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The Return of the Living Dead poster

Movies that feel likeThe Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Two employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a toxic gas from a misplaced top-secret U.S. Army shipment, causing the dead to rise from a nearby cemetery with an insatiable hunger for human brains.

If you loved The Return of the Living Dead, the closest films we have are Re-Animator (1985), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and The Day of the Beast (1995). All three share The Return of the Living Dead's dread and unsettling feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Sightseers (2012).

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If The Return of the Living Dead hit the spot, these will too

Re-Animator poster
Re-Animator
1985 · dir. Stuart Gordon
🍅 88%★ 7.1science fiction · comedy · horror

Common ground in both: halloween and zombie

The difference: Goes its own way on the dark humor

Conducting clandestine experiments within the morgue at Miskatonic University, scientist Herbert West reveals to a fellow graduate student his groundbreaking work concerning the re-animation of fresh corpses.

Dawn of the Dead poster
Dawn of the Dead
1978 · dir. George A. Romero
🍅 92%★ 7.8horror · science fiction

Common ground: dark comedy

During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.

The Day of the Beast poster
The Day of the Beast
1995 · dir. Álex de la Iglesia
🍅 77%★ 7.3horror · comedy · actionPrime Video

Both keep coming back to the same thing: dark comedy

The difference: Played as action first

When a rogue priest discovers the exact date the Antichrist will be born, he enlists a Death Metal record store clerk and a cheesy TV psychic for an urban spree of gore, sacrilege and twisted humor to prevent the Apocalypse.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show poster
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975 · dir. Jim Sharman
🍅 82%★ 7.4comedy · science fiction · horrorRent or buy

One thread runs through both: halloween

After getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr Frank-N-Furter and a variety of eccentric characters. Through elaborate dance and rock music, the mad scientist unveils his latest creation: a perfect, muscular man.

Tremors poster
Tremors
1990 · dir. Ron Underwood
🍅 88%★ 7.2comedy · horror · science fictionPeacock

Both land wit and play at once

Val McKee and Earl Bassett are in a fight for their lives when they discover that their desolate town has been infested with gigantic, man-eating creatures that live below the ground.

Sightseers poster
Sightseers
2012 · dir. Ben Wheatley
🍅 86%★ 6.5comedy · romance · horror

The same mix in both: dread, then unease

The difference: 27 years apart, and the 2010s show

Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn.

Fright Night poster
Fright Night
1985 · dir. Tom Holland
🍅 83%★ 7.1comedy · horror

Witty comedy, and it commits to that

Charley Brewster, a high school student, accidentally discovers the true and creepy nature of Jerry Dandrige, his dashing and enigmatic new neighbor; but no one seems willing to believe him.

The Fearless Vampire Killers poster
The Fearless Vampire Killers
1967 · dir. Roman Polanski
🍅 73%★ 7comedy · horror

Horror with a pulse of play, in both cases

A noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice fall prey to their inquiring vampires, while on the trail of the ominous damsel in distress.

Dawn of the Dead poster
Dawn of the Dead
2004 · dir. Zack Snyder
🍅 77%★ 7.2horror · science fiction · actionStarz

Cerebral where it counts, darkly funny underneath

A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.

Phantasm poster
Phantasm
1979 · dir. Don Coscarelli
🍅 72%★ 6.6horror · science fictionPrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: cemetery

A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.

The Bar poster
The Bar
2017 · dir. Álex de la Iglesia
🍅 100%★ 6.3horror · thriller · comedy

Both lean on dread more than on science fiction

The difference: Reviewed even better

In downtown Madrid, a series of mysterious gunshots trap a motley assortment of people in a decrepit bar.

Happy Death Day 2U poster
Happy Death Day 2U
2019 · dir. Christopher Landon
🍅 73%★ 6.2comedy · horror · science fictionNetflix

The same preoccupation in both: campy

Collegian Tree Gelbman wakes up in horror to learn that she's stuck in a parallel universe. Her boyfriend Carter is now with someone else, and her friends and fellow students seem to be completely different versions of themselves. When Tree discovers that Carter's roommate has been altering time, she finds herself once again the target of a masked killer. When the psychopath starts to go after her inner circle, Tree soon realizes that she must die over and over again to save everyone.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Return of the Living Dead’s defining feeling.