No matter what you say, Americans have always been good at at least two things: playing horror-punk/detroc and making thrash horror films. And this film is a great combination of those two skills.
'Return of the Living Dead' is a truly rock 'n' roll horror film, full of gore, humor and quite viable dead people. Scenes from it are forever etched in your memory, and phrases have long been cited. Surprisingly, even the zombies themselves are memorable forever.
What makes this movie so special is hard to understand. It is equally difficult to understand why Dan O'Bannon, after such a brilliant work, has not made a single film, and is content to write scripts for Hollywood slapstick...
I'll probably be honest with myself if I say that this is hardly the best horror movie I've ever seen. A true masterpiece.