My favorite zombie movie from the '80's is RE-ANIMATOR. It's based (loosely) on an HP Lovecraft serial novel, it stars Jeffrey Combs in his best role, and the zombies actually make some sense. I recommend highly.
Re-Animator, and Bride of Re-animator,, are def must see. I would also suggest “Dead Alive” (aka Braindead). ..also a favorite and a fun watch. It’s one of Peter Jackson’s first films and it’s pretty iconic. It’s free on TH-cam
In the dvd special features they said that the director wanted the zombie makeup to be inspired by the Mummies of Guanajuato, they also show the concept art of those drawings they came up with during pre production.
The funny thing is there really were skeleton farms in india and the treaty thing was true when the movie was made, which led to some major criticism when people found out through this movie about it and it ended up being stopped. That aside franks question is a good one - where exactly do you get adult skeletons with perfect teeth in india of all places? Seems like he was right to be suspicious about how that came about
I love how Dan O'bannon used real life NotZee Ernst Kaultenbruner(he helped refine the furnaces for more efficiency for the Afrika Corp if I remember right) for his basis for Ernie. The picture of Eva Braun on his desk, his singing of the wartime song for the invasion of France while embalming, and his Walther pistol(the movie has an alternate history where he faked his end). I never caught on til I was older and did the research(ah the innocence of youth) and realized DOB put that much forethought and backstory into the characters. It sure puts a different perspective on why Ernie was so interested in the zombies and their feelings considering his dark past. One of the funniest and scariest movies for me growing up, the unstoppable nature of the zombies and their fast movements makes the terror in this one!
@@KatrulzinWhat was incorrect? Was it the Afrika Corp part? I may have got it wrong on that one and may have Ernst mixed up with Reinhard Heydrich or another monster.
@@joerussell9574 Yes but I'll look into the afrika corp as it does sound interesting just haven't seen anything on the work prints about it pertaining to this movie.
Fun fact, Return was made due to the fact that a Co-writer and producer of the original Night of the Living Dead wasn't happy with the changes and Direction Romero went, not only with Night, but with the later sequels. So he started making his own script. No one would touch it as they saw the guy as a no-body with only one movie credit, mean while by the point he was done with his sequel writing, Romero had at least one if not two sequels out, and were well made. Hence why people avoided it and preferred to agree with Romero's ideas. So the script stuck around the studios but largely got ignored until another script writer got it, updated it, changed so much that they even changed the name to Return of the Living Dead, and finally got the green light. This same mad btw would later on in the early 2000's make his own intended version of Night, using the original bits he wrote, and stayed in the movie, but then adding the bits he intended to be in the movie. As I recall at the time, people thought it was a visual mess, and thought the new bits were boring. So ya, the guy just had zero luck making something on his own.
The guy who rewrote it was Dan O'Bannon, who also directed the film. O'Bannon co-wrote the original Alien as well as Total Recall. He only directed one other film, The Resurrected aka Shatterbrain. It's based on an H P Lovecraft story and is well worth seeing. Unfortunately, O'Bannon suffered from Crohn's disease which became worse under the stress of directing. O'Bannon eventually died from complications due to the disease.
I can't believe everyone missed the fact that Ernie has a Walter PPK, Leather Greatcoat listens to WW2 German Army Marching Music as well as knows how to cremate, dissect and embalm corpses - UM, do I need to say more and is freaked out about Corpses' coming back to life? 😁
Well, I mean if you take a look at Josef Mengele and some of the experiments the Americans found when liberating Buchenwald as well as the Crematorium they had there... Do you understand why I'm going 😱 also the fact that this would terrify Ernie or Ernst as what those corpses would do if infected by the Trioxin to someone who made their life a living hell 😱🫣😳🫢🤮😫😵😵💫
The lost consignment of easter eggs was the code word for the tanks themselves, hence why he said the eggs have "hatched." In case there was anyone listening in. They called them lost because the transportation department got the orders crossed and by the time the Army found out they were missing they couldn't retrace the steps where that department messed up. This is a chemical zombie movie and the chemical was called 2-4-5 Trioxin that was originally used and made as a chemical herbicide for cannabis developed by the Darrow Chemical Company until they worked under contract for the Army to develope the 2-4-5 Trioxin as a chemical warfare agent, but they didn't know it turned people and the dead into zombies until there was a chemical spill at the morgue at the VA military hospital. In the original work print I believe Burt held onto the tanks to see if the military would come and collect them, but once it was silent he didn't call the number on the side of the tank because he wanted to sell it on the black market for millions. Also if you look at the vision test board in the office it spells "Burt is a slave driver." As well as photos of hitler and nazi memorabilia on Ernies wall plus his trench coat revealing he was a nazi that made it to the US during operation paper clip. Which explains why Burt was hoping Ernie would keep a secret because Burt knows Ernie's secret of being a nazi. Lastly, there's speculation that the reason Trash was so misfigured is because in the graveyard she was sharing a joint with Spider and the chemical was originally made to react specifically to cannabis and why her throat was so misfigured in particular from cannabis inhalation, while being in Trioxin saturated mud. (Little side note in the original script Freddy was supposed to take Tina on a date at the red carpet theater, which the irony is the chapel where he turned also had a red carpet down the middle like the theater would have)
It is more deep actually. "Eggs" have been used in several cases as a code. Most noticeably in "Broken Arrow" incidents. It was a common call un until the 70's to use the phrase "We lost an egg" when for example a plane dropped a nuclear bomb by accident. An example is Mars Bluff. O'Bannon knew and used the Egg code as that's a very real military code.
Eggs have for a long time been army code for many things. But most noticeably it has been used several times in "Broken Arrow" incidents when nuclear weapons were lost or dropped by accident. "We lost an egg" was used several times.
@@FezWhatley123 To this day there are 61 registered US Broken Arrow events. Obviously not all including the Egg reference haha. They also used "Laid an egg".
Zombies are a reflection of our inherent agoraphobia and fear of crowds. Anthropology has the concept of a 'monkeysphere', which is the number of people that your mind can process empathetically as human beings. We're neurologically designed for communities of 300-500 people, while at the same time being troop primates and apex predators. A zombie film is essentially about expressing our subconscious anxiety about the thousands of strangers we're exposed to in the course of living in a modern urban society.
The eye chart in the office of the medical supply building says "BURT IS A SLAVE DRIVER AND A CHEAP SON OF A BITCH" 😂 the head of the company is named Burt and his best friend who runs the crematorium is named Ernie And the 2 paramedics who show up first at the morgue are credited as Tom and Jerry 😂
Hi Katie!!! 👋 I'm rewatching this one year after you posted it. When I first saw this film in the theater in 1985, my first thought when the colonel called in the big gun at the end was that it was going to deliver a gas canister that would neutralize the effects of the trioxin. I figured over the intervening years the government developed an antidote to the trioxin gas. Boy, was I wrong about that!!! As soon as I saw the nuke, I was, like, "Oh, shit!!!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The reason eating brains makes the zombies pain go away is because when your body feels pain or stress your brain releases endorphins to block the nerve cells that receive the pain signals.
"Always has to be boobs." Yes. Yes, there do. This is one of the greatest horror comedies ever made. The Tar-Man is one of the best zombies I've ever seen.
Some people say this movie is stupid because the zombies are ridiculously over powered. But that was the whole point of the movie, it's a horror comedy meant to be ridiculous. A good comparison would be the Looney tunes, no matter how much damage they take, including full on explosions, they always survive. This to me is one of the best zombie movies I've ever watched, it did a good job confusing me as a kid on whether or not it was supposed to be funny or scary. The funniest scene for me is when everyone rushes to the closet to grab tools, it's straight out of a cartoon when everyone is trying to cram through one door.
I totally agree, I love how fast paced and silly it is and I can understand that was done on purpose it's super action packed and fun and you never really know what's gonna happen.
That zombie in the barrel was a pretty cool prop. I'm pretty sure they've spent a lot of time trying to prepare the whole scene to work out the first try.
