The Return of the Living Dead Special – John Philbin Interview

The Return of the Living Dead

To celebrate the special edition Blu-ray and DVD release of The Return of the Living Dead (on the 4th of June) we’re bringing you a set of exclusive interviews with the cast. During this time we’ll be looking back on the gore-fest of fun and they’ll be giving us their thoughts on why it has remained such a classic horror.


First up is actor John Philbin, who played the unlucky in love Chuck, whose over-sized suit and 80’s hair were nearly as bad as his chat up lines.

LoveHorror: The Return of the Living Dead is returning once again. How did you get involved in this zany zombie movie?

John Philbin: My agent Steve Dontanville, had respect for Dan O’Bannon and there was going to be an actors strike, so he and I both wanted to get me work that summer.The Return of the Living Dead

LoveHorror: What was filming like? And do you have anystories from the set?

John Philbin: All I remember is standing around freezing as a wardrobe assistant kept spraying me with cold water, then dumping buckets of cold water, it made it easy to run around screaming and looking scared. Mostly I was scared of the rain machines.

LoveHorror: The movie was made in 1985. Have you watched it since and if so, what do you think of it?

John Philbin: I have had the pleasure to see it at a few reunions, its more funny now than I remember, in fact it gets funnier with time.

LoveHorror: The special edition features the documentary More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead. Are you surprised at the cult status that the movie has? And why do you think it has been embraced by so many horror fans?

John Philbin: I really think my best work is in the doc more brains, by the way, everybody should see that. I was surprised by the cult status at first, now after being at many horror cons and doing panels with the fans and hearing these questions and seeing so many horror movies myself I kinda think that Dan O was inventing a new genre of entertainment and when someone smart and cool saw it they new it was original and genius and fans pass that respect along.

The Return of the Living Dead The Return of the Living Dead

LoveHorror: What have you been doing since the film, and what are you up to now?

John Philbin: IMDB has a scary list of misdeeds, google is an interesting source, but for the last 15 years I have been teaching surfing to people of all ages at all levels all over the world, it keeps me poor and happy

LoveHorror: What is your favorite zombie movie (other than The Return of the Living Dead)?

John Philbin: Adventureland?

LoveHorror: Finally, if you were to return as one of the living dead, what’s the first thing you would do?

John Philbin: Send for more cops

The Return of the Living Dead

LoveHorror: John Thank you.

Part Two of the Interviews is Here and don’t forget The Return of the Living Dead is released on Special Edition Blu-ray and DVD on 4th of June.

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Alex Humphrey

Alex studied film at the University of Kent and went on to work for Universal Pictures in their Post Room gaining an inside look at the movie industry from the very bottom. Constantly writing reviews in everything from local magazines to Hip Hop sites Alex honed his critical skills even spending a brief period as a restaurant critic. Read more

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