Halloween Countdown (Day 13: Brains)

I had a choice of three films to watch for tonight, and my choice was based on what was the outcome of the Ireland vs Germany match. If Ireland drew (which was the most realistic for the team), I would proceed to SAW 5. If they won, I would have gone for Elvira's Haunted Hills for the laugh (but Ireland winning would have been unrealistic). But they lost. Badly. So what would help cheer me up from not just a loss, but an embarrassing result? A film I only saw two months ago, and thought it was hilarious. Granted I was drunk at the time, so at least this time around, it'll be almost new to me.

Final result: "Return Of The Living Dead". Oh yes, there will be spoilers.

91 minutes later.....

I haven't watched the documentary that's featured on the disc about the making of ROTLD, but glancing at the first three minutes, someone mentioned that the film was a send up to zombie movies in the style of Airplane! I thought the exact same thing when I watched this movie. It's so over the top, laugh out loud funny, and very strange. Yet it did have some strong scenes that, given their serious tone, would have been effective if the rest of the movie played it out straight. But their inclusion in this flick just adds another level of weirdness.

The film is colourful, from the characters, fashion, and the settings, which does compliment the cartoon feel of the film. The music is strangely upbeat, while it does fit the style of the gang of friends (think a punk gang mixed with the cast of Happy Days), it just takes away any suspense and danger the zombies bring, and replaces it with a slapstick feel to the movie. On paper, that last part may sound a bit stupid, but it actually works.

Sure the acting is amateurish, the story a little stupid, the dialogue is horrendous (yet quotable), and the zombies come in various degrees of impressive to just plain stupid. But hey, it's that type of movie. Just add in humour, cheap thrills, and gratuitious amounts of gore and nudity, and you got yourself a fun little horror B-movie. On drugs. You may not remember the names of all the characters, but they are all recognisable, and you just end up giving them alternate names in order to remember them. Like the guy who reminded me of Rick James.

"Rick James" and Trash, in one of the very few scenes where she is fully clothed.

All these elements make the film a joy to watch, and while I'd be interested to see why some of the people in that documentary were considering it a serious, scary movie, I get the feeling I'd just laugh at them for thinking that. Sure Airplane! did have a serious storyline going through it, and the situation itself is pretty terrifying. But c'mon, it was a spoof of the movie Airport, and ROTLD is (in my eyes anyway) a complete pisstake on a genre spearheaded by "Night Of The Living Dead". And I love spoof movies when they get the humour and the tone right.

However, there were a couple of parts to the movie that took me by surprise, as I have seen the influence this movie has on the image and stereotypes of zombies after its release. For starters, I found out that this movie had running zombies long before the "28 Days..." duo of films. I also found out that the band Send More Paramedics got their name from this movie. But the one thing blew me away was the origin of the most commonly used phrase in relation to zombies. It only dawned on me that, while this one word was synonymous within the zombie genre, I never knew where its origin came from. And that is, a zombie uttering the word "brains".

"BBBRRRIIIAAANNNSSS" said the dyslexic zombie.

As I said, when I saw this first, I was very inebriated, but the one scene that not only made me laugh, but exclaim "what the f**k" out loud (besides the scene where the mortician cuts the leg of his trousers, during an awkward silence when talking about his "favour"), was the ending. Not only was it so over the top, and overly ridiculous, but it's one step above "it was all a dream" in terms of rubbish, lazy endings. But I find that decision a stroke of genius.

Sure it's trying to set itself up for a sequel, and depending on the film, could backfire if the film flopped (see "critical" flop "X-Men: Last Stand"), or just piss off the viewer when they have to wait another few years for a sequel or three to tie up any loose ends (see "Prometheus".....not literally, I mean take that movie as an example, DON'T watch it, if you haven't already).

Okay so it did spawn a few more sequels in the end, but if none were made after this, or if you didn't watch the sequels, whether through indifference, refusal, or just not getting around to viewing them, it's still a fun ending in the B-Movie sense, where evil still survives in the end. But I just thought it was a funny ending, because it's so stupid. It actually left me with a shocked expression on my face, but I couldn't help but laugh.

I should mention that when I saw it first, it was a one-off late night screening in a cinema in town, on the same day as the yearly Zombie Walk in town. I bumped into a casual acquaintance, who told me it was her favourite zombie flick. She also told me that this was written by the co-writer of NOTLD, which at the time I thought was written solely by George A. Romero. I still can't believe it even to this day.

And on a final note.....

In honour of the guy who played "Rick James". Hell, I'll even dedicate it to Rick James.....bitch.