That specific effect was funny enough one of the "easier" effects. That trick was well known at that time, especially after it was used in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I have fond memories of me and my friend crying with laughter at the little zombie behind the ambulance door screaming and stumbling, rewinding the VHS tape back, over and over again. 😅
Yeah. And had James Karen never said it, you'd be none the wiser. At least credit your observations to those who pointed them out. You almost quoted what Karen said.
I first saw this movie not long after it came out when I was about 11 or so, and it gave me existential nightmares for months afterwards. Not necessarily because of the zombies, but because of the idea of the cycle repeating endlessly and the Trioxin compound spreading everywhere until everyone and everything on Earth was rendered a chemically-induced undead creature, perpetually rotting and in unending, undying pain. Which _really is_ a horrifying thought.
My favorite trivia about the movie is that Ernie (the guy who runs the crematorium) was originally meant to be an ex-Nazi who fled Germany to avoid prosecution. If you're interested in looking into it, the clues are still everywhere in the movie though the idea of actually putting it into the plot was scrapped.
He was never meant to be Ernst Kaltenbrenner. He was just meant to be a Germanic man by that name to add to the story. Just one of O'Bannon's oddities.
Thank you, I absolutely love everything about this movie and reaction!!! The reanimated butterfly effect was done just by having a fan blowing at them, lol...
@@skeletalk Yes it's actually Revenge of the Living Dead co-written by Don Cafla who played Ernie in the film. Thanks for your positive reaction to this wonderful film, Don Cafla's version should've been the sequel.
Dan O'Bannon, who wrote and directed this movie, suffered his whole life with crohn's disease. It is a very painful and limiting condition and he used it as inspiration for the zombies. Since they are no longer alive the zombies have to get their endorphins by eating the neuro tissue of living creatures (i.e. the brain). Endorphins are the bodies natural pain killer and also act as stress relief. If you watch any of the zombies after they've eaten a brain they are just laying around and no longer hostile. You can see them laying on the grass with their hands folded when the one zombie is on the radio asking "send more paramedics". I know others have kind of answered but I wanted to give a more fleshed out explanation. Dan' O'Bannon also wrote Alien and Total Recall, two other great movies.
Oh thank you for this explination and pointing out the other zombie. I really love hearing the "science" and deeper aspects of this disease it's fascinating. Horrific that Dan O'bannon suffered with crohns but as an artist sometimes suffering creates masterpieces
@@skeletalk Dan put an ungodly amount of research into the death, war and the medical industries when writing this movie. The stuff they said about the skeletons coming from India was all true at the time. Most of what Ernie says about decomposition is correct, although rigour mortis does not start in the brain because it's an organ not a muscle. Rigour mortis effects the muscles and livor mortis effects the organs. It is also true that the heart is the hardest part to burn. What wasn't included in the movie was some of the darker aspects of the funeral business that Dan and his partner, William Stout learned when visiting funeral homes. If you pay attention to Ernie's mortuary you can see clues that he was actually a former nazi in hiding. The Darrel chemical company is based on a real one called Dow Chemicals, and 2 4 5 trioxin is based on a real nerve agent called agent orange. Dow and the US government did a lot of shady things during Vietnam and also inspired some of the films backstory. Dan O'Bannon and William Stout HATED the first skeleton that rises in the graveyard. It was supposed to look much cooler but the guy they hired didn't finish it. Here's what it was supposed to look like: pbs.twimg.com/media/Bmum6gKCUAABoy8?format=png&name=small
@@skeletalk I'll also add that Dan O'Bannon regretted the scene where Trash was naked on the tombstone. He put it in the movie because he thought only men would come see it, but was shocked that just as many women came and loved it. He said "I'll never make that mistake again. Had I known I would have had a guy take his pants off so the women had something to look at too". And it's true, he never did it again.
Lack of limitations has a big impact on creativity. When you need something but are limited, that causes you to create. Not just the final result, but the method of getting there.
A look at Tom Savini's early portfolio can attest to that. Creative camera angles and junp cuts can cover up some of the cheaper effects. Want to do someone getting shot in the head? Melon with a wig on it. "Maniac" is a good example.
This one is great because it's just a situation that keeps getting worse and worse the longer it keeps going. And of course, the easiest solutions to the problem are pretty obvious from the beginning: Seal the zombies in a container and call the army. If they had decided to bury the hacksawed body in a grave or if they had just called the army number on the side at first, so many people wouldn't have died.
Funny fact. The eye chart behind Freddy in the office near beginning of movie reads : BURT is a slave driver'. Other fun facts, the characters names burt and Ernie are friends and Freddy turns into a nightmare.
He was pointing the gun at her because he was getting ready in case he had to spare her of a more gruesome and painful death with a gunshot to the head so that it was quick. Eggs - it's code. So the interesting thing is that the bomb essentially created a large scale version of the cremation and would raise hundreds of thousands of dead from the grave over a large scale area. You can essentially watch Day of the Dead (1985) and consider it a sequel as it's basically a movie about the world after zombies have essentially killed nearly everyone on the planet. Which would basically be the outcome of Return of the Living Dead.
It follows from the movies logic living brains would ease the pain in the zombies. The "eggs" were code for the canisters that were accidently delivered to the med supply company.
Yeah I understand but I felt like hearts would ease it more idk? Brains would make you feel human too. Eggs just sounded so bizarre to me to call them, like they were just animals or creatures to them, the guy seemed he had no empathy that they were previously people imo
My mum bought this film for me from a boot sale when I was ~13. After being given it I immediately put it on during a family gathering... I will always remember the awkward silence when sitting with all my family and aunts and uncles watching the punk woman fantasizing about being eaten alive by old men and then dancing around naked on the car, eventually my father broke the silence saying something like "well... this is the sort of thing his mother buys him" Great movie though! I still have it on VHS, I think the music is actually different in the DVD version IIRC
Like alcohol and night swimming, horror + boobs is just one of those winning combinations. 😁 (The 'alcohol and night swimming' is a reference, just incase anyone thinks it serious.)
this movie is responsible for a great deal of the "cliches" when people dressed up as zombies on halloween generally they took after the ones in this film and the stereotypical zombie catchphrase... "BRAINNNNSSSS" which this movie started.... funny thing is... it was intended as a comedy horror but it became one of the greatest horror movies of all time... sure it wasn't the scariest or the most grotesque but it set a standard that many films followed after and to this day my favorite line from the entire franchise is "You mean the movie lied?!" Thom Matthews is my personal favorite horror actor and his delivery of that line always cracked me up.
First time viewer. Based on your introduction I was excited to see your reaction to this masterpiece of physical special effects. This is easily one of my favourite movies. I saw this when I was 8 years old and it horribly scarred me of course, lol. Based on the opening title, my sister convinced me the entire film was real and that the zombies were making their way to our city. I've never forgiven her...There is a lot of really fun trivia behind the making of this film, including the director Dan O'Bannon being purportedly completely nuts haha. He also wrote the script for Alien, so he was a talented artist to be sure. I highly suggest RLM's Re:View of "Return of the Living Dead", for some backstory about the production of this one.
Great pre COVID movies: "Contagion" "Outbreak" "Daybreak" and "Carriers" Love the original George Romero zombie trilogy.. day of the dead which was my favorite
I miss the 80s... such a perfect intersection between Special and Practical effects, especially in horror. A physical Tar Man will always be 1,000x scarier than something that's obviously CGI.
Just found your channel today (this is my first video) practical effects are so much better than CGI,mostly. I see you've done night and dawn of the dead,day of the dead is my favourite zombie film and had the most amazing practical effects I've ever seen and they still hold up today. Can't wait for you to watch it on the channel.
@@skeletalk woohoo! Can't wait for that. Fyi there are two fantastic follow up videos you can find here on TH-cam,the making of Day of the dead and behind the scenes which I think you'll find fascinating.
