Return Of The Living Dead’s Brian Peck
In 1985, the world of the undead was changed forever when Dan O’Bannon’s horror-comedy Return Of The Living Dead hit theaters. More than two decades later, the film lives on as a cult classic and arguably one of the most influential zombie movies of all time. Now it has its own documentary, the brand-new More Brains: A Return To The Living Dead, an exhaustive look behind the scenes of the classic, narrated by Brian Peck, a.k.a. Scuz, the mohawked punk from the film. This Saturday, Oct. 22, Peck will be in town with producer Thommy Hutson to promote the doc and introduce a special Saturday night Watching Hour screening of the original film. Before he came to town, we caught up with Peck to talk about ROTLD fandom, the film’s impact, and the new documentary.
The A.V. Club: What has your experience with ROTLD fans been like?
Brian Peck: The fan base now, it seems to be getting more rabid every year. When I go to the movie and meet the fans, it breaks down into a number of categories, one of which is people who weren’t born in 1985 when it came out in theaters. I always ask them how they saw it, and a lot of them tell me, “My parents showed it to me,” and I think, “Wow, you had irresponsible parents.”
The thing that’s so surprising and ultimately really flattering is these fans are überfans. It’s not just, “Oh I really like Return Of The Living Dead,” it’s much more effusive, like, “This is my favorite movie. I watch it every week.” They even have the poster art tattooed on them! A lot of them have the mohawk zombie and I feel like that’s kind of me. It’s very flattering.
AVC: When did you first realize you were part of one of the all-time great zombie films?
BP: About six years ago, at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood; they did a 20th-anniversary screening of Return Of The Living Dead. It was August 2005, actually 20 years to the month since the theatrical release. They invited [writer-director] Dan O’Bannon and almost the entire cast. That was really the first time we had all been together again—for some of us, the first time we had seen any of the other cast members since we made the movie. Since that sold out, and the crowd was so gracious and excited to see the movie, it was the first time that we realized the movie was still something that people cared about. It was the first indication that the movie had made the leap to cult status.
AVC: It’s kind of surprising to hear the cast and crew didn’t realize how enduring the film was, since most zombie fans consider it a classic.
BP: [The Cinematheque showing] was the eye-opener for us, as big as the thing had grown. Even for Dan. I am really glad he was there. Dan could be a curmudgeonly guy, but he was beaming that night. This theater held 700 people, and it was packed to the rafters—a sellout. There was so much affection for the movie. Watching with that audience was amazing. People were laughing at the right places, cheering. I went with a group of my friends, some of whom had never seen the movie. They were impressed. They were like, “Wow, you never told us this move was so cool.” I was like, “ I didn’t know it was so cool.” Since then, we’ve milked it, of course.
AVC: Now, just a few years later, there’s this full-blown documentary about it.