Reagan-era Romero Lite, an inaugural directorial foray from a screenwriter-by-trade capable of such divergent product as "Dark Star" and "Alien". This splits the difference between the wit and the gore while basically dispensing with terror altogether: there's too much distanced goofiness to feel much. Instead, it's a punk-rock zombie party, and as such it rocks the house, with hilarious dialogue from humans and zombies alike and social commentary limited to general contempt for bosses, cops and nuclear weapons. The screaming and general chaos do get a bit static toward the finish line, but by then a great deal of good will has been generated with the multifarious sight gags. Naming them seems redundant, because they're so iconic - the half-dog, the headless yellow zombie, the 'rabid weasels', the re-animated butterfly board. And, of course, the greatest sight gag of them all, Linnea Quigley as the stripper-punk-zombie-icon, exactly the focal point the movie needed.
Review of The Return of the Living Dead
