"The Return of the Living Dead" Enjoy the momentum of Dan O'Bannon's directorial debut and the old-fashioned advertising.

“Even if it means fooling the customers, fill up Koya!”

Now. Up to this point, he has been repeatedly called "The Return of the Living Dead" as a matter of course, but the word "The Return of the Living Dead" does not appear even once in the main story. It is only in Japan that ``The Return of the Living Dead'' refers to the movie ``The Return of the Living Dead''. This Japanese title is unique to Toho Towa, which was contracted to distribute this work.

The horror works distributed by Toho Towa, such as `` Sangeria '' (1979), `` Sarandra '' (1977), and `` Gabarin '' (1986), all have a pleasant texture with around 5 letters, and words with ``n'' and a voiced mark (or It is distinctive in that it has a coined word that looks like a word) as its title.

The campaigns launched by Toho Towa are also unique. In the advertisement for the documentary film ``Karamba, a startling document beyond cruelty'' (1983), which explores strange festivals and customs around the world, the film depicts someone tearing off his arm in a jeep (which is, of course, a fake), which was popular at the time. It was recreated by professional wrestler Great Kabuki.

At the preview screening of ``Sarandra'', a monster carrying a ``jogiri'', a gigantic knife that does not appear in the movie but is placed in the center of the poster, bursts in during the screening. It reeked of a dubious, old-fashioned ``entertainment.''

These are the true spirit of the previous era, which was passed down to Toho Towa at the time: ``Fill the restaurant to the full, even if it means fooling the customers!''

The advertisement for ``The Return of the Living Dead'' also adopted a dubious yet attractive approach that could be called the ``Toho Towa spirit.'' First, posters and newspaper advertisements were lined with catchphrases such as the following:

``We've reached our limits - this is the world's first BioShock!'' ``The latest biology + SFX. The US is going crazy over the menacing bio-SFX!'' At the time, this was based on the news that a sheep was cloned using cloning technology, and the DNA sequence was revealed. The keyword ``biotechnology,'' which became popular after the news of ``Biotechnology,'' was forcibly inserted into it. As a reminder, the screening is advertised as a mysterious screening method called ``bio SFX screening''.

“The Return of the Living Dead” preview

Another catchphrase, ``This is slap horror!'', was taken from the word ``slap'' in ``slapstick comedy'' to describe this work, which is a Dawn of the Dead horror film but has a comedic touch, and was popular around the same time. It's an excellent coined word that (in a sense) invites misunderstanding, as it is also reminiscent of "splatter horror."

Commercials and trailers begin with the zany line, "I want to eat your brain!" This is the Dawn of the Dead that appears in the movie, ``Obamba (looks exactly as he is)'', ``Hagentuff'' (from ``tough bald'' with a shaved head that moves around even if his head is cut off), and ``Thalman'' (only this is at the design and sketch stage). The idea is to create a character by giving it a name such as ``That's what it's called'' and developing a fun advertisement that speaks to the character.

As a bonus, advance tickets were given a silicone tube called a ``The Return of the Living Dead egg'' (a toy that falls down in a life-like motion when you slam it against glass).

The scars of these dubious performances at the time are still faintly visible in the subtitles of the Japanese DVD. When watching this film, I hope you will enjoy not only the full-throated enthusiasm and technique that O'Bannon put into his first directorship, but also the fragrant scent of the Japanese ``kogu masters'' of an earlier era.

Text: Samurai Isao

Designer by profession, film writer by profession. He is working hard to promote Indian films in Japan.

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