“Send more cops!”
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD screens this Friday and Saturday nights (July 5th and 6th) at The Tivoli Theater as part of their ‘Reel Late at The Tivoli’ Midnight Series. A Facebook invite for the screening can be found HERE
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1984) was a spin-off of the Living Dead series that resulted from the sharing of copyright between George Romero and NIGHT FO THE LIVING DEAD co-writer John Russo. While Romero went to continue the narrative with DAWN OF THE DEAD and DAY OF THE DEAD, both bleak social satire/horrors, Russo undertook a humorous and far more chaotic reprise of the original story. Russo wisely teamed with writer/director Dan O’ Bannon (a St. Louis native!), who pulled out all the stops for one gut-buster of an entertaining horror film. From a strip tease in a graveyard by Scream Queen Linnea Quigley to a massive showdown between the zombies and the law, and a way-over-the-top climax, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD is a pinnacle of pitch-black zany humor. There’s nothing funnier than James Karen beating the split dog with a crutch or Clu Gulager uttering hilarious throw away lines, like, “Great, it hurts to be dead” and “We lied those aren’t rabid weasels”. The more I think about it, the funnier it gets.
Unlike Romero’s zombies the ones in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD move relatively fast and can speak (they use police radios, like a takeout service, to call for more reinforcements). Head shots don’t do them in any more, since even their severed body parts can move and grasp at prey. Thankfully they’re not just good make-up effects, but also have distinct personalities that add tremendously to the film’s fun value. And RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD is a lot of fun, full of good humor and tongue-in-cheek genre touches (like the graveyard being named as ‘Resurrection Cemetry’). Russo, O’Bannon and the cast seemed to have had a great time making it and you’ll have a great time seeing it on the big screen again when RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD plays midnights this weekend at The Tivoli
Admission is $8. Hope to see everyone this weekend at The Tivoli!
Here’s the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight schedule for next weeks:
July 12-13 PAPRIKA
The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO.
