Colonel Reynolds and his group of government scientists continue their work on re-animating the dead for military use. His son Curt and his girlfriend Julie use Dad’s security pass to sneak in and watch the proceedings. Later when father and son have a disagreement, Curt and Julie take off on a motorcycle and Julie is killed in an accident. Grief-stricken, Curt takes her body to the lab and brings her back to life.
After the abysmal offering we were given in part 2 it’s hard to imagine things getting better, let alone a third film being made at all. But as we know it was made and what a surprise it was.
This film has everything, Horror, comedy, romance, gore and for you perverts out there, nudity. The film does start off very slowly and may seem like were in for another bad ride but give it time because once the story kicks into gear, it certainly delivers. Brian Yuzna did a great job in the producers chair, if there was anyone that could revive this series it was him, you just need to look at his work on the “Re-Animator” series.
The story were given of Curt and Julie is a fantastic story of what you’d do for the one you love, bet you thought you’d never read that in one of my reviews! In all honestly I claim “Return Of The Living Dead III” as one of the greatest love stories ever told, you can keep your Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock rom-coms, this is true love, a Boyfriend bringing his Girlfriend back from the dead because he can’t stand the thought of losing her, then sticks with her as she turns in-to one of the living dead, even when she starts eating people.
The effects in this film are absolutely amazing, Julies transformation scene is incredible (I’ll talk about here more soon). The zombie make up and gore are so well done, especially towards the end of the film when we see what the military have done to them. The film has very subtle tones of problems young adults known as generation x had which was a great appeal for it’s target audience.
The first film put Linnea Quigley in-to the hearts of Horror fans everywhere, this film did the same for Melinda Clarke, her role as Julie Walker is still awe-inspiring today and has become an iconic image to see amongst Horror fans. She played the role perfectly, a young woman who is frightened with what’s happening to her mind and body yet can’t control her urge for hunger. The scenes where Julie starts cutting and impaling herself are difficult to watch and she’s incredibly repulsive yet very sexy at the same time, that’s how great her character was done.
Return Of The Living Dead III is the sequel we should’ve had, it’s as good as the original and that’s great for a 3rd film in a franchise. Unfortunately it would be the last good offering we would get.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Director Brian Yuzna on the DVD commentary regrets not coming up with a more proper name for the film as “Return of the Living Dead III” is too long. He suggests the title “Kurt and Julie” and admits that the title “Mortal Zombie” (which it was called in some places in Europe) is a nice name.
At one point in pre-production, James Karen and Don Calfa were offered roles in this sequel. Both actors declined.