If no one mentioned this , the film designer is William Stout, an excellent artist in his own right, I have a few of his books he also did work designing Dinosaur artworks. But check his art out.
this and Army of Darkness and probably many others you'll watch on here were childhood favorites that my dad would rent for us every weekend growing up. this one is an all time cool fun punk rock movie. it is unfortunately in a perpetually confused legal state regarding its soundtrack. it is full of vintage punk rock songs. but legal rights took several of these off the board in some later releases and they had to replace them w other songs not originally intended to be there. for any movie this would be a problem but esp this one where the music was such a big part of the thing and the action and the soundtrack intentionally matched. i'm not sure if that soundtrack issue was ever resolved or if they are still only making this movie available w new songs in various places. some expert i'm sure can point out the differences and say what is what and if the original version is available anywhere.
They've been wonderful to watch honestly understand why they're childhood faves. I'm glad I get to watch with you guys blind. So sad to hear about all those copyright issues the movie has a fantastic soundtrack I wish I spoke more about, but does that mean there was intended to be more in it then?
@@skeletalk from what i understand after researching it (and as far as i could tell just by watching your vid) the music seems pretty much correct. if there is any change it seems unlikely to be more than like 1 song, and not that critical. i believe when the versions had the songs changed, they would swap them w new/other punk songs rather than just have no songs. and in these versions there were some audio changes as well, specifically to the readings of the 'send more cops' 'send more paramedics' lines. those are probably the easiest lines to compare editions. but as far as i can tell this seemed good, the music all seemed right. it's odd too bc it's not big bands, it's obscure old punk bands.
The shout factory release is the definitive version the audio and soundtrack are 100% original and intact minus dead beat dance by the damned but it really isn't a big deal honestly
@@crimesforkibble6912 no i don't think it is a big deal (that one song) tho i'd have to rewatch its scene both ways to really see. tho according to my research on it there was a bluray release before that that apparently had the full audio track, no changes.
The film has so many Easter eggs where you make fun of the culture of the time and horror films. Part 2 is more comedy, but Part 3 is the last film of the splatter genre and is really good. Ernie Kaltenbrunner ;) The Return of the Living Dead and Hellraiser 1 and 2 are for me the best horror films of the 80s. Always watch the Uncuts or the Extended Cut. With horror films they cut out a lot of stuff.
The tar-man (the zombie from the canister.) Was someone from a hospital morgue. So its possible when he was originally caught and sealed in the canister he was wearing a suit.
You'll Definitely Like Part 2 of this movie Great practical Effects too. Awsome Reaction great 😃👍 👍 job really liked your reaction. This is my favorite zombie movie and part 2
Brains! More brains! Ohh I'm arriving to this late :) my excuse: answering a call that said, "send help". Went there, got half my skull bit off. Took a while to regenerate enough brain matter to remember I have a reaction to watch :) That was a great viewing with you, as always! While not my favorite zombie movie, the characters here are timeless. The punks are perfect, just like in the good old days... misfits who accept everyone who wants to hang with them. Trash and Suicide, their scenes kill me.
This is a Reagan-era classic. The punk ethos and music, the hard-edge with the nudity and violence, and the ending where the government nukes everybody. This movie was a direct reaction to the 80s.
The nude girl was Linnea Quigley famous scream Queen of the B horror movies of the 80's and 90's. One of her other notable movies is, "Night of the Demons." The year that movie came out I dressed like her for Halloween in the pink dress and even did a bend over in 7-Eleven on a dare from my friends.
This is my favorite Zombie film I noticed you like the opening Them this is played several times in the film Francis Haines composed it . Trioxin Theme.
10/10 Reaction with some brilliant insights into the film and filmmaking process. Lovely to see someone reacting to lesser known (but higher quality) horror projects, whether they're straight horror or black comedy horror. Keep up the good work!
Imagine if there would be a direct sequel to this film. The President and news crew on Air Force One see's a huge sea of people waiting for him, unaware of what happened. The plane lands and the only time the uncountable crowd reacts is when the President and whoever else on board steps foot onto the ground. And since its being broadcast live, not only do the people there hear it and see it, but the thousands, millions, watching at home get to hear a very chilling, unified scream "BRAINS!!!!" I actually did a homebrew for D&D 5E loosely based on the Trioxin zombies of this movie then did a story version and posted it on Reddit. Very fun. Also, I see my boy Gengar there!!!
@@skeletalk Good, the naughty ghost is a perfect companion. The storyline for the homebrew was about a High Elf healer accidently making a potion responsible with bringing back the dead, in her frustration of healing. Though she had no idea the potion she made had that ability. She recklessly discarded the foul smelling concoction out of a window where it smashed on a rock that was sticking out of the ocean. Basically the first thing to reanimate was a dead rotting shark that happen to be just under the surface. She, herself would be the first victim when she chose to go for a swim since her home/lab, was located next to the shore. The outbreak spread from there and lasted a good 3 months. My players would be introduced in the 3rd month of it and witness the hopelessly of it all.
@@skeletalk Oh yeah. It spread throughout the Sword Coast. My players came in at the Sword Coast Mountains, after Buldar's Gate and Waterdeep fell. So by that time there was zombies ranging in the numbers of the near thousands. The thing about the zombies, the potion turned them into this brown/green/yellowish color. While their bones became spongy, only head shots could put them down. Just slicing off the head, while stopping the body, the head was still active. They were the typical slow zombies, but it was their numbers that was deadlier. They were also immune to control magics. Destructive magics were effective but again, numbers, they had more. There were also zombified animals of every type.
great movie and soundtrack. it had 4 sequels [direct to video i think]. personally, i think the 5th was the best of the sequels [RotLD: rave to the grave and tarman returned] the zombies became weaker in the last two movies and easier to kill. you should try 'cockneys vs zombies' it's a fun zombie movie
@@skeletalkThere's a Tarman in at least three of the films. Played by the same guy every time. His appearance in the 5th movie was very disappointing. Mostly just a gag.
Loved the reaction! I think my response was very similar when I saw it for the first time. Two bits of trivia for you: John Russo and George Romero co-wrote Night of the Living Dead. They worked out a deal where Russo had the rights to "Living Dead" (which is why Romero's subsequent films were titled "...of the Dead"). And in the scene where Trash (Linnea Quigley) strips down and dances on top of the tomb, they wanted to avoid an X rating, so had her shave her, um, nether regions. Instead of improving things, it made things much more graphic, so they wound up having to create a flesh-colored modesty panel for her.
Thanks so much! Glad to hear it! I just recorded a react to night of the living dead! Oh my god the extent they had to go to for trash is so funny haha!
reading up on it, apparently since 2012 had a blu ray release w the full original audio inc all soundtrack songs. then there was a 2016 blu ray by another company w one song replaced bc of rights. so who knows what version is currently in the streaming services.
This movie was great, love when I see people reacting to it for the first time. You had a lot of good ideas that I never thought of (seen the movie since 1987) Trash dancing on the stone is like a sacrifice ritual, the burning of the butterflies (always forgot about them when then made it to the cremation part). There a part two that's supposed to be a direct sequel to it, though it's not as good, bit still better than part 4 and 5
A fun fact about the mortician is that he is a Nazi in hiding it was going to be explained but was cut from the script if you pay attention to the scenes that have the mortician in them you will realize they have a WW2 German undertone to them the first scene of the mortician listening to WW2 German music is a big hit to him being a Nazi
great review, RoTLD came out when I was a young child and I've seen it too many times to count. Still one of my favorite zombie movies and Tarman is the greatest zombie ever!!! Hope the upcoming remake does him justice.
