Horror reboots and remakes are all the rage these days. What started with remakes of classics like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Black Christmas, and Friday the 13th in the 2000s quickly changed directions to legacy sequels in the mid to late 2010s. This horror renaissance has included the return of Scream, Halloween, and Evil Dead to a ton of critical acclaim. Now, it looks like the zombie classic The Return of the Living Dead is joining the scary fun as a reboot is officially in the works from the appropriately named Living Dead Media.
It’s important to note that this isn’t a remake of the 1985 horror-comedy gem as confirmed by Living Dead Media’s website. The site preview states, “Our reboot of Return of the Living Dead will expand the existing world created by the original 5 films, while staying true to the R-rated, sci-fi, horror, dark comedy roots adored by fans of the cult classic around the world for the last 35 years.” It would continue on saying, “We are excited to resurrect this storied franchise for current fans and new generations of zombie fans.” The project also has a director in Steve Wolsh whose previous work includes Muck and Kill Her Goats.
The Living Dead Can’t Stay Dead For Long
While George A. Romero‘s unrelated Living Dead franchise is the most well known and acclaimed zombie material on the market, The Return of the Living Dead breathed a killer personality all its own. Inspired by films like Night of the Living Dead, Return was this compelling blend of horror-comedy. Something that was very rare for the time the film was made. It both fully embraced the genre with some sick gross out body horror featuring brilliant practical effects work and the campy humor that is inherited by the zombie apocalypse. Return was truly a first of its kind combining genre references, borderline self-aware antics, and bloody good scares into one ghoulishly fun package. It would go on to help inspire other genre classics like Scream and Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives along with modern zombie comedy gems like Zombieland, Anna and the Apocalypse, and The Dead Don’t Die. Return would quickly grow a rapid undead following which ment there would be a handful of sequels to follow. This included Return of the Living Dead Part II, Return of the Living Dead 3, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, and Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave, but nothing has ever come close to matching Dan O’Bannon’s original zombie comedy bite. Because of that, it’s going to be interesting to see what this new reboot will be about and if any of the series’ original stars like Thom Matthews will return for this exciting project.
When Will The Return of the Living Dead Reboot Release?
There’s no release window or date for The Return of the Living Dead reboot yet. However, while horror fans wait for more news on the project, the original released on 4K Blu-ray from Scream Factory late last year and the film is also streaming on Tubi for free.
via Collider