R.I.P. Dan O'Bannon

Yesterday marked a very unfortunate and very sad time in horror movie history. Dan O’Bannon died. This man has contributed so much to the horror/action/sci-fi genre that we will never forget. He has written the brilliant screenplays for Dark Star, Alien, a portion in Heavy Metal and Total Recall. He redefined the zombie genre with the movie Return of the Living Dead, by not only making dead people talk but also combining zombies with a satirical piece on the punk movement of the 80s. He took the alien genre and gave it an eerie atmosphere and horror qualities to it. He turned it into a operatic slasher movie in space. He even wrote one of the most original horror movies of the 80’s called Dead & Buried.

It is because of these reasons that I say that Dan O’Bannon will be forever missed and us, the audience of your films, will never forget what you have contributed to filmmaking. Dan O’Bannon… I salute you.