The Return of the Living Dead is a riot.

Starting off with an ’official’ statement that all of the the events seen in the movie are true, it soon follows with a totally outrageous story of a misplaced army canister leaking out experimental gas capable of waking up the dead. Starting off as an unfortunate effect in a small warehouse soon gets out of hand as the substance spreads out, effectively waking up a cemetery full of cadavers, all hungry for brains.

I love the way the movie goes all in with everything it does, the effects are not only done exceptionally well, but they’re also visually pleasing and memorable. The meat locked cadaver, Tarman, army of the living dead and the ’do you wanna party’ skeleton all beat the often poor, potato sack over the head antagonists many films try pass as a horror effect. Much of this outrageous genius must be credited to the director Dan O’Bannon – better known as the writer of Alien and Total Recall – whose pet project the movie was.

The Return of the Living Dead is a rare masterpiece that manages to hit the perfect spot between horror and comedy. If you still haven’t seen it, consider this your cue to do it!

80s-o-meter: 95%

Total: 98%