Sign Up | Log In

Write a Review
Post a Quick Tip
Create a List
Ask a Question
Create a Poll
Create a Community

Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Return of the Living Dead 3

Return of the Living Dead 3

2 Ratings: 3.5

Movie

Return of the Living Dead 3 is an American romantic-horror film released in 1993. It was directed by Brian Yuzna and was written by John Penney. The film stars Melinda Clarke as Julie Walker, J. Trevor Edmond as Curt Reynolds, Kent McCord as Col. John … see full wiki

Tags: Movies, Movie, Horror, Horror Movies, Zombies

1 review about Return of the Living Dead 3

Showing 1-1 of 1

Sort by:

Return of the Living Dead 3 - Romeo and Juliet with a zombie twist.

Jun 3, 2011

by Madpenguin
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

When Curtis Reynolds (J. Trevor Edmond) steals his fathers security card and takes his girl Julie (Melinda Clarke) on a date to a military installation. They witness the use of a chemical called 2-4-5 Trioxin on a human corpse. The corpse comes to life before their eyes, and they leave before the test is finished. Later, while cruising on his motorcycle, Curtis has an accident and Julie is killed. He then takes her corpse back to the test site and re-animates her with the chemical. Julie begins to behave strange, making their departure from the city even more difficult. -summary

Return of the Living Dead (ROTLD) was one franchise that began to plummet fast with me. I'm still at a loss for words on exactly how horrible the second movie was. It was so bad that I actually considered abandoning the zombie genre altogether, and even though that didn't happen. It sure as hell pushed me further away from the horror-comedy genre. Needless to say, that my hopes coming into this third movie years ago were pretty low. After watching it, I was pretty much amazed as it didn't follow the usual "if it's a sequel, it has to suck" deal. It actually revived the series and gave me a bit of hope for later installments. Unfortunately, my hopes were up for nothing, but that's a whole other issue I covered awhile ago. Anyway, Return of the Living Dead 3 which is directed by Brian Yuzna, who also directed Bride of Re-Animator (another one I can watch again), steps away from the horror-comedy style of the first two, and goes a bit more on the serious route. This romp is far more on the horror-romance side, and heavily borrows the Romeo and Juliet theme but with the added bonus of a zombie twist.

The characters are pretty well written for the most part, and there's a decent amount of time put into their relationship, making the sacrifices that are made later feel pretty genuine. I think the character development is rather strong, and the two leads don't give off the feel as bland stereotypes. Julie's slow transformation can be a bit funny, yet sad at the same time because the viewer knows what's in store for her. There are also plenty of characters meant to drive the plot, but they're all just that, plot devices and nothing really more.

Although the story is rather solid with an effective sub plot, I did have a few issues with the overall plot. It suffered from some pacing issues, and there are some tedious moments, which makes getting from point A to B feel like a chore at times. The romance didn't exactly clash with the horror I think, however, the horror wasn't properly worked out, as shock value seemed to be its major purpose until the closing moments. Now, I will give credit where it's due, the shock moments weren't bad though, because some of them did provide those uncomfortable moments. But since I seen so much better in other zombie movies, these segments only came off as average.

Some folks praise the suspense factor of the movie, but I'm on the opposite playing field here. I think suspense went out the window early. Yuzna attempts to instill the possibility that Julie will eventually freak out and devour her man, but I felt their romance was too well developed to the point where it just felt like it would never happen. This is one of those rare cases where there was too much character development.

I wasn't impressed with the special effects, because quite a bit of it looked too fake. However, there are a few disturbing images with corpses missing a good chunk of their head. While another man appeared to have half his face eaten off. I think the camera work was pretty well done in some cases, by giving the audience short glimpses of the carnage. Instead of full doses like you will normally see in Italian horror flicks.

Now, I have to make this comparison, and mention that the appearance of these zombies have nothing on the ones from the first film. The zombies in the original had a far more terrifying look that has been hard to rival through out the years. While many of the zombies here gave off a very phony vibe, as if they were meant as some type of a parody. When looking for some true to the core zombies, I think the late Lucio Fulci had the style down to a science with his film Zombie. This is the only one that I think compares with the original ROTLD. Come to think of it, the zombies in Fulci's film actually surpasses them a great deal.

I thought the acting was ok for the most part, with Clarke and Edmond giving off the best performances. While others such as Kent McCord were pretty weak, and I think the Mexican gang were trying too hard to force their accents.

Even when looking at how predictable the ending was, I can't take away from it being effective, and it was an excellent way to cap things off. Overall, I think Return of the Living Dead 3 is the best of the sequels without a doubt. But that really isn't saying much when looking at the previous installment and the horrendous sequels, that all but buried the franchise. If you enjoyed the first two movies, then prepare yourself for something completely different. However, if you despised the second one, then give this a chance. Personally, this and the first one are the only ones I can watch again. The movie has a 97 minute run time.

Pros:
-Best sequel in the series
-Coherent story
-Great change of pace

Cons:
-Gore effects weren't too convincing
-Some tedious moments
-Suspense doesn't exactly work out

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized

Post a Comment

FM_ALEX June 04, 2011

Great job once again with another excellent review, the first is classic and I like this one as well but here it is, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it......................... I like 2 as well.