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Illustration of Trioxin zombies
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
File No. 120 of 446

Trioxin zombies

Also called: 2-4-5 Trioxin zombies
FilmUndeadScience gone wrong1968 to 1999

Dan O'Bannon rewrote the script to be as different from Romero's films as possible: its zombies think, speak, survive a punctured brain and want brains rather than flesh. The film is the source of the brain-eating zombie in popular culture. It was made for about 4 million dollars and grossed about 14 million in the US.12

Battle it
First appeared
1985
Released 1985
Source work
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Dan O'Bannon
Age rating
R
Made in
USA
What causes it
Science gone wrong
Trioxin, a military chemical gas stored in drums, reanimates the dead.
How you become one
Exposure to the gas, or to smoke and rain carrying it, revives corpses; living people who breathe it die slowly while still conscious.
Intelligence
Clever

When did it first appear?

Ancient worldMiddle Ages1500 to 18991900 to 19671968 to 19992000 to 20092010 to today1985

Released 1985

field notes

What the sources say

1

They talk: one uses a radio to call for more paramedics and police12

2

A captured zombie explains that eating the brains of the living eases the pain of being dead12

3

Destroying the brain does not work, and severed parts keep moving12

4

Credited with introducing the idea that zombies specifically eat brains12

5

The soundtrack featured Los Angeles punk and deathrock bands12

6

Smoke from a cremated zombie and the toxic rain that follows spread the chemical further12

Sources

  1. The Return of the Living Dead - Wikipedia
  2. The Return of the Living Dead - Rotten Tomatoes

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at [email protected].

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