What do you think?
The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead
The Return of the Living Dead film series has become one of the most successful zombie movie franchises of all time, gaining cult status across the world and inspiring movies such as 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, and Zombieland. For the first time in 25 years, the cast and crew of all five films in this franchise reveal the stories behind the movies, offering their own opinions and details about life on the sets of some of the most fraught productions in cinema history. Supported by dozens of cast and crew members, The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead features hundreds of previously unreleased behind-the-scenes photographs and exclusive artwork. This eye-catching, comprehensive book is the ultimate celebration of The Return of the Living Dead franchise and all those who contributed to its creation.
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 23, 2020
It's one of my favourite horror movies of all time, so naturally I was going to love this one.
There's lots of up to date interviews with the cast and crew, pre-production sketches and ideas, never before seen photography from behind the scenes and alternative artwork.
It not only goes into detail with the first movie, but all the movies in the franchise.
Top-rated and essential reading for 80's horror movie fans!
More BRAINS! 🧟♂️
There's lots of up to date interviews with the cast and crew, pre-production sketches and ideas, never before seen photography from behind the scenes and alternative artwork.
It not only goes into detail with the first movie, but all the movies in the franchise.
Top-rated and essential reading for 80's horror movie fans!
More BRAINS! 🧟♂️
December 28, 2014
Would have been 5 stars for me if it left out all the sequels. OK, Brian Yuzna's third installment isn't bad, but the rest are trash. Would have loved a book full of nothing but love for Dan O'Bannon's original. Still enjoyed this tribute to my favorite zombie movie -- and one of my Top Five Favorite Horror Movies of All Time -- and I absolutely do not hesitate to recommend it to other fans.
March 7, 2021
Un saggio strepitoso e imperdibile non solo per i fan della saga, ma anche per gli amanti del cinema horror. La storia completa de "Il ritorno dei morti viventi" raccontata direttamente da coloro che l'hanno vissuta! Assolutamente consigliato!
March 27, 2011
This is the first book I have read on the genesis of a film franchise.
May 21, 2023
Finally got around to picking this back up and finishing it.
For parts 1-3 this is a really good oral history of each movie with comments from actors, producers, directors, etc. Lots of really good behind the scenes material.
To be perfectly honest, I skipped the sections on ROTLD 4-5. I just didn’t care.
However, the rest of the book is exactly what I wanted.
For parts 1-3 this is a really good oral history of each movie with comments from actors, producers, directors, etc. Lots of really good behind the scenes material.
To be perfectly honest, I skipped the sections on ROTLD 4-5. I just didn’t care.
However, the rest of the book is exactly what I wanted.
April 21, 2012
Man, what a book. A gift from a friend who actually looked at my Amazon wish list, it was a pleasant surprise. (the tag included the line, "from Bert and the gang". If you've seen the movie, you get the reference) This book is incredible. The interviews are extensive and tell you pretty much everything you would want to know. (note: Director Dan O'Bannon passed on in 2009. So most of his comments are from interviews not performed by the researchers of the book) I would say the first 60% of the book deal with Return 1. Which, of course, makes the most sense and it's a horror classic. Return 2 gets about ~20%, mostly dealing with the "could have beens" of what was planned. Return 3 gets about 15% and then 4 & 5 fill the last part of the book (which is more than they deserve in my not so humble opinion). I honestly don't know what else you could ask for when it comes to the first movie (except maybe for the excellent special edition dvd to be bundled with it. Hey... Marketing device and it would be a darn good one.) The book rightly deals with the last two films very little. Finding out William Butler (from Night of the Living Dead 90 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3) had written up a script that was later butchered into Return 4 & 5 was interesting. It showed how something that seemed like it could have been was destroyed by some idiot who just happened to have the money to purchase a property. If you are a fan of the series, by all means pick it up. If you are only interested, I recommend it also. For the more "restrained" reader, I suggest passing on it. Several pictures of special effects from the films and including deaths and graphic scenes are included, and for those unable to understand or handle that those aren't real should stay away.
January 6, 2012
A great read especially if you're interested in movie making at all. This book goes in depth almost step by step on how to make a horror movie. It also spends alot of time talking about what happens with the sequel process that makes them not so good and rarley to the standards of the original.
