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We tear into Return of the Living Dead (1985): a punk-fueled horror comedy that dares to say death hurts and backs it with running ghouls, a graveyard party, and a government solution that scorches the earth. We follow Frank, Freddy, and the punk crew from a botched cremation to a nuclear punchline—and find meaning in the mess.

• horror-comedy tone set by warehouse hijinks and Romero nods
• punk characters and a killer soundtrack as atmosphere engines
• Ernie’s Nazi-coded clues and mortuary craft details
• new zombie rules: speed, strategy, dismemberment fails
• Tarman’s entrance and Tina’s narrow escapes
• the half-corpse confession: “the pain of being dead”
• paramedic diagnostics, rigor mortis, and lividity
• Frank’s sacrifice and Freddie’s turn on Tina
• the basement call, military readiness, and the nuke loop
• cultural legacy across punk and death metal sampling

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Next week, we'll dive into the 1980s haunted house thriller, The Changeling

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