The reason why Ernie has a gun isnt because hes American... Cause hes not. There are little clues all over the place that Ernie is a German Nazi in hiding. He listens to Nazi march music, he carries a German Luger pistol, hes got a picture of Hitler's girlfriend Eva Braun on his wall, and he says "raining like cars and dogs" in German. But theres a subtle joke that he says "you just cant put animals in an oven, that's cruel"... extrapolate that dark little historical joke as you will .. think Schindlers List 😂
He said its coming down like a drunk soldier, which is one of those sayings that doesn't exactly translate that well into english. He's obviously supposed to be ernst kaltenbrunner, but that whole side of things doesn't really make any sense in context because what does that have to do with the mortuary work or zombies really? Exterminations weren't particularly his responsibility and they at least killed people before they burned them anyway. Plus the whole plotline never really goes anywhere anyway, so i'm still not sure why its even in there at all Not to mention if he is who he is implied to be, you have to wonder why got hanged in his place at nuremberg in that version of history
There actually is a covid zombie film called "Covid Zombies". They took footage from "Hell of the living dead" and combined that with new footage. *It's terrible!*
I was so hyped when I bought my first software with time-lapse recording. I loved just recreating horror characters and scenes. It didn't get really legit until I got my hands on zbrush, though 🤘🖤 Great job
Honestly of all the zombie types out there, return of the living dead zombies are some of the worst you can face because their intelligence is intact in some cases so they are smart enough to be able to do things that most other zombies can not do. To make matters worse their bodies are far harder to kill so it takes a lot of effort to utterly kill them. Even then you can't burn the bodies as even the corpse can still unleash another plague of undead if burned. The only true way is discovered in the second movie though with each movie in this series they expand on just how far this zombie plague can evolve. The first is still the best of the lot by far though.
The fact that the slimy zombie from the canister didn't attack Freddy and Frank is a great clue that they were dead the whole time.
That they immediately contracted the disease so the zombie just acknowledged them as one of him? That's pretty cool.
@@MichaelHHHH It actually attacked Bert. Frank and Freddy pulled it off.
@@skeletalk Trash was the same she started to die in the car from the extensive about of rain water and ingesting it... her actual death was in the mud(inhaled the mud) in the grave yard she had no boldly injuries meaning the zombies cold not smell her brain as it was dead from a little earlier....
@@kylereese4822 OH thats really clever I love that!!! this movie had completely changed everything I knew about how to deal with this situation because of the rain xD
The Tarman!
Fun Fact: This film created the concept of zombies wanting to eat brains.
The idea of Frank throwing himself into the furnace came from the actor, James Karen, himself. He felt that it would add a depth to the character. And he was right.
Incidentally, James Karen also played the real estate agent in POLTERGEIST.
That scene was just too much (in a good way) I was honestly floored I loved it.
He also came up with it because he didn't want to run around in the rain and get soaked.
And Poltergeist used real corpses in the scene when the corpses float up.
They were the corpses of people who donated their bodies to science, and the movie studio bought them, without the families' permission. The families were really angry, and it's totally true.
@@AliceBowie haven't seen poltergeist yet that's crazy!
@@AliceBowieYes perhaps, and no. Pre 1985 India supplied pretty much the whole world with human skeletons used in anatomy classes. And those skeletons were, as far as I understand, mostly the remains of real people. But those skeletons were not from people donating their bodies to science. They did not have that system in India. But they had plenty of unclaimed corpses in the morgues.
Still, it's not rocket science to make copies of bones if you have two skeletons to start from. So the claim that they used real human remains because it was cheaper than to make copies isn't a 100% convincing to me.
But sadly the death industry is far from spared of rotten eggs making a$$hole moves just to earn a few $.
This is one of the most influential zombie films of all time. This is the first time zombies ever ran, and this where zombies first said "Braiiinnnss!" Also, while being every bit a horror film it is also brilliantly funny and has a banging soundtrack. "You wanna party!!!?" Yes. Yes I do.
It's brilliant! I love running zombies! The soundtrack is INCREDIBLE
A lot of people don't seem to understand the barrels the army put the original zombies in. They figured out there was no way to actually kill them, short of cremation, which as was seen, turns out bad lol. They sealed them in barrels full of the same chemical that reanimated them and they would remain dormant as long as submerged. Also why they spent lots of resources trying to find them and came up with the contingency plan to nuke them.
It's funny. The scene where Trash is dancing nakie on the grave was filmed about 3 times, each time they had to tone it down to what you see in the final cut of the film. The first time they shot it, she wasn't shaven so the studio heads got a good look at the dailies and said no, because they can't show pubic hair or else it would get a much higher rating. So they filmed again and once the studio saw the new scene they freaked out because now that she was groomed down there you could see all her lady parts and so that was a no go. So they opted to make a type of prosthetic that would cover her bits and still allow her to dance around as intended.
I mean sure, they could have easily just cut the scene from the movie, but no it was totally necessary for her character arc and also it just proves that any sensible person would do anything to see a hot punk/goth chick dance nudie in a cemetery. It's art and I love it. 😋
Hahahaha the effort for that one scene you gotta admire it
@skeletalk Linnea Quingley (Trash) made a good performance here.
Fun fact: India ended the medical skeleton trade with the US after this movies release. May have been a skeleton farm there lol.
oh my god! xD
This is true
I've seen many zombie movies, but the "Tar man" is the first zombie that made an impression on me as a kid. ☺
he stood out to me so much, love him!!
He scared the hell out of me when i was a kid in the 80's, but even as a kid i secretly thought he was cool! Hahaha
@@skeletalkThere's a Tarman in nearly every Return of the Living Dead movie, but I think the original look was the best. The last movie, "Rave to the Grave" really did him rotten. Just had him trying to hitchhike.
I'm one of the ones who brought this up on your AoD video. Glad to see you decided to give it a go. Even though this is a black comedy, it actually always scared me more than any other zombie movie when I was younger. I think it's because of the hopelessness. It seems like there is just no way to win against these sort of zombies.
Also the "eggs have hatched" line is just code letting them know it was too late and already spread.
Yeah that sudden realisation that there's nothing that they could do was an absolute smack in the face, set up for an amazing twist of an ending. Thank you for the recommendation it was so worth the watch!
You're right! The only thing I don't get is why did the split dog come back and not the skeletons? Especially since one in the cemetery was bones.
Just creative decisions based more on entertainment than science. For example in space movies like Star Wars you hear ships exploding when in reality space is completely silent because there is no air, but since that wouldn't be any fun they disregard science and we are better for it. Same goes for zombie movies, it's probably and impossibility to reanimate a dead body but you can do anything in a movie.@@dokidaddy1056
Did the Wayans produce this? Is Tyler Perry all the female zombies? Or else how is this a black comedy with only one black dude in it?
The best way to see these zombies is that theyre not just corpses given life. But actual people trapped in their own corpses.
In this universe, it's like the soul remains attached to the body and both are just 'switched off' at death.
The trioxin gas reactivates the body. So its like their own spirit is possessing their own corpse. But the pain drives them mad. Thats why they scream instead of moan. (Waking up in a coffin burried 6 feet under can't help either.)
As the movie says, the only way to dull the pain temporarily is to feed on the electrochemical signals of a live brain.
jesus thats so dark (awesome though) but yeah really sad :/
Electrochemical brain Signal junkies
Written by the late, great Dan O'Bannon! Who also wrote "Alien".
This film is the origin of the concept of zombies eating brains.
Yesss! Alien is fantastic
The producer fired the effects guy who created the skeleton the came out of the grave because he hated that you could see the wires and he thought it was too clean looking which is weird because they used the shot of it coming out of the grave twice. There's a making of/retrospective documentary called More Brains! A Return To the Living Dead from 2011 that comes with most blu-ray copies of the movie.
I couldn't see the wires unless they fixed it in post! That's crazy I thought it looked great, how odd. I'll check out the documentary!
The skeleton was not the cause, it was just part of the whole thing. What got him kicked off, was the yellowman suit he did.
One thing about this movie I really like is that the crematorium seemed like a great idea at the time.
