The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Film Title: The Return of the Living Dead
Released: August 16, 1985
Directed by: Dan O'Bannon
Written by: Dan O'Bannon, based on a story by Rudy Ricci, John A. Russo, & Russell Streiner
Starring: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa & Thom Matthews

Plot: When a military canister breaks open and releases a  mysterious gas into the air, the dead begin to rise from the grave, hungry for brains!

IMDb: 7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 90/100
My Score: 3/5

The movie that introduced specifically brain eating zombies, the Return of the Living Dead spawned a franchise that has so far spanned five films. The story centers around three men and a group of teenage punk rockers caught up in a tide of reanimated corpses. The overall performance of the ensemble cast isn't the greatest acting that you'll ever see but certainly isn't the worst, either. The soundtrack features such notable punk bands as the Damned, the Cramps, T.S.O.L., 45 Grave, and the Flesh Eaters as well as Roky Erickson and SSQ. After he and George Romero parted company after Night of the Living Dead, John Russo kept the rights to the name Living Dead for any future projects. Using the novel of the same name Russo had written as a basis, Tobe Hooper was set to direct the feature before backing out to direct Lifeforce instead. Brought in to polish the script, Dan O'Bannon was offered the director's chair and accepted, with his only stipulation being that he got to do some drastic rewrites to the script to distance the material from Romero's series. To that end, the finished product bears very little resemblance to Russo's novel or Romero's films and includes nudity (if only from one character), moments of slapstick and an overall more darkly comedic tone. The standout zombie effects are that of "Tarman," performed by puppeteer Allan Trautman, and "Half-Corpse," an animatronic puppet created and performed by Tony Gardner (read more about his impressive career here). It was nominated for four Saturn Awards: Best Horror Film, Best Actor (James Karen), Best Director (Dan O'Bannon) and Best Make-Up. Watch the trailer below or the full movie here.