10 Zombie Movie Horror Fates Worse Than Death

10. Being Trapped By This B*stard! - The Return Of The Living Dead

Zombieland movie
Orion Pictures

Even though the movie itself is delivered with its tongue firmly in its cheek, the comedic elements of The Return of the Living Dead still can't stop certain scenes from being completely and utterly terrifying.

Case in point: Tarman.

Reanimated and with his skin having melted off, Tarman is an eerie proposition just for his sheer appearance. And for Beverly Randolph's Tina, she's left shrieking in terror after the mangled, skinless form of Tarman turns up behind her on his quest to eat brains.

Thinking on her feet, Tina takes refuge in a nearby locker, but she's then trapped as this hungry fella continues to demand her grey matter as his next meal. Not just that, the rescue bid from Tina's pals ends up with Suicide being attacked by Tarman and then having his brains eaten.

At having to witness this, one would imagine that the panicked Tina was wishing for a quick death while she was trapped inside her locker. Instead, that death came for all of the inhabitants of Louisville, when the military's answer to their zombie problem was to just simply nuke the whole town.

As for Tarman, he, too, was likely wishing for his own permanent death, rather than what he was turned into.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.