Brains! That’s what it takes to make a good zombie movie these days. While the horror genre had a renaissance in the early 2000s, the leg-dragging flesh feasters have waned in popularity recently. Writer/Director Steve Wolsh of Living Dead Media is hoping to turn that around with a holiday twist on the Return of The Living Dead franchise. While details on the production are scant, Wolsh is getting some interesting pieces in order.
Wolsh spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and said that the film won’t be a reboot but a sequel to the 1985 original, directed by Dan O’Bannon, and called the installment “a brand new adventure.” He also confirmed that this film will use practical effects and real locations instead of greenscreen, which some may argue has robbed the potency and visceral power of the zombie genre in this century. Wolsh reflected on the practical effects teased in the trailer as a portent for things to come in the finished film, saying:
“Utilizing our widescreen anamorphic lenses, we captured the practical snow effects swirling against the night sky that gives it an amazing look and texture, it’s going to blow people away seeing an entire film made like this.”
The new film is set in a small Pennsylvania town during Christmas 1985 after the events of the original, where two hapless employees accidentally release a corpse-reviver (not the cocktail) into the atmosphere which rains down on a cemetery and causes the dead to deliver on the promise of the title. The franchise has already had four sequels, with Return of the Living Dead Part II in 1988, Return of the Living Dead 3 in 1993, Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave both in 2005.
The Cultural Power of Zombies
The once Haitian folklore turned shambling hordes have brought a lot of fun and social commentary to the big screen. Rather than a single masked slasher representing a lingering societal threat buzzing in the viewers’ minds, the zombie movie reminds us of the overwhelming power of a collective. Themes of racism, consumerism, capitalism, xenophobia and various other societal ills have been given life, so to speak, in zombie films and TV. While the creatures have fallen out of vogue in the latter half of the 2010s, new ventures into the genre have given them renewed promise with shows like The Last of Usand Danny Boyle’s upcoming 28 Years Later. With American wealth inequality on par with the days before the French Revolution, and our civic institutions being gutted and privatized faster than you can say “water crisis”, it will be interesting to see how the zombies reflect our anxieties in new media.
With regards to production, Wolsh has already tapped veteran makeup and special effects wiz Tony Gardner who worked on Zombieland, Army of Darkness, and The Blob to bring the dead to life. The film is scheduled for release Christmas 2025.
