Legal Troubles Rear Their Ugly Head For "THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD"

Rights battles are an unfortunate byproduct of the entertainment business. From Friday the 13th to Child’s Play the combination of capitalism, IP law, and creative credit has both helped and harmed the horror genre. On the plus side, IP law ensures that creatives get financial and recognition credit for their works. On the more nefarious side, IP and rights have been used to squeeze cash out of folks and restrict fans from getting access to remasters, director’s cuts, and more. We are not here to take a side on the issue, but it seems another storied franchise is battling over rights that is impacting the production of new material.

As reported by Deadline, Living Dead Media LLC is suing ROTLD Originals LLC claiming they own rights to the script as well as additional assets related to the film. The latter company was recently formed in July of 2024, and the former company seems to be represented by a host of actors from the film including Beverly Dawn Hartley. We reported back in June of a new Indiegogo campaign for Trash’s Revenge starring none other than Linnea Quigley herself, but shortly after the campaign was pulled, it seems now we know why. From the Deadline article:

“The suit claims that the new LLC uses Hartley’s credentials as an actor in the original film ‘to bolster the erroneous claims that Ms. Hartley and/or ROTLD have an interest in LDM’s intellectual property.’ It claims that such actions ‘are attempting to interfere with active and existing contracts between LDM and these licensees.’”

We aren’t sure where this will go or how it will shake out, but we hope it doesn’t prohibit us from any new material or releases should those be on the table in the future.

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