The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
The Return of the Living Dead
Comedy · Horror · Science Fiction · 1985
Two employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a toxic gas from a misplaced top-secret U.S. Army shipment, causing the dead to rise from a nearby cemetery with an insatiable hunger for human brains.
Movie details
The Return of the Living Dead
“They're back from the grave and ready to party!”
1985 Comedy · Horror · Science Fiction 1h 31m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.2 / 10
Community rating
Two employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a toxic gas from a misplaced top-secret U.S. Army shipment, causing the dead to rise from a nearby cemetery with an insatiable hunger for human brains.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Return of the Living Dead?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
What We Do in the Shadows
Comedy · 2014
Vampire housemates try to cope with the complexities of modern life and show a newly turned hipster some of the perks of being undead.
Dawn of the Dead
Horror · 2004
A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.
Night of the Creeps
Horror · 1986
In 1959, an alien experiment crashes to earth and infects a fraternity member. They freeze the body, but in the modern day, two geeks pledging a fraternity accidentally thaw the corpse, which proceeds to infect the campus with parasites that transform their hosts into killer zombies.
An American Werewolf in London
Comedy · 1981
American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.
Dawn of the Dead
Horror · 1978
During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
Burke & Hare
Comedy · 2010
Two 19th-century opportunists become serial killers so that they can maintain their profitable business supplying cadavers to an anatomist.
Slither
Horror · 2006
A small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.
The Void
Mystery · 2016
In the middle of a routine patrol, officer Daniel Carter happens upon a blood-soaked figure limping down a deserted stretch of road. He rushes the young man to a nearby rural hospital staffed by a skeleton crew, only to discover that patients and personnel are transforming into something inhuman. As the horror intensifies, Carter leads the other survivors on a hellish voyage into the subterranean depths of the hospital in a desperate bid to end the nightmare before it's too late.
Die Alone
Horror · 2024
Lost in a world reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, Ethan, a young man with amnesia navigates the dangerous landscape in search of his lost love Emma. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he encounters Mae, a hardened and eccentric survivor. Together, Ethan and Mae face threats both human and otherwise before a fateful encounter with Kai unravels a secret that lies just beyond Ethan's fractured memory.
Frankenhooker
Comedy · 1990
A medical school dropout loses his fiancée in a tragic lawnmower incident and decides to bring her back to life. Unfortunately, he was only able to save her head, so he goes to the red light district in the city and lures prostitutes into a hotel room so he can collect body parts to reassemble her.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Dan O'Bannon
Written by
Dan O'Bannon · Rudy Ricci · John A. Russo · Russell Streiner
Clu Gulager
Burt
James Karen
Frank
Don Calfa
Ernie
Thom Mathews
Freddy
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.
Spider
Brian Peck
Scuz
John Philbin
Chuck
Court is in session
Put The Return of the Living Dead on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.