Cinema has forever changed our perception of zombies. Ever since the release of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in 1968, they’ve gone from beings associated with Haitian voodoo to undead creatures that feed on human flesh. While it was Romero’s subsequent zombie films, like Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, which brought the image of a zombie horde into the public consciousness, it was 43 years ago that another classic zombie trope was born. Released August 16th, 1985, The Return of the Living Dead introduced zombies that were hungry for brains. Nowadays, it’s something of a cliche. If you ask anyone on the street to do a zombie impression, chances are they’ll shuffle around, groaning “brains…”
It was The Return of the Living Dead which popularized that idea, but the reason the zombies eat brains in the film is in fact much more complex than you might think. That’s one of the reasons The Return of the Living Dead has become a cult classic. Despite its name, The Return of the Living Dead is not a true sequel to Night of the Living Dead. In fact, in the world of Return, Night of the Living Dead was only a movie, but it was one based on true events.
As Frank reveals, the event was covered up by the government after a chemical spill revived dead bodies in a morgue, leading to that same chemical, Trioxin (and the remaining dead bodies), being shipped to Uneeda Medical Supply. The horror of the film kicks off when the Trioxin ends up being opened, reviving more cadavers and infecting both Frank and his new employee. But when the final body is incinerated, its ashes wake the dead from a nearby cemetery.
This, of course, leads to mass chaos as the undead take over the town. But The Return of the Living Dead is far from your typical zombie movie. Not only does it have great practical effects, but it has a heavy punk rock influence, which sets it apart. This is evident in both the film’s metal soundtrack and the ways many of the characters dress. Characters like the aptly named Trash and Suicide sport colorful hair and piercings. It’s their love for the macabre that leads them to the cemetery in which they’re attacked.
And they’re all likable characters too, both the punks and the Uneeda employees. You want to see them win against the zombies, which makes seeing Frank and Freddy slowly turn into the undead all the more tragic. As for the ending? It’s as shocking as it is bleak, and serves as a perfect example of just how wild Return of the Living Dead gets. For this reason, it’s fondly remembered by horror fans, but the film also made an important contribution to zombie mythology.
If George Romero’s Living Dead films popularized the idea of zombies eating flesh, then The Return of the Living Dead popularized them going specifically after brains. It’s arguably the Tarman’s sequence which made it iconic. The Tarman, the nickname given to a particularly drippy-looking zombie in the movie, at one point attacks the punks in the basement of Uneeda, where he says his only line: “BRAINS!”
Really, all the undead are after brains in this film. But the reason for it is more tragic than you’d expect. As one zombie woman reveals, actually speaking in full sentences, being dead is a painful experience. It’s only by eating brains that the pain is suppressed. This reasoning makes Return’s living dead feel surprisingly complex. They’re not just mindless monsters. They have a reason for what they do, and even show intelligence, such as in how they manipulate the police to their location.
43 years ago, while the complexity behind it may be lost, zombies will forever be associated with eating brains. Maybe because the idea is as fun as it is disgusting. It’s important to recognize, however, where that trope came from, and The Return of the Living Dead is more than worth the watch to do so.
