Return of the Living Dead Revisited

Back in 1985, one movie that provided me with a lot of entertainment was a cheesy little zombie movie called "The Return of the Living Dead." Dan O'Bannon, one of the original writers for George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," the classic zombie film of 1968, decided to have some fun with the concept, so he created this movie that took some funny liberties with the horror genre. Unlike the original, ultra-serious black and white shocker, this update was an outrageous full-color comedy that utilized a rock and roll soundtrack, and naked girl zombie with an punk rock attitude. When a couple of bumbling idiots at medical supply warehouse accidentally unleashed a highly-experimental gas into the atmosphere, corpses were transformed into animated zombies, looking for their favorite meal- human brains. Massive chaos took place as the zombies overwhelmed the living, killing people for food. As police were sent to subdue these vicious zombies, the officers were rapidly killed and consumed by the living dead.

Discovering an easy way to have their food delivered, the zombies entered the patrol cars of the dead policemen, and made a simple request- "Send more cops."

I can't help but think about the parallels of this movie and the current situation in Iraq. Here's part of a message I received on Tuesday from the folks at ActForChange.com that inspired my recollection:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Heavy fighting has begun again in Fallujah and the Shiite holy city of Najaf. The fighting is likely to be so brutal that we will destroy the cities in order to save them. And it seems certain that hundreds of American soldiers will die and thousands of Iraqis - both insurgents and civilian bystanders - will die uncounted.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. Special Envoy to Iraq, is hard at work attempting to piece together a coalition government that can take sovereignty from the United States. He has argued that this is not possible if American troops go on the offensive again. There must be a political solution, and the negotiations now under way must be given sufficient time to succeed.

The attacks on Najaf and Fallujah will serve no one except the most extreme elements, cost lives unnecessarily, and work against the Bush Administration's stated goal of transferring power to an interim government on June 30th.

http://act.actforchange.com/cgi-bin7/DM/y/mYo70Geq7g0Kt50mN20B6

http://www.actforchange.com

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