Return of the Living Dead - the book

[EvilNed]

The original John Russo book. Did anyone read it?

[RustyHicks]

No, but I heard it was good and
pretty hard to find. I think he did
a book about night of the living dead as well

[axlish]

Yes, it is a pretty good read. It his version of what a direct sequel to Night would be. It is worth tracking down if you can find it. They solve the problem by staking the skulls of the recently dead, but when a bus crashes in the woods, they don't get there in time and the problem starts again.

I also have his movie version of the novel as well, and it is worth reading as well. I actually bought the 2nd version from him. It goes into the characters a lot more, and uses the ending featured in the workprint.

[darth los]

Yes, it is a pretty good read. It his version of what a direct sequel to Night would be. It is worth tracking down if you can find it. They solve the problem by staking the skulls of the recently dead, but when a bus crashes in the woods, they don't get there in time and the problem starts again.

I also have his movie version of the novel as well, and it is worth reading as well. I actually bought the 2nd version from him. It goes into the characters a lot more, and uses the ending featured in the workprint.

I've read it as weel and it is a much darker portrayal of the NOTLD scenario. It even depicts people feeding eachother to the ghouls. Some of what's in the book made it into the abomination that is NOTLD 30 anny edition, such as the dead being spiked and such.

[rightwing401]

Got it and read it a long time ago. It does have some nice portrayals of zombie eating action and shows the darker side of human nature. The story though, is a little weak.
(Spoiler alert)
My main problem with it was that the outbreak took place only in the north-eastern end of the U.S. Things are brought under control, and life kind of returns to normal. What bothered me the most was that this 'zombie plague' only happen about twenty years ago in the book, and everyone, even in the areas that were hit the hardest, just seemed to have plain forgotten about the walking dead. They talk about it as if it were some kind of bedtime scare story.
Problem two, none of the dead in between these two periods rise. So everyone thinks things are fine. Then, just one regular old day, the dead decide to start popping up and walking again.

But in the end, it was the first zombie novel that I ever read, and was worth a read. If you can find it, get it and have a ball.

[darth los]

My main problem with it was that the outbreak took place only in the north-eastern end of the U.S.

That's actually an acurate portrayal of what happend in the first film. Reports clearly stated that the plauge was affecting only the eastern 3rd of the country. There was nothing happening west of the mississippi with the exception of southeast texas. These reports boost the theory that the radition from the venus space probe could have been the cause. why else would it affect only that particular region?

[MissJacksonCA]

I haven't read it but i've seen it for sale a few places online... if you're looking for a copy and no one here is willing to loan one out... try amazon.com they offer new and used books and movies and the like ... I was pleasantly suprised by their supply

[EvilNed]

Sounds very interesting. Think I'm going to track it down. Hopefully I can get reading some zombie novels this fall. Cell, World War Z and this one are the ones I'm thinking about right now.

[capncnut]

It was okay, I liked Russo's novel of NOTLD better.

[BrodietheSlayer]

Never read it....never actually seen it in person, and I've looked (not online, but in used book stores and libraries)......Did read Russo's adaptation of NOTLD, which I dug.

Also read the comic FANTCO did in the early 90s....one of which was a prologue that I thought was MUCH better at filling in the blanks than NOTLD 30th did.

Why they didn't just shoot that....I have no clue.

[MissJacksonCA]

If you haven't already read The Walking Dead... graphic novel... they're like zombie movies but a thousand times better... I seriously am left wondering wtf is going to happen next?

[dracenstein]

I have read it years ago and let it slip out of my hands, along with the novelisation of NOTLD.

I preferred the novelisation of the film.

The Return would have been better as a continuation of the original (and only) outbreak.

[zombieslayer]

The original John Russo book. Did anyone read it?
I bought it from a book store that only handles out of print books. it was real good. it takes over after the end of NIGHT.

[Neil]

I bought it from a book store that only handles out of print books. it was real good. it takes over after the end of NIGHT.

I remember enjoying it (about 25yrs) ago!

[darth los]

I enjoy it because it is proof positive of what a telentless hack John Russo is. Hey, maybe him and Zach Snyder could do a movie together !! :D

[fartpants]

that sound cool, i'd see it...

[darth los]

that sound cool, i'd see it...

Once you've seen contagium you can only go up from there. :D