The Authentic Zombie Genre In Return Of The Living Dead

John Russo, in his film Return of The Living Dead, intermixes comedy, punk, and horror in order to add a new twist to the authentic zombie genre, originally established by Romero’s film Night of the Living Dead. Through dark humor and cockamamie characters, Return of the Living Dead comments on anti-military sentiment, dishevel at the workplace, and notion of mortality-by the means of being dead but alive. In the film’s early scenes, older coworker Frank puts the U.S military’s constancy up for examination when he leads Freddy into the basement in an effort to impress him. Convincing Freddy that Romero’s film was based on true events despite one fact; the cause of the zombie epidemic was an “experimental chemical weapon” 245 Trioxin. A weapon

Starting the film with punk rocker Freddy getting a job, alone, is a representation of this because of the idea that “punks seemingly opt out” of these types of scenarios.(Combined and Uneven Apocalypse 118) Also there's the fact that Freddy and Frank released a toxin that in turn contaminated the whole town. Subsequent to the contamination the two go up stairs and try to mask the incident with some deodorant. A reasonable response to the situation is Freddy’s frantic cursing. However, when Frank warns him to “ watch [his] tongue...if [he] likes this job,” one can’t help but be disoriented by the abnormality of his priorities. ( Return of the Living Dead) Frank’s attempt to conceal the smell of the chemicals and concern for Freddy’s language symbolizes America’s work values and are instilled so deeply that even on the “worst day of work...an ideology of respect and worry about the job you have: in the midst of a soon to come zombie apocalypse.”(Combined and Uneven Apocalypse pg 119) Adding to the unprofessionalism that can be found at the workplace, is the boss Burt’s unconventional attempt at resolving the situation. Burt relies solely on the details and tactics of Romero’s characters in the film, Night of the Living Dead, in order to regulate. In an effort to straighten out the scene while preserving the company’s notoriety, Burt turns to long time friend and cremator, Ernie to