Ground Zero resurrects (you see what I did there?) its Zombie Night tonight with the promise of making it a recurring event on the first Friday of every month. The reason being that Zombie-themed nights bring in warm bodies (heh). People dig dressing up as Zombies. It doesn’t take much effort though there are some that certainly don’t mind going all out, aiming for some sort of “realism.” The “Zombie Pub Crawl” that occurs here in the Cities every so often is always a HUGE success. And as much as I feel embarrassed for people who seem compelled to make themselves up for anything outside of Halloween I’m much more forgiving of the Zombie phenomenon than I am of anyone still stuck on all that outdated Vampire crap.

Why? Because Vampires are fucking stupid and completely played out. Zombies, however, are pretty cool. They represent the mindlessness and herd mentality humans are given toward. They don’t think, they just act. They respond to the base instincts. Fight, kill, feed…and drink; biological simplicity. It seems to be one of the most consistently successful draws in regard to any club/bar venture and GZ is trying to give it an extended shelf-life by adding a slightly different “theme” each time they hold a Zombie night (tonight’s is “Zombie Pajama Party”).

I grew up with Zombie culture, being a product of the Seventies and Eighties. I’ve been a fan of the Romero movies for decades but one of the Zombie movies that I love the most was a little, off-the-wall independent venture called Return Of The Living Dead which came out in 1985. It is only marginally related to Romero’s Dead line of movies. John Russo was a co-writer of the original Night Of The Living Dead and maintains the rights to the term “Living Dead,” which is why Romero’s films have merely included “Dead” in their titles, without the “Living” adjective. He had a hand in the Dan O. Bannon (Alien)-Directed Return Of The Living Dead and next year will return with Escape Of The Living Dead, which involves a story featuring Gunnar Hansen (who played the original Leatherface in 1974′s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as a biker who becomes a zombie. It occurs within the same timeline as Night of the Living Dead only this plot deals with some of the zombies who were kept alive for scientific reasons and managed to escape and unleash an all new reign of terror on mankind.

Return Of The Living Dead is a fantastic Horror-Comedy that has been (arguably) bested only by Shaun Of The Dead. But the Soundtrack is one of the best the Eighties had to offer. And as far as I can tell it isn’t out of print. You can still get it from online retailers. And you SHOULD. I LOVE this Soundtrack. It has classic tracks from The Cramps, 45 Grave, Roky Erickson, The Damned and TSOL. If the DJs who operate these Zombie nights knew what was good for them they would own and would be playing this particular Soundtrack in its entirety. You just can’t best “Partytime (Zombie Version)” when it comes to senseless Rock N Roll abandon. “Tonight (We’ll Make Love Until We Die)” by SSQ is the ultimate Eighties song for those who crave a good time with their side of brains. And “Burn The Flames” is one of my all-time favorites. Clubs typically aren’t given to music meant for couples but this one should be a mandatory end-of-the-night addition for any self-respecting Zombie theme night. If the DJs spinning for these Zombie nights don’t own the Return Of The Living Dead Soundtrack they’re missing out on the best material they could hope for in regard to a theme such as this, and shame on them for being so damn ignorant.

The movie was re-released on DVD late last year as a “Collector’s Edition” and I would highly recommend it as the bonus material makes it more than worthwhile. Yet the Soundtrack is what you MUST own. The ten Punk-influenced tracks represent the sort of good time that classic Zombie aficionados long for. And should your local DJ give you a questioning glance when you request any of the songs on this collection give them a message for me; For shame.