December 19, 2011
Highly recommended. It is filled with color photos, conceptual art, info, and trivia. Also, the book is a fantastic tribute to the brilliant Dan O'Bannon.
July 25, 2022
So I have a little confession to make: even though The Return of the Living Dead is my second favorite horror film (behind Evil Dead 2), until I bought this book I had never taken the time to seek out and watch the rest of the movies in the series. I've now seen them all though, along with reading/viewing a bunch of 'making of' stuff, reviews/commentary, and first-time reactions. And my final conclusion is... . . boy, that first one sure was good, wasn't it?
I mean, there are parts of the four sequels that I like, but when 75% of this book is covering those sequels, and only 25% is covering what I'm truly wanting to know more about... well that's how the book ends up getting 4 stars (actually more like 3.5) rather than something higher. Having said that: if you love one or more of these movies, and love reading about behind the scenes stuff, then imo this is worth the (current) $12 for the kindle version (or get the physical version if it isn't prohibitively expensive--it's chock full of color photographs).
As for the actual handling of the subject matter, I thought they did a good job at presenting the information even-handedly, using an oral history style. Sometimes this meant people contradicting each other, and you as the reader were left to discern fact and fiction, but for the most part things seemed to be streamlined down to as close to fact as possible without warping anyone's words to fit a narrative.
I mean, there are parts of the four sequels that I like, but when 75% of this book is covering those sequels, and only 25% is covering what I'm truly wanting to know more about... well that's how the book ends up getting 4 stars (actually more like 3.5) rather than something higher. Having said that: if you love one or more of these movies, and love reading about behind the scenes stuff, then imo this is worth the (current) $12 for the kindle version (or get the physical version if it isn't prohibitively expensive--it's chock full of color photographs).
As for the actual handling of the subject matter, I thought they did a good job at presenting the information even-handedly, using an oral history style. Sometimes this meant people contradicting each other, and you as the reader were left to discern fact and fiction, but for the most part things seemed to be streamlined down to as close to fact as possible without warping anyone's words to fit a narrative.
April 9, 2026
A downright EXCELLENT overview of the entire "Return of the Living Dead" series, replete with hilarious behind the scenes stories galore. By all accounts Dan O'Bannon must've been a terrible director to work with, but the guy clearly knew his stuff (plus, I loved that anecdote at the end about him remodeling his house to better protect it from machine gun fire.) EVERYBODY who had something to do with the series has at least a passing mention here (including Brian Peck, obviously before he became persona non grata) and all the sordid details on the lesser sequels are actually pretty interesting. If you love ROTLD, and you have no reason for not loving at least the first movie, this tell-all is WELL worth going out of your way to read. Even at 600 pages or so, this thing STILL left me wanting more.
February 5, 2021
A brilliant and comprehensive look at the making and marketing of the ROTLD series - even including Necropolis and Rave to the Grave (which felt unnecessary, but hey - they’re part of it). I wasn’t aware previously that Don Calfa auditioned for the doctor role in ROTLD II.
September 12, 2020
Exactly what it says it is, with lots of fun, new little tid bits even if you watched the documentary.
March 30, 2016
For the fan of The Return of the Living Dead saga, this is a must read. Even when discussing the ill-fated Part 2, it makes interesting reading knowing the end result was mostly a train wreck. The original Dan O'Bannon film is a brilliant off-shoot of Romero's Night of the Living Dead. O'Bannon, who wrote Alien BTW, handled the blend of comedy and horror like few have been able to. Truly a fantastic genre piece. And Brian Yuzna came to the rescue with the third film — putting his own gore-drenched spin on things. The nearly 300-page book uses extensive interviews and photos from cast and crew to detail, first hand, the entire 5-film sag — soup to nuts. It's low-budget horror filmaking bliss to a guy like me. Well, except for the abortions of Part 4 and 5 — which should never have been made, period. Thus, my rating falls to 4 stars as those POS films should have been ignored! Totally worth getting your hands on anyway.
April 17, 2013
Recommended for hardcore fans of ROTLD, horror movie buffs and for everyone interested in movie making in general. My only complaints are the low-res of some photographs near the end of the book, some typo and the lack of a hardcover edition. Other than that, this book rocks! A great source of information on the entire franchise and a love letter to Dan O' Bannon most beloved flick!
February 19, 2016
I'm a fan of the first three film's - so, it was a good read about behind the camera of what went on.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews