A foreman named Frank shows a new employee, Freddy, a secret military experiment in a supply warehouse, but they accidentally release a gas that resurrects corpses into zombies that want to eat human brains.
Blaine: Early zombie movies like “Last Man on Earth” weren’t exciting or scary enough for audiences until George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”. Zombies would walk around, throw somebody against the wall and choke people, but George A. Romero and his co-writer, John Russo changed all that when they made zombies flesh eaters in “Night of the Living Dead”. That excited people because that’s what it needed. John Russo wanted to carry that on with a sequel called “Return of the Living Dead”. John and George went there separate ways after “Night of the Living Dead” and continued to make other zombie movies. George A. Romero made “Dawn of the Dead” while John Russo had worked on a screenplay for “Return of the Living Dead”. After John had left George A. Romero’s company, he and a few others had formed a new company called New American Films and that’s when John decided to begin pre-production on “Return of the Living Dead”. “Return of the Living Dead” was a title that both John Russo and George A. Romero came up with and the question was who would get the rights to it. They would argue on the phone about who should get the rights to the title and John won the battle, but both John and George remained good friends after that.
John had finished the script for “Return of the Living Dead”, but it needed some more work to it. Dan O’ Bannon, the creator of “Alien”, would get offers to write other movies, but a lot of them weren’t his type. Then “Return of the Living Dead” came and Dan thought of it as something he’d be ok with. Dan didn’t like the script that much so he made a lot of changes to it. “An American Werewolf in London” became an influence that horror movies can also be funny and that made Dan O’ Bannon add humor to “Return of the Living Dead”.
The next thing was to find a director, but no one was interested in directing it, so Dan O’ Bannon decided to direct the film himself. Dan had never directed a film before, but his vision was clear on how “Return of the Living Dead” should look. Dan knew the first thing he was going to need was a production designer to help him bring his vision to life. He hired William Stout, who drew several designs on how the zombies should look. William Stout had also done some research on mummy corpses and showed pictures of them to Dan. It was clear to Dan that he wanted the zombies to look like that.
After Dan O’ Bannon agreed to direct the project, they started putting a ensemble of actors together. Thom Mathews was really prepared when he went in to audition for the role of Freddy. He even pierced his ear because Freddy has a pierced ear, but what Thom didn’t know was that there was a way you can make it look fake. Thom Mathews had worked so hard at becoming an actor and they say he did a good job catching up with the older actors he shot scenes with. He really knew what he was doing.
They went through a lot of young actresses for Tina and the role of Tina would require someone beautiful who could scream. Beverly Randolph went in to audition and she had what they were looking for. The most challenging thing for Thom was working with Beverly because she was so beautiful to look at for him and he might have had a huge crush on her. Dan had sent Thom and Beverly on a date together in order to get to know each other sense they were going to be working together.
Miguel A. Nunez was homeless when he moved to Los Angeles. He needed a job and lucky thing for him he got cast in “Return of the Living Dead” as Spider. He had charm, a lot of energy and was funny. Miguel was happy to get the job so that way he could get off the streets and move into an apartment. Dan had met Jewel Shepard at a strip joint and he offered her the role of Trash because he saw her naked. But Jewel was sick and tired of being naked. She read the script and felt that Casey was more her type of character and Dan was ok with that.
Brian Peck had done some roles where he played the nerd and he wanted to do something completely new. A friend of Brian’s had recommended that he audition for “Return of the Living Dead” because it was something he would go for. Brian’s agent said he didn’t look like the punk type, but ignored him. Brian’s friend was more helpful to him because she got a call back and she brought a picture of Brian with her and showed it to the casting director. They called Brian in to audition after they saw his picture and he was acting like a guy with attitude. After that they felt Brian was a perfect choice and so they cast him.
The actress who got cast as Trash had to cancel because she was pregnant. The casting director had recommended Linnea Quigley because she had cast her in the slasher film “Silent Night Deadly Night” and she thought Linnea would be perfect for Trash. Linnea was happy to be a part of a project like this because she was a fan of “Night of the Living Dead”. A lot of actresses who auditioned for Trash didn’t think they would feel comfortable stripping down naked because in the movie Trash fools around by dancing and taking off all her clothes. Linnea was the only one who had no trouble stripping down.
