everyday is halloween!

 the return of the living dead [1985]

a young punk rocker gets a job in a medical supply warehouse.  his boss is having a great time showing the young man the ropes.  how to fill out the paperwork.  what kind of inventory, such as cadavers for the U.S. military & medical research, taxidermized dogs sliced in half & mounted on display stands [for, again, medical research], human skeletons, etc etc.  so far, an ordinary shift in a somewhat scuzzy warehouse.  but wait!  there's more!  the boss tells our young punk that the movie, Night of the Living Dead [1968], george a romero's groundbreaking zombie movie, is based on a true story.  the U.S. military created a way to reanimate dead human beings by a chemical gas &/or solvent.  now those 'zombies' are stored in the basement of this warehouse.  does the punk wanna see?  oh boy!  does he!

meanwhile, the pumker's friends are driving around aimlessly waiting for their pal to get off work.  they decide to spend the remainder of their waiting time in a nearby graveyard.  so punk!  back inside the basement the young punk asks his boss is it safe to store these containers with the bodies of the military experiments.  the boss reassures the young man that these canisters were manufactured by the U.S. Army.  they are safe.  BANG! goes his fist against the side of the canister storing a once reanimated human being.  & lo!  the gas leaks from the old container & the shit hits the fan!

& yet this is not your ordinary zombie movie.  written & directed by dan o'bannon, who, among many of his movies & screenplays, penned the great gothic horror movie in space where no one can hear you scream, Alien [1979], this flick is playful, goofy & satirical.  it is a punk rock movie where its tone is remarkably similar to Repo Man [1984].  no fucks are given.  authority is questioned & often mocked.  while taking in the zeitgeist of its era, i.e. nuclear war fears as well as detailing the fuck-it-all deviltry common to punk, & other kinds of, subcultures of the mid-1980s.  

this flick also boasts a killer score that has become standard on halloween mixtapes.  the songs on the soundtrack deliver the goods as well, with tracks by T.S.O.L., the cramps, 45 grave et al.  this is a funny flick & fun to watch in its nihilistic glee.  another thing is that o'bannon gave his zombies the ability to talk, use tools, & possess an appetite for BRAINS!  the zombies in this movie are no dummies.  they even organize to create more opportunities to feast on our grey matter!

this flick has become a classic of the spooky season.  many great character actors, like clu galager, james karen, & don calfa, are in on the madness.  the young punks are essayed by the likes of thom mathews, miguel a. nunez, jr. & linnea quigley et al.  pure popcorn goodness!  scary?  sure.  but even more so is this flicks raison d'etre.  be bold, be wild, be crazy, be goofy, & have a great time!  you want more than that?  i want your BRAINS!

boo!