Return of the Living Dead Revival Faces Legal Complications

An attempt to revive the horror-comedy has been delayed.

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Just over a year ago, reports emerged that the 1985 horror-comedy classic Return of the Living Dead was being revived, and now Deadline is reporting that the planned remake is now facing some legal challenges. The plan to revive the concept largely flew under the radar, with the studio that originally claimed to be developing the reboot, Living Dead Media LLC, filing a lawsuit against a newly formed LLC that features members of the cast of the original movie, ROTLD Originals LLC. The lawsuit alleges that ROTLD Originals is attempting to delay any development on a reboot from Living Dead Media. Whatever could come of a Return of the Living Dead reboot, it sounds as though we won't be hearing any updates in the near future.

"Simply being an actor in a film does not grant or convey any particular rights to that character or any other character or any rights to the Original Film, any derivative works, or related intellectual property. [Original star Beverly Dawn Hartley] has no rights, title, or interest in the Original Film," the lawsuit expressed. "Neither Ms. Hartley, ROTLD, nor any of the other purported members have any rights whatsoever in any of the characters or merchandise that is being sold by these licensees."

The lawsuit also claims that the formation of ROTLD is "attempting to interfere with active and existing contracts between LDM and these licensees."

The original Return of the Living Dead was one of the many films that aimed to replicate the popularity of George A. Romero's 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead, which helped popularize the idea of a zombie as being an undead ghoul that fiended for human flesh. While his original movie and the 1978 sequel Dawn of the Dead featured zombies eating humans, Return of the Living Dead specified the monsters' desires for brains. Interestingly, Return is an entirely original adventure, but due to a copyright complication with Romero's first movie, Return was able to directly reference it and even imply that it was a sequel to what happened in that film.

The 1985 movie earned four sequels, the most recent of which was the 2005 entry Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave.

When news of a remake first emerged, Living Dead Media described their approach, "Our reboot of Return of the Living Dead will expand the existing world created by the original 5 films, while staying true to the R-rated, sci-fi, horror, dark comedy roots adored by fans of the cult classic around the world for the last 35 years. We are excited to resurrect this storied franchise for current fans and new generations of zombies fans."

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Stay tuned for updates on the possible future of Return of the Living Dead.

Are you hoping we can get a reboot of the movie? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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