10 More Apocalypse Horrors That Broke All The Rules

In the grand pantheon of zombie films, The Return of the Living Dead doesn't get nearly enough credit for bringing a level of dimension and depth to the subgenre worthy of George A. Romero himself.

Even beyond its pulpy, comedic tone, wild cast of cartoonish characters and absolutely sublime creature effects, The Return of the Living Dead radically remixed the typical presentation of the undead horde.

For starters, the film originated the concept of zombies eating brains rather than mere human flesh, introduced zombies who couldn't be killed by gunshots to the head, and was also the first major zombie flick to feature the undead sprinting after their victims.

But its most memorable and existentially terrifying idea? That the zombies can feel themselves rotting from the inside and can only relieve the intense pain of being dead by eating brains.

That it manages to play with such genuinely grim, bleak ideas while still being a playful and often gut-bustingly hilarious movie is nothing short of a minor miracle.