At the time 😄😄 scary to think now with how much we know right
My favorite zombie movie from the '80's is RE-ANIMATOR. It's based (loosely) on an HP Lovecraft serial novel, it stars Jeffrey Combs in his best role, and the zombies actually make some sense. I recommend highly.
yes!! I've seen clips of this so it wont be a blind react but its on the list!! heard amazing things
Re-Animator, and Bride of Re-animator,, are def must see. I would also suggest “Dead Alive” (aka Braindead). ..also a favorite and a fun watch. It’s one of Peter Jackson’s first films and it’s pretty iconic. It’s free on TH-cam
In the dvd special features they said that the director wanted the zombie makeup to be inspired by the Mummies of Guanajuato, they also show the concept art of those drawings they came up with during pre production.
The funny thing is there really were skeleton farms in india and the treaty thing was true when the movie was made, which led to some major criticism when people found out through this movie about it and it ended up being stopped. That aside franks question is a good one - where exactly do you get adult skeletons with perfect teeth in india of all places? Seems like he was right to be suspicious about how that came about
Jesus hahaha there's so much depth just to the little one off jokes in this film, I end up loving it more as time goes on. That's incredible
I love how Dan O'bannon used real life NotZee Ernst Kaultenbruner(he helped refine the furnaces for more efficiency for the Afrika Corp if I remember right) for his basis for Ernie. The picture of Eva Braun on his desk, his singing of the wartime song for the invasion of France while embalming, and his Walther pistol(the movie has an alternate history where he faked his end). I never caught on til I was older and did the research(ah the innocence of youth) and realized DOB put that much forethought and backstory into the characters. It sure puts a different perspective on why Ernie was so interested in the zombies and their feelings considering his dark past. One of the funniest and scariest movies for me growing up, the unstoppable nature of the zombies and their fast movements makes the terror in this one!
Mostly correct
@@KatrulzinWhat was incorrect? Was it the Afrika Corp part? I may have got it wrong on that one and may have Ernst mixed up with Reinhard Heydrich or another monster.
@@joerussell9574 Yes but I'll look into the afrika corp as it does sound interesting just haven't seen anything on the work prints about it pertaining to this movie.
@@KatrulzinOk cool. Please let me know if You happen to come across anything. Thanks!
Fun fact, Return was made due to the fact that a Co-writer and producer of the original Night of the Living Dead wasn't happy with the changes and Direction Romero went, not only with Night, but with the later sequels. So he started making his own script. No one would touch it as they saw the guy as a no-body with only one movie credit, mean while by the point he was done with his sequel writing, Romero had at least one if not two sequels out, and were well made. Hence why people avoided it and preferred to agree with Romero's ideas. So the script stuck around the studios but largely got ignored until another script writer got it, updated it, changed so much that they even changed the name to Return of the Living Dead, and finally got the green light. This same mad btw would later on in the early 2000's make his own intended version of Night, using the original bits he wrote, and stayed in the movie, but then adding the bits he intended to be in the movie. As I recall at the time, people thought it was a visual mess, and thought the new bits were boring. So ya, the guy just had zero luck making something on his own.
The guy who rewrote it was Dan O'Bannon, who also directed the film. O'Bannon co-wrote the original Alien as well as Total Recall. He only directed one other film, The Resurrected aka Shatterbrain. It's based on an H P Lovecraft story and is well worth seeing. Unfortunately, O'Bannon suffered from Crohn's disease which became worse under the stress of directing. O'Bannon eventually died from complications due to the disease.
I can't believe everyone missed the fact that Ernie has a Walter PPK, Leather Greatcoat listens to WW2 German Army Marching Music as well as knows how to cremate, dissect and embalm corpses - UM, do I need to say more and is freaked out about Corpses' coming back to life? 😁
Picture of Eva Braun is also a bit of a giveaway. But his talents are probably because he's a mortician.
Well, I mean if you take a look at Josef Mengele and some of the experiments the Americans found when liberating Buchenwald as well as the Crematorium they had there... Do you understand why I'm going 😱 also the fact that this would terrify Ernie or Ernst as what those corpses would do if infected by the Trioxin to someone who made their life a living hell 😱🫣😳🫢🤮😫😵😵💫
21:59 - I can't be the only one who finds this scene hilarious. Just the way it bolts into the van. XD
The lost consignment of easter eggs was the code word for the tanks themselves, hence why he said the eggs have "hatched." In case there was anyone listening in. They called them lost because the transportation department got the orders crossed and by the time the Army found out they were missing they couldn't retrace the steps where that department messed up.
This is a chemical zombie movie and the chemical was called 2-4-5 Trioxin that was originally used and made as a chemical herbicide for cannabis developed by the Darrow Chemical Company until they worked under contract for the Army to develope the 2-4-5 Trioxin as a chemical warfare agent, but they didn't know it turned people and the dead into zombies until there was a chemical spill at the morgue at the VA military hospital.
In the original work print I believe Burt held onto the tanks to see if the military would come and collect them, but once it was silent he didn't call the number on the side of the tank because he wanted to sell it on the black market for millions.
Also if you look at the vision test board in the office it spells "Burt is a slave driver." As well as photos of hitler and nazi memorabilia on Ernies wall plus his trench coat revealing he was a nazi that made it to the US during operation paper clip. Which explains why Burt was hoping Ernie would keep a secret because Burt knows Ernie's secret of being a nazi.
Lastly, there's speculation that the reason Trash was so misfigured is because in the graveyard she was sharing a joint with Spider and the chemical was originally made to react specifically to cannabis and why her throat was so misfigured in particular from cannabis inhalation, while being in Trioxin saturated mud.
(Little side note in the original script Freddy was supposed to take Tina on a date at the red carpet theater, which the irony is the chapel where he turned also had a red carpet down the middle like the theater would have)
the reference to the eggs hatching is because the colonel at the beginning called the canisters missing "Easter eggs".
Egg is just a military codename for the zombie containers. It isn't any more deep than that and doesn't mean they are actual eggs.
It is more deep actually. "Eggs" have been used in several cases as a code. Most noticeably in "Broken Arrow" incidents. It was a common call un until the 70's to use the phrase "We lost an egg" when for example a plane dropped a nuclear bomb by accident. An example is Mars Bluff. O'Bannon knew and used the Egg code as that's a very real military code.
For the record, the code word "Eggs" was meant for the containers the bodies were in. Hence that the bad news was that they "hatched."
Eggs have for a long time been army code for many things. But most noticeably it has been used several times in "Broken Arrow" incidents when nuclear weapons were lost or dropped by accident. "We lost an egg" was used several times.
@@AB-80X Several times?? Wonderful l.
@@FezWhatley123
To this day there are 61 registered US Broken Arrow events. Obviously not all including the Egg reference haha. They also used "Laid an egg".
Zombies are a reflection of our inherent agoraphobia and fear of crowds. Anthropology has the concept of a 'monkeysphere', which is the number of people that your mind can process empathetically as human beings. We're neurologically designed for communities of 300-500 people, while at the same time being troop primates and apex predators. A zombie film is essentially about expressing our subconscious anxiety about the thousands of strangers we're exposed to in the course of living in a modern urban society.
Wow I never saw it that way, we are absolutely not meant to be around so many people I guess it's why we feel so overwhelmed.
The eye chart in the office of the medical supply building says "BURT IS A SLAVE DRIVER AND A CHEAP SON OF A BITCH" 😂
the head of the company is named Burt and his best friend who runs the crematorium is named Ernie
And the 2 paramedics who show up first at the morgue are credited as Tom and Jerry 😂
Hi Katie!!! 👋 I'm rewatching this one year after you posted it. When I first saw this film in the theater in 1985, my first thought when the colonel called in the big gun at the end was that it was going to deliver a gas canister that would neutralize the effects of the trioxin. I figured over the intervening years the government developed an antidote to the trioxin gas. Boy, was I wrong about that!!! As soon as I saw the nuke, I was, like, "Oh, shit!!!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Omg it's been a year!!!
The reason eating brains makes the zombies pain go away is because when your body feels pain or stress your brain releases endorphins to block the nerve cells that receive the pain signals.
OHHH thank you!! thats awesome and makes sense!!
"Always has to be boobs."
Yes. Yes, there do. This is one of the greatest horror comedies ever made. The Tar-Man is one of the best zombies I've ever seen.
NEVER a complaint don't get me wrong ! its just so funny to me
@@skeletalk It IS funny how obviously tear-away Trash's clothes were. 🤣
LoL i forgot Freddie's jacket says FU on the back
And in the PG-13 made for tv it read "Made for TV".
The butterflies are a really nice touch. That kind of attention to detail gets me every time 😘🤌🖤
I know right!! I just had to mention it, it was so creative and clever 💙💙
Just required a simple fan to do. Cheapest effect in the movie.
Some people say this movie is stupid because the zombies are ridiculously over powered. But that was the whole point of the movie, it's a horror comedy meant to be ridiculous. A good comparison would be the Looney tunes, no matter how much damage they take, including full on explosions, they always survive. This to me is one of the best zombie movies I've ever watched, it did a good job confusing me as a kid on whether or not it was supposed to be funny or scary. The funniest scene for me is when everyone rushes to the closet to grab tools, it's straight out of a cartoon when everyone is trying to cram through one door.
I totally agree, I love how fast paced and silly it is and I can understand that was done on purpose it's super action packed and fun and you never really know what's gonna happen.
That zombie in the barrel was a pretty cool prop. I'm pretty sure they've spent a lot of time trying to prepare the whole scene to work out the first try.
really was, one of my fave things
That specific effect was funny enough one of the "easier" effects. That trick was well known at that time, especially after it was used in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
I have fond memories of me and my friend crying with laughter at the little zombie behind the ambulance door screaming and stumbling, rewinding the VHS tape back, over and over again. 😅
Not little. Triple amputee. Impressive that he could sort of walk on his stumps.
They did the butterflies with a fan. Love the simplicity of some of these because they’re effective regardless.
Yeah. And had James Karen never said it, you'd be none the wiser. At least credit your observations to those who pointed them out. You almost quoted what Karen said.
@@AB-80X huh? I’m not quoting anyone, just passing along what I was told.
"The eggs have hatched" is just military jargon.
It's code for "The gas has infected the town"
I first saw this movie not long after it came out when I was about 11 or so, and it gave me existential nightmares for months afterwards. Not necessarily because of the zombies, but because of the idea of the cycle repeating endlessly and the Trioxin compound spreading everywhere until everyone and everything on Earth was rendered a chemically-induced undead creature, perpetually rotting and in unending, undying pain. Which _really is_ a horrifying thought.
My favorite trivia about the movie is that Ernie (the guy who runs the crematorium) was originally meant to be an ex-Nazi who fled Germany to avoid prosecution. If you're interested in looking into it, the clues are still everywhere in the movie though the idea of actually putting it into the plot was scrapped.
He was never meant to be Ernst Kaltenbrenner. He was just meant to be a Germanic man by that name to add to the story. Just one of O'Bannon's oddities.
FYI, there is a zombiecore band from Leeds who took their name from one of the lines in this movie - "Send More Paramedics".
haha thats brilliant!
There's also a band called "Trioxin"
Soundtrack: 45 Grave,The Cramps, The Damned,T.S.O.L.,Roky Eriksson!!!❤
Thank you, I absolutely love everything about this movie and reaction!!! The reanimated butterfly effect was done just by having a fan blowing at them, lol...
it really is so fantastic! hahah confirms my point- simplicity is key!
The genuine comic book sequel Revenge of the Living Dead co-written by Don Cafla , is the real sequel that should've been been made.
There's a comic! Awesome!
@@skeletalk Yes it's actually Revenge of the Living Dead co-written by Don Cafla who played Ernie in the film. Thanks for your positive reaction to this wonderful film, Don Cafla's version should've been the sequel.
Dan O'Bannon, who wrote and directed this movie, suffered his whole life with crohn's disease. It is a very painful and limiting condition and he used it as inspiration for the zombies. Since they are no longer alive the zombies have to get their endorphins by eating the neuro tissue of living creatures (i.e. the brain). Endorphins are the bodies natural pain killer and also act as stress relief. If you watch any of the zombies after they've eaten a brain they are just laying around and no longer hostile. You can see them laying on the grass with their hands folded when the one zombie is on the radio asking "send more paramedics". I know others have kind of answered but I wanted to give a more fleshed out explanation. Dan' O'Bannon also wrote Alien and Total Recall, two other great movies.
Oh thank you for this explination and pointing out the other zombie. I really love hearing the "science" and deeper aspects of this disease it's fascinating. Horrific that Dan O'bannon suffered with crohns but as an artist sometimes suffering creates masterpieces
@@skeletalk Dan put an ungodly amount of research into the death, war and the medical industries when writing this movie. The stuff they said about the skeletons coming from India was all true at the time. Most of what Ernie says about decomposition is correct, although rigour mortis does not start in the brain because it's an organ not a muscle. Rigour mortis effects the muscles and livor mortis effects the organs. It is also true that the heart is the hardest part to burn. What wasn't included in the movie was some of the darker aspects of the funeral business that Dan and his partner, William Stout learned when visiting funeral homes. If you pay attention to Ernie's mortuary you can see clues that he was actually a former nazi in hiding. The Darrel chemical company is based on a real one called Dow Chemicals, and 2 4 5 trioxin is based on a real nerve agent called agent orange. Dow and the US government did a lot of shady things during Vietnam and also inspired some of the films backstory.
Dan O'Bannon and William Stout HATED the first skeleton that rises in the graveyard. It was supposed to look much cooler but the guy they hired didn't finish it. Here's what it was supposed to look like: pbs.twimg.com/media/Bmum6gKCUAABoy8?format=png&name=small
@@skeletalk I'll also add that Dan O'Bannon regretted the scene where Trash was naked on the tombstone. He put it in the movie because he thought only men would come see it, but was shocked that just as many women came and loved it. He said "I'll never make that mistake again. Had I known I would have had a guy take his pants off so the women had something to look at too". And it's true, he never did it again.
@@Foamhead awww we love that kinda equality
Lack of limitations has a big impact on creativity. When you need something but are limited, that causes you to create. Not just the final result, but the method of getting there.
A look at Tom Savini's early portfolio can attest to that. Creative camera angles and junp cuts can cover up some of the cheaper effects. Want to do someone getting shot in the head? Melon with a wig on it. "Maniac" is a good example.
Everyone who watches this movie loves the Tar Man ! Cool movie, fun, scary and great music xx
😂her reaction when she first saw the tar man for the first time.
This one is great because it's just a situation that keeps getting worse and worse the longer it keeps going. And of course, the easiest solutions to the problem are pretty obvious from the beginning: Seal the zombies in a container and call the army. If they had decided to bury the hacksawed body in a grave or if they had just called the army number on the side at first, so many people wouldn't have died.
Funny fact. The eye chart behind Freddy in the office near beginning of movie reads : BURT is a slave driver'. Other fun facts, the characters names burt and Ernie are friends and Freddy turns into a nightmare.
omg hahaha!!
As was the case in numerous movies back in the day, the skeletons im this movie were real. Particularly the one with those big blue eyes.
He was pointing the gun at her because he was getting ready in case he had to spare her of a more gruesome and painful death with a gunshot to the head so that it was quick.
Eggs - it's code.
So the interesting thing is that the bomb essentially created a large scale version of the cremation and would raise hundreds of thousands of dead from the grave over a large scale area.
You can essentially watch Day of the Dead (1985) and consider it a sequel as it's basically a movie about the world after zombies have essentially killed nearly everyone on the planet. Which would basically be the outcome of Return of the Living Dead.
It follows from the movies logic living brains would ease the pain in the zombies. The "eggs" were code for the canisters that were accidently delivered to the med supply company.
