She/her | 19 | Bi | Jewish ✊(just because I’m a proud Jew doesn’t mean I support Israel. Ffs)| Autistic | Film Major (pls forgive my sins 😔) | Michael Biehn Kidna… Fan… The Fan!
Ernie from The Return of the Living Dead (1985) was a nazi!
CW: Nazis, the Holocaust (Shoah שואה), and dead bodies.
Spoilers!
Ernie’s first scene is where he is listening to a German Africa Corps marching song that translates to “Tanks roll out in Africa,” while he embalms a body.
He’s also carrying a German Walther P38, which was created in Nazi Germany to replace the costly Luger P08.
Ernie has pictures of Hitler playing cards and Hitler’s wife Eva Braun in his embalming room.
Ernie ran a crematorium at his funeral home. His crematorium is similar designed to one’s found in camps.
Ernie comments that the rain outside is “Coming down like Ein Betrunken Soldat.”
Ernie’s status as a former nazi was later confirmed by director and screenwriter Dan O’Bannon.
In fact, Ernie is named after high-ranking Austrian SS officer Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Kaltenbrunner was the third Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (offices of the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD) and would later be executed during the Nuremberg Trials.
My thoughts:
The idea of Ernie being a nazi is interesting to say the least. What intrigues me most is when he later captures a zombie and asks them why they eat brains. When the zombies replies that it makes the pain of being dead go away, Ernie seems nervous and shocked. This goes back to another theory that all dead things are still conscious and that 2 4 5 Trioxin only finally animates them. Maybe Ernie is starting to look at the Holocaust in a different light.
This is your yearly reminder that the horror-comedy The Return of the Living Dead (1985) has the most terrifying and deadliest depiction of zombies yet.
Why you may ask? Because…
They speak.
They run.
They are intelligent enough to set traps and deceive people.
Animals and insects can also become zombies.
They basically can’t be killed. Headshots and decapitations aren’t good enough. You have to burn the bodies to complete ash, or else body parts and bones will still come after you.
The fumes that come from incineration can still create more zombies via the water cycle (rain) being transferred into graves.
Zombies specifically eat brains to mitigate the pain that comes from being dead; It’s their only solace. This might also imply that dead people are still conscious and that 2 4 5 Trioxin only enables them to finally be animated.
Fun fact: The Return of the Living Dead is the reason why zombies are now portrayed as specifically loving brains. They literally say it constantly throughout the film that they love brains. Also, Tarman is definitely the coolest looking zombie ever!
Story time: That time I scared British children with my American accent.
I stayed in Lincolnshire with my British friends over the summer of 2022. Mind you, Lincolnshire isn’t a tourist area. Anyways, I got to meet a few of their cousins. Two of them were eight and six, and they hadn’t ever really been outside of Britain before besides maybe a few trips to other parts of Europe. I noticed that they seemed uncomfortable around me when I started asking them questions. I didn’t think much of it because a lot of children are shy, but I was later told that I accidentally scared them with my accent. They were freaked out by my American accent because they had only heard American accents on the telly and online.
Anyways, I’m so proud of myself for scaring Peppa Pig kids.