Page "Night of the Living Dead" Paragraph 63

The same year Day of the Dead premiered, Night of the Living Dead co-writer John Russo released a film titled Return of the Living Dead that offers an alternate continuity to the original film than Dawn of the Dead, but acted more as a parody or satire and is not considered a sequel to the original 1968 film.

Russo's film spawned four sequels.

Return of the Living Dead sparked a legal battle with Romero, who believed Russo marketed his film in direct competition with Day of the Dead as a sequel to the original film.

In the case Dawn Associates v. Links, Romero accused Russo of " appropriat part of the title of the prior work ", plagiarizing Dawn of the Deads advertising slogan (" When there is no more room in hell [...] the dead will walk the earth "), and copying stills from the original 1968 film.

Romero was ultimately granted a restraining order that forced Russo to cease his advertising campaign.

Russo, however, was allowed to retain his title.