Yeah I understand but I felt like hearts would ease it more idk? Brains would make you feel human too. Eggs just sounded so bizarre to me to call them, like they were just animals or creatures to them, the guy seemed he had no empathy that they were previously people imo
My mum bought this film for me from a boot sale when I was ~13. After being given it I immediately put it on during a family gathering... I will always remember the awkward silence when sitting with all my family and aunts and uncles watching the punk woman fantasizing about being eaten alive by old men and then dancing around naked on the car, eventually my father broke the silence saying something like "well... this is the sort of thing his mother buys him"
Great movie though! I still have it on VHS, I think the music is actually different in the DVD version IIRC
Like alcohol and night swimming, horror + boobs is just one of those winning combinations. 😁 (The 'alcohol and night swimming' is a reference, just incase anyone thinks it serious.)
this movie is responsible for a great deal of the "cliches" when people dressed up as zombies on halloween generally they took after the ones in this film and the stereotypical zombie catchphrase... "BRAINNNNSSSS" which this movie started.... funny thing is... it was intended as a comedy horror but it became one of the greatest horror movies of all time... sure it wasn't the scariest or the most grotesque but it set a standard that many films followed after and to this day my favorite line from the entire franchise is "You mean the movie lied?!" Thom Matthews is my personal favorite horror actor and his delivery of that line always cracked me up.
First time viewer. Based on your introduction I was excited to see your reaction to this masterpiece of physical special effects. This is easily one of my favourite movies. I saw this when I was 8 years old and it horribly scarred me of course, lol. Based on the opening title, my sister convinced me the entire film was real and that the zombies were making their way to our city. I've never forgiven her...There is a lot of really fun trivia behind the making of this film, including the director Dan O'Bannon being purportedly completely nuts haha. He also wrote the script for Alien, so he was a talented artist to be sure. I highly suggest RLM's Re:View of "Return of the Living Dead", for some backstory about the production of this one.
Thank you for the kind words and welcome! Oh my gosh your sister sounds hilarious 😂
Speaking of brain eating, check out the movie FROM BEYOND (1986). The creature FX in that one are stunning!
not heard of it! thank you!!
Great pre COVID movies: "Contagion" "Outbreak" "Daybreak" and "Carriers"
Love the original George Romero zombie trilogy.. day of the dead which was my favorite
never heard of these thank you!
I miss the 80s... such a perfect intersection between Special and Practical effects, especially in horror. A physical Tar Man will always be 1,000x scarier than something that's obviously CGI.
Her; “…they carrying around a record player…”
Me; (🤦♂️😖)”oh for fuqs sake… frikkin ignant genZ’s”
Just found your channel today (this is my first video) practical effects are so much better than CGI,mostly. I see you've done night and dawn of the dead,day of the dead is my favourite zombie film and had the most amazing practical effects I've ever seen and they still hold up today. Can't wait for you to watch it on the channel.
Yesss will be watching Day soon! Thank you and welcome! 💙
@@skeletalk woohoo! Can't wait for that. Fyi there are two fantastic follow up videos you can find here on TH-cam,the making of Day of the dead and behind the scenes which I think you'll find fascinating.
If no one mentioned this , the film designer is William Stout, an excellent artist in his own right, I have a few of his books he also did work designing Dinosaur artworks. But check his art out.
this and Army of Darkness and probably many others you'll watch on here were childhood favorites that my dad would rent for us every weekend growing up.
this one is an all time cool fun punk rock movie. it is unfortunately in a perpetually confused legal state regarding its soundtrack. it is full of vintage punk rock songs. but legal rights took several of these off the board in some later releases and they had to replace them w other songs not originally intended to be there. for any movie this would be a problem but esp this one where the music was such a big part of the thing and the action and the soundtrack intentionally matched. i'm not sure if that soundtrack issue was ever resolved or if they are still only making this movie available w new songs in various places. some expert i'm sure can point out the differences and say what is what and if the original version is available anywhere.
They've been wonderful to watch honestly understand why they're childhood faves. I'm glad I get to watch with you guys blind. So sad to hear about all those copyright issues the movie has a fantastic soundtrack I wish I spoke more about, but does that mean there was intended to be more in it then?
@@skeletalk from what i understand after researching it (and as far as i could tell just by watching your vid) the music seems pretty much correct. if there is any change it seems unlikely to be more than like 1 song, and not that critical. i believe when the versions had the songs changed, they would swap them w new/other punk songs rather than just have no songs. and in these versions there were some audio changes as well, specifically to the readings of the 'send more cops' 'send more paramedics' lines. those are probably the easiest lines to compare editions.
but as far as i can tell this seemed good, the music all seemed right. it's odd too bc it's not big bands, it's obscure old punk bands.
The shout factory release is the definitive version the audio and soundtrack are 100% original and intact minus dead beat dance by the damned but it really isn't a big deal honestly
@@crimesforkibble6912 honestly so glad everything mostly held up over time and laws
@@crimesforkibble6912 no i don't think it is a big deal (that one song) tho i'd have to rewatch its scene both ways to really see. tho according to my research on it there was a bluray release before that that apparently had the full audio track, no changes.
The film has so many Easter eggs where you make fun of the culture of the time and horror films.
Part 2 is more comedy, but Part 3 is the last film of the splatter genre and is really good.
Ernie Kaltenbrunner ;)
The Return of the Living Dead and Hellraiser 1 and 2 are for me the best horror films of the 80s.
Always watch the Uncuts or the Extended Cut. With horror films they cut out a lot of stuff.
Yes!!! The eye chart in Frank's office says " Frank is a slave driver"!😅
They'll make anything a zombie movie.
I recommend Black Sheep. Yep, a zombie sheep movie from New Zealand.
True that. Wait... Sheep zombie? 😂
@@skeletalkIt's more carnivorous mutant sheep...that can infect other species. It's a better version of "Zombeavers".
The tar-man (the zombie from the canister.) Was someone from a hospital morgue. So its possible when he was originally caught and sealed in the canister he was wearing a suit.
oh that makes sense!!!
You'll Definitely Like Part 2 of this movie Great practical Effects too. Awsome Reaction great 😃👍 👍 job really liked your reaction. This is my favorite zombie movie and part 2
I'll have to give it a go then for sure! Thank you! 💜
Brains! More brains!
Ohh I'm arriving to this late :) my excuse: answering a call that said, "send help". Went there, got half my skull bit off. Took a while to regenerate enough brain matter to remember I have a reaction to watch :)
That was a great viewing with you, as always! While not my favorite zombie movie, the characters here are timeless. The punks are perfect, just like in the good old days... misfits who accept everyone who wants to hang with them. Trash and Suicide, their scenes kill me.
Not my favourite either but an enjoyable classic for sure! Thanks for watching!
This is a Reagan-era classic. The punk ethos and music, the hard-edge with the nudity and violence, and the ending where the government nukes everybody. This movie was a direct reaction to the 80s.
The nude girl was Linnea Quigley famous scream Queen of the B horror movies of the 80's and 90's. One of her other notable movies is, "Night of the Demons." The year that movie came out I dressed like her for Halloween in the pink dress and even did a bend over in 7-Eleven on a dare from my friends.
This is my favorite Zombie film I noticed you like the opening Them this is played several times in the film Francis Haines composed it . Trioxin Theme.
the music was absolutely amazing shame I couldn't show more of it
10/10 Reaction with some brilliant insights into the film and filmmaking process. Lovely to see someone reacting to lesser known (but higher quality) horror projects, whether they're straight horror or black comedy horror. Keep up the good work!
Thank you 🥰💙💙
Imagine if there would be a direct sequel to this film. The President and news crew on Air Force One see's a huge sea of people waiting for him, unaware of what happened. The plane lands and the only time the uncountable crowd reacts is when the President and whoever else on board steps foot onto the ground.
And since its being broadcast live, not only do the people there hear it and see it, but the thousands, millions, watching at home get to hear a very chilling, unified scream "BRAINS!!!!"
I actually did a homebrew for D&D 5E loosely based on the Trioxin zombies of this movie then did a story version and posted it on Reddit. Very fun.
