By now, you're aware there are two different Return of the Living Dead projects in the works. One is Living Dead Media's Return of the Living Dead sequel, and the other is Trash's Revenge, a crowdfunded project that stars the original cast.

This has led to a lot of confusion amongst horror fans. Why are two different ROTLD sequels being made by two different companies? Why are the OG actors making their own movie?

The short answer is Return of the Living Dead is caught in a mess of rights issues, legal battles, barbecue sauce, directors with questionable backgrounds, and much more. As an ROTLD fan, I felt it was important to address the situation because being honest, the series is in a shitty spot.

For years, the ROTLD rights were caught in a legal tussle between the family of Tom Fox (the producer of the original ROTLD movies) and the guy who produced the later, made for Syfy ROTLD sequels.

In 2021, Living Dead Media was formed and worked out a deal with Tom Fox's estate to buy the rights. They then launched a Kickstarter to raise funds to launch a website and make a new ROTLD movie slated for 2023. The site was launched, and they began selling ROTLD merch including barbecue sauce and t-shirts of Tarman as Tarzan (get it?).

While Living Dead Media was doing their thing, Beverly Randolph (the actress who played Tina) decided to get her own ROTLD sequel off the ground. She'd tried for years to make one but because of the rights issues, she couldn't.

Beverly ended up collaborating with DRagonflix, a micro budget production company, to get Trash's Revenge made. This led to the legal battle we had last summer between Living Dead Media and ROTLD Originals, Beverly Randolph's company. Beverly claimed Living Dead Media didn't own all the rights to ROTLD, and was selling merch that used the casts' likenesses without their permission.

The case was settled out of court, and in late 2024, Living Dead Media dropped the teaser for their ROTLD sequel. It was...eh, and it doesn't help the director (also the owner of Living Dead Media) has a questionable track record as a filmmaker and a human being.

That's not to say Trash's Revenge is any better. Crowdfunding for the project began yesterday, and besides starring the original cast, it will co-star "A Talking Cat" actor Eric Roberts and the CG ghosts of James Karen and Don Calfa! Oh, and the director previously went to jail for tax fraud!

20 years ago, the series was tanked with the back to back release of "Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis" and "Rave to the Grave", and unfortunately, I feel like history is about to repeat itself.