James Karen went to Dan O’Bannon telling him he wanted the part of Frank, the foreman. James was a great character actor and had a lot of energy for acting because he loved it so much. Don Calfa was on top of the list for Ernie because they loved his wide eyes and that’s what got him the job. Clu Gulager was the last person who was added to the ensemble. It was interesting for Clu to be apart of a movie like this because he had never done a horror movie before in his career. Clu asked Dan O'Bannon why he wanted him to play Burt, the man in charge? Dan wanted Clu because he was an experienced actor along with James Karen and Don Calfa. The actors had two weeks of rehearsal together before principal photography began and Dan was with them as a guide. Everyone learned their lines and they had a bonding experience. The only two actors who weren’t around during rehearsal was Clu Gulager and Allan Trautman (Tarman). When it came to shooting, Clu didn’t know what to do because he didn’t rehearse with the other actors.
My favorite scene with Dan Calfa
The Tarman zombie made a mark in cinematic history because at the time no one had seen a zombie that looked as real as Tarman. Dan wanted the Tarman zombie to be smart to know how to walk up a stairs and figure out a way to break down a door to get his prey. Allan Trautman, the actor who played the Tarman, was a puppeteer at the time, but he did some acting as well. They kept Allan and Beverly Randolph away from each other until the cameras started rolling so that way when Beverly sees the Tarman for the first time her shocking reaction is real. Beverly got a little injury from her hip to her ankle while they were shooting a scene. She runs up the stairs trying to get away from the Tarman, then the stairs brake and she falls to the ground.
They rented a lot of tombstones from Universal Studios for the graveyard in the movie. Dan didn’t want the zombies to have injuries on them because he felt that would be copying from George A. Romero’s “Day of the Dead”.
Shooting the graveyard scene in the rain was difficult for the actors because it was cold and wet. It’s interesting that they had to shoot sixteen hours for a scene that is only a minute long. Dan wanted to keep doing the scene differently especially when Beverly falls into the muddy water. It was torture for Linnea Quigley because she was half naked during that scene and she was freezing to death. The extras who played the zombies would tackle Linnea in that scene. Linnea would be drowning in the mud and then she would scream saying “there’s a person under here and you guys are hurting me!” Beverly Randolph screamed and cried so many times while they were shooting that she couldn’t do it for two years after “Return of the Living Dead” had wrapped.
There was times Dan O’Bannon was rough with some of the actors and also putting too much pressure on them. Clu and Dan didn’t get along so well while they were shooting and Clu felt that Dan didn’t know what he was doing as a director. Clu had some ideas of how a scene should go, but Dan never used them. Clu would tell Dan he doesn’t have any respect for actors. And then there was a time that Clu just lost it and tried to attack Dan with a baseball bat. Everyone around them wasn’t trying to stop Clu because they all had rage for Dan as well. Dan was a first time director and he was doing everything he could to make “Return of the Living Dead” look good. Dan O’Bannon background was writing screenplays.
Earlier zombie movies like “Night of the Living Dead”, “Dawn of the Dead” and “Day of the Dead” didn’t have zombies that could talk, think, or run at a fast pace. Zombies also didn’t go for the brains, they wanted flesh and that surprised audiences that the zombies went for something else.
Freddy turns into a zombie and that was a lot of work for Thom Mathews because he was supposed to be chasing Beverly Randolph around and he could hardly see with the prosthetics the makeup department had put over his eyes. Don Calfa’s character throws acid on Freddy once he goes mad. They put slits in the prosthetics so that Thom could see a little better of where he was going. They would open a tad whenever he would open his mouth wide.
James Karen had recommended that his character, Frank, kill himself by going into the incinerator and cremate himself because he can’t stand the pain he is in of becoming a zombie. In the script it said that Frank waits for the nuke to come down because at the end of the film the army nukes the town where the zombies are in. James Karen thought it would be a quicker way to cremate himself.
"Return of the Living Dead” was shot in six weeks and after it had wrapped the question was brought to mind if audiences would like it? For some it was hard to follow because they couldn’t understand it was a comedy or a horror. “Return of the Living Dead” got positive reviews and became a box office hit. Dan O’Bannon was frustrated that the things he wanted didn’t get to be in the movie after it was complete. But after the films success and as time went on, the anger went away and Dan was proud of what he made.
My rating on “Return of the Living Dead” is five out of five stars.
