Sequel to the 1974 novelization Night of the Living Dead.
Return of the Living Dead was originally developed as a film project (sequel to the 1968 Night of the Living Dead). Russo had already sold the (movie) title and a screenplay; in addition he expanded the story into a novel.
The planned movie was revised several times and evolved to the 1985 horror-comedy The Return of the Living Dead, directed by Dan O'Bannon, which abandons Russo's plot completely and the only consensus is,that it's also a (semi) sequel to Night of the Living Dead.
Confusingly, Russo wrote a novelization of The Return of the Living Dead, which was published in the United Kingdom, nonsensically under the title of the original novel, not under the movie title with the preceding article.
