In The Return of the Living Dead, the zombies specifically crave brains.
The 1985 horror comedy helped popularize the idea that zombies could speak and demand “brains,” a feature that differs from the largely silent undead in George A. Romero’s earlier films. The story follows workers at a medical-supply warehouse who accidentally release a gas connected to an experimental military chemical.
The film was written and directed by Dan O’Bannon, who had co-written Alien. Its tone combines gruesome horror with punk style, dark comedy, and an unusually energetic depiction of the undead. The zombies are not merely slow, shambling corpses; they can communicate, move quickly in some scenes, and explain that eating brains temporarily eases their pain.
The movie is often associated with the broader zombie tradition, but it is not an official continuation of Romero’s films. Its use of “brains” became one of the most recognizable zombie clichés in popular culture.