In 1984 Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper backed out of directing this zombie film written by John Russo and Russell Streiner writer and star of the original 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead. Writer Dan O’Bannon took over the film with no prior directing experience. He rewrote the script and began production on a shoe string budget. One thing key to staying within the restrictions of the budget was to have as few locations as possible. This is the reason the bulk of the film takes place in simply a warehouse and a mortuary/cemetery. Filming began in Los Angeles, California in July of 1984 and was completed in less than 2 months. The film takes place in Louisville, Kentucky where director Dan O’Bannon is originally from but none of it was actually filmed there.
The 2003 film 28 Days Later was credited for starting the trend of “running zombies” but in fact it was Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead that may not have set the trend but did do it first.
Sets for the interiors of the Uneeda Medical Supply and the mortuary were built inside of a separate warehouse located at 801 South Main Street in Burbank California. They built two sound stages as well as the production offices at this location.
All of the sets were built on the same ground floor. The basement was on the same floor as the main part of the Uneeda warehouse. When you see the stairs in the basement going up they only led to the ceiling while the basement door also led nowhere except around a very narrow corner to help sell the possibility of a staircase.
The General’s home was a private residence located on the cliffs in Palos Verdes Estates in Palos Verdes, California. The interior of this house was also used in the film. The exact address of this location is unknown at this time.
We are first introduced to the punkers as they walk along the graffiti covered walls on San Fernando Road in downtown Los Angeles. The bum they pass sitting on the ground is actually production designer William Stout.
When we first see the punkers in the car they are driving along a small stretch of road called North Myers Street next to a reservoir that dead ends at the 101 freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
The railroad crossing they pass through is believed to be located at 1500 East Jesse Street in downtown Los Angeles. The sign looks identical but the surroundings have completely changed.
The inside of Resurrection Cemetery was actually an olive grove dressed with fake tombstones and moss. The olive grove was located between 15475 & 15447 Roxford Avenue in Sylmar, California. Today the olive grove has been replaced by a brand new Model Home neighborhood called Roxford Glen whose slogan is “A home for the country in your heart.” Little do they know it was once the sight of graves, zombies and Linnea Quigley dancing butt naked!
Inside the olive grove they also built the façade of the front of the mortuary. Hidden just behind the fake single sided wall of the mortuary was a field full of cows.
The single shot of the Army soldier who launches the nuke was sitting in a half cab designed by William Stout so the camera could get inside it and shot at the top of Angeles National Forest.
Our last location is the exterior of the Uneeda building located at 698 Moulton Avenue in Los Angeles.
Next to it at the end of dead end street was the fake entrance to Resurrection Cemetery.
On the other side of the fake wall and gate was a railroad track. If you look at the very first shot of the Uneeda building in the film you can see a train passing right behind it that would have gone through the middle of the cemetery had it actually been located there.
Return of the Living Dead is the perfect example of low budget film making at its finest, hence this extremely short article.
