Directed by Bill Philputt
Starring: Cast of Return of the Living Dead
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 240 minutes
Overall score: 4 out of 5 stars
If you are horror fan then it’s simple… you love zombie movies. Everyone loves zombies. It is something about them every since George Romero brought them into the spotlight in the late 60’s. “Return of the Living Dead” one the horror gems and has become a major cult classic and legacy in the genre. The film has spawned four sequels and has one hell of a following. The feature “More Brains! A Return To The Living Dead” proposes itself as the definitive “Return of The Living Dead”. It does that in fact and more. It focuses solely on the first film and comes together as a great documentary. The team behind this film has done previous genre documentary like “His Name is Jason” and “Never Sleep Again”. This one definitely stands out as their best work.
This film gathers amazing interviews from the cast and crew of the film starting with Writer/Director Dan O’Bannon, Co-producer Graham Henderson and the cast Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Beverly Randolph, Thom Mathews, John Philbin, Jewel Shepard, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Allan Trautman, as well as many of the special effects team. It presents some amazing stories from the film that I never knew as well as archive footage from the shoot. The stories are fun and it looks like the cast/crew is having a really good time. I honestly can’t wait to see what these guys are going to do next. Would love their take on a documentary about “The Exorcist” or “Halloween”.
The special features are packed and include ANOTHER two hours of footage. The first is called “A Conversation with Dan O’Bannon: The Final Interview” and it covers his experience working on the film. Great stuff. Next up, we have coverage about the 2nd and 3rd films in “They Won’t Stay Dead: A Look at Return of the Living Dead Part II” and “Love Beyond the Grave: A Look at Return of the Living Dead 3”. I think the coverage from the second film is a bit of a downer, it seems like it was a bad experience. I think about Roy Schneider talking about “Jaws 2” compares to “Jaws”. The third film has always had a special place for me and I love Brian Yunza. I am surprised but not shocked that there is no mention at all on the disc about the 4th and 5th film in the series. But like any respecting horror fan, I just ask myself…”What 4th and 5th film?” The music video for Stacey Q’s “Tonight” is cheesy but you can’t help but love that song (and think about the graveyard dance scene). “Even More Brains: Deleted Documentary Interviews” covers alternate footage cut from the film but it works really well. I am happy with the flow of the film though and think it was well cut. “Return of the Living Dead in 3 Minutes” features the cast today revisiting lines from the film during their interviews. Very funny. “Resurrected Settings: The Filming Locations Today” takes us back to the sets from the film and it is cool to see where it was shot.