Also, I see my boy Gengar there!!!
a dnd campaign sounds awesome! Yes gengar joins me for my vids and streams now!
@@skeletalk Good, the naughty ghost is a perfect companion.
The storyline for the homebrew was about a High Elf healer accidently making a potion responsible with bringing back the dead, in her frustration of healing. Though she had no idea the potion she made had that ability. She recklessly discarded the foul smelling concoction out of a window where it smashed on a rock that was sticking out of the ocean. Basically the first thing to reanimate was a dead rotting shark that happen to be just under the surface. She, herself would be the first victim when she chose to go for a swim since her home/lab, was located next to the shore.
The outbreak spread from there and lasted a good 3 months. My players would be introduced in the 3rd month of it and witness the hopelessly of it all.
@@SilentZombie gengar best boi!
Wow that sounds awesome (also sharks are a fave animal so hella cool) I bet that caused a lot of chaos for everyone!
@@skeletalk Oh yeah. It spread throughout the Sword Coast. My players came in at the Sword Coast Mountains, after Buldar's Gate and Waterdeep fell. So by that time there was zombies ranging in the numbers of the near thousands.
The thing about the zombies, the potion turned them into this brown/green/yellowish color. While their bones became spongy, only head shots could put them down. Just slicing off the head, while stopping the body, the head was still active. They were the typical slow zombies, but it was their numbers that was deadlier. They were also immune to control magics. Destructive magics were effective but again, numbers, they had more. There were also zombified animals of every type.
If you haven’t seen it yet, give the Re-Animator a watch it’s somewhat similar but even more fun a bit unhinged.
Yesss I need to try this!
I assume the punk zombie in the poster is suppose to be Trash even though Trash looks different in the movie.
Seen this as a kid sometime in the late 80’s and have loved it ever since, it’s on my October 🎃 watchlist every year
Netflix or Tubi has/had it. Its called either Covid or Corona Zombies.
Btw when someone tells you the first running zombie movie was 28 days later. Mention this movie.
I will since I find 28 days a bit overated xD
btw the sequels of this series are all bad but 3 had the best horror art enjoy@@skeletalk
Very nice reaction! I'm gonna go rock to the Trioxin Theme now...
hehehe feel that! thanks!
This is my favorite zombie movie.
soooo glad you got to watch this! one of my favorite movies from my teens!!!! i got to meet some of the cast one time!
great movie and soundtrack. it had 4 sequels [direct to video i think]. personally, i think the 5th was the best of the sequels [RotLD: rave to the grave and tarman returned] the zombies became weaker in the last two movies and easier to kill.
you should try 'cockneys vs zombies' it's a fun zombie movie
TARMAN RETURNS???! 💞
@@skeletalk yep. pretty fun too
@@skeletalkThere's a Tarman in at least three of the films. Played by the same guy every time. His appearance in the 5th movie was very disappointing. Mostly just a gag.
Loved the reaction! I think my response was very similar when I saw it for the first time. Two bits of trivia for you: John Russo and George Romero co-wrote Night of the Living Dead. They worked out a deal where Russo had the rights to "Living Dead" (which is why Romero's subsequent films were titled "...of the Dead"). And in the scene where Trash (Linnea Quigley) strips down and dances on top of the tomb, they wanted to avoid an X rating, so had her shave her, um, nether regions. Instead of improving things, it made things much more graphic, so they wound up having to create a flesh-colored modesty panel for her.
Thanks so much! Glad to hear it! I just recorded a react to night of the living dead! Oh my god the extent they had to go to for trash is so funny haha!
The 80's had some great practical FX for horror films. This one and "Reanimator" were two of the best and funniest of the genre.
need to watch reanimator!
Reminds me of Reanimator at times. Love it!
One of my favorite movies. Also coolest Morrowind art collection I've seen anyone have!
OMG I'm so glad someone noticed!! Morrowind is my favourite game of all time 💙 my entire wall is elder scrolls stuff
@@skeletalk Same! I'm just happy to see Morrowind love out in the world. I have a Telvanni pendant and it's my most prized possession.
reading up on it, apparently since 2012 had a blu ray release w the full original audio inc all soundtrack songs. then there was a 2016 blu ray by another company w one song replaced bc of rights. so who knows what version is currently in the streaming services.
You may try the sequel, it is more a comedy than this one but pretty funny, also the two main characters returns in different roles.
I think that these zombies eat brains because brains produce endorphins. I'm not positive, but the female undead did say y helps with the pain.
yeah there seems to be a few theories that could all work really but that one makes the most sense to me, or that it numbs the pain
This movie was great, love when I see people reacting to it for the first time. You had a lot of good ideas that I never thought of (seen the movie since 1987) Trash dancing on the stone is like a sacrifice ritual, the burning of the butterflies (always forgot about them when then made it to the cremation part). There a part two that's supposed to be a direct sequel to it, though it's not as good, bit still better than part 4 and 5
"Whys he have a gun on him? Oh america" truer words never spoken
He was going to kill the girl in the attic to spare her the pain of being eaten alive by her dead boyfriend..
Oh that makes sense :( he was an amazing character
A fun fact about the mortician is that he is a Nazi in hiding it was going to be explained but was cut from the script if you pay attention to the scenes that have the mortician in them you will realize they have a WW2 German undertone to them the first scene of the mortician listening to WW2 German music is a big hit to him being a Nazi
great review, RoTLD came out when I was a young child and I've seen it too many times to count. Still one of my favorite zombie movies and Tarman is the greatest zombie ever!!! Hope the upcoming remake does him justice.
The reason why Ernie has a gun isnt because hes American... Cause hes not. There are little clues all over the place that Ernie is a German Nazi in hiding. He listens to Nazi march music, he carries a German Luger pistol, hes got a picture of Hitler's girlfriend Eva Braun on his wall, and he says "raining like cars and dogs" in German. But theres a subtle joke that he says "you just cant put animals in an oven, that's cruel"... extrapolate that dark little historical joke as you will .. think Schindlers List 😂
wow i never noticed any of those! love the subtle joke hahaha!
He said its coming down like a drunk soldier, which is one of those sayings that doesn't exactly translate that well into english. He's obviously supposed to be ernst kaltenbrunner, but that whole side of things doesn't really make any sense in context because what does that have to do with the mortuary work or zombies really? Exterminations weren't particularly his responsibility and they at least killed people before they burned them anyway. Plus the whole plotline never really goes anywhere anyway, so i'm still not sure why its even in there at all
Not to mention if he is who he is implied to be, you have to wonder why got hanged in his place at nuremberg in that version of history
@@skeletalk Yes and his name in the movie is Ernest Kaltenbrunner. The real Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a high ranking SS official during the Nazi era.
There actually is a covid zombie film called "Covid Zombies".
They took footage from "Hell of the living dead" and combined that with new footage.
*It's terrible!*
I was so hyped when I bought my first software with time-lapse recording. I loved just recreating horror characters and scenes. It didn't get really legit until I got my hands on zbrush, though 🤘🖤 Great job
It's been a lifesaver right!! I always struggled with zbrush making 3d models is impressive to me!!
I think these zombies would just break their teeth on peoples skulls trying to get to those yummy delicious spicy brains
Tons of behind the scene factoids on this movie when you listen to the movie commentary from part of the crew.
I'd honestly love to, read that they cut the skeleton initially because of being able to see wires but man I loved that scene.
It's not a bad question Burt
Honestly of all the zombie types out there, return of the living dead zombies are some of the worst you can face because their intelligence is intact in some cases so they are smart enough to be able to do things that most other zombies can not do. To make matters worse their bodies are far harder to kill so it takes a lot of effort to utterly kill them. Even then you can't burn the bodies as even the corpse can still unleash another plague of undead if burned. The only true way is discovered in the second movie though with each movie in this series they expand on just how far this zombie plague can evolve. The first is still the best of the lot by far though.