Return of the Living Dead 3

Last updated

Return of the Living Dead 3
Return-of-the-living-dead-3-film-poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Written by John Penney
Produced by
  • Lawrence Steven Meyers
  • Brian Yuzna
  • Gary Schmoeller
  • John Penney
Starring
Cinematography Gerry Lively
Edited byChristopher Roth
Music by Barry Goldberg
Production
companies
Distributed by Trimark Pictures
Release date
  • October 29, 1993 (1993-10-29)
Running time
93 minutes
Countries
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million [2]
Box office$54,207 (US) [3]

Return of the Living Dead 3 is a 1993 romantic horror film [1] directed by Brian Yuzna and written by John Penney. It is the third film in the Return of the Living Dead film series, following Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988). [4]

Contents

Plot

Five years after the events of the previous film, Curt Reynolds steals his father's security key card, and he and his girlfriend, Julie Walker, explore the military base where his father works. They observe Curt's father, Colonel John Reynolds, Col. Peck and Lt. Col. Sinclair overseeing an experiment with a deceased body.

The corpse is exposed to 2-4-5 Trioxin gas, which re-animates the corpse into a zombie. The military hopes to use zombies in combat. However, they are impossible to control as their hunger for human brains causes them to constantly attack.

To deter the zombies' vicious nature, Sinclair suggests permanently attaching the zombies to exoskeletons that will immobilize them when they are not in battle. Reynolds prefers a method referred to as "paretic infusion", which involves firing a chemical projectile into the forehead of the zombie. This causes an endothermic reaction, freezing the zombie's brain and temporarily immobilizing it.

When the paretic infusion method is tested on the zombie in the lab, it is only successful for a few moments, wearing off much faster than expected; the zombie breaks free and attacks a scientist, biting his fingers off before bashing his head against a wall, killing him. Infected by the zombie's bite, the scientist re-animates and attacks another technician. The initial zombie and the reanimated scientist are paralyzed with bullets and the survivors in the room are quarantined. Reynolds is removed from the project and reassigned to Oklahoma City, while Sinclair is promoted to head of the project.

Reynolds informs Curt that they will be moving, something they have done multiple times, but Curt refuses. He rides off on his motorcycle with Julie. While they are speeding down the road, Julie playfully grabs Curt's crotch, causing him to lose control of the motorcycle. Julie is thrown from the bike into a telephone pole; the impact kills her.

Curt brings Julie's corpse to the military base. Using his father's key card, he accesses the Trioxin gas to reanimate her. After she is revived, the two escape on Curt's bike. Julie experiences intense hunger, and so Curt drive to a store. Inside, Curt runs afoul of a gang, leading to a struggle that results in the shopkeeper being shot by a member of the gang. Julie bites the shooter. While Curt and Julie flee from authorities in a van with the wounded shopkeeper, Julie is overcome by her hunger for brains and attacks him, eating some of his brains.

As the shooter's health declines due to Julie's bite, the gang attempts to track down her and Curt. Julie and Curt hide from the gang in the sewers, where they encounter Riverman, a vagrant who shelters them. Julie discovers that extreme pain seems to temporarily make the cravings to feed on humans go away. She mutilates her flesh with various items of junk found around Riverman's lair, until she is adorned with spikes, nails, and shards of glass sticking out of her flesh.

The gang tracks Julie and Curt down. Julie seduces the gang leader, then kills him and uses her new decorations to kill the rest of the gang. Julie's body becomes accustomed to the pain, and she turns on Riverman, infecting and killing him. The gang re-animates before the military arrive and neutralizes all of the zombies.

When the zombies are captured, Curt realizes Julie is going to be used as a weapon and goes into a rage, freeing the zombies which then kill the soldiers. In the commotion the base is set on fire and Curt is bitten. Curt's father tries to get Curt to leave but he realizes that he would be abandoning Julie, and also knows he is infected. Curt brings Julie to the furnace; when she asks where they are, Curt says "where we belong", and they kiss one last time before dying by immolation.

Cast

Themes and style

Retrospective assessments of Return of the Living Dead 3 published by Den of Geek and Scream characterize it as differing tonally from the first film in the series, which was released in 1985. Den of Geek's Nick Aldwinckle wrote that Return of the Living Dead 3 "adopts more of an angsty nineties tone", noting that the effects of the Trioxin on Julie lead her to engage in self-harm and body piercing in order to suppress her hunger for brains. [5] Kevan Farrow of Scream echoed the latter observation, and added that the film "[updates] the Mohawk-sporting punks of 1985's The Return of the Living Dead with moody alt-rockers." [6]

Production notes

While producer Tom Fox had intended for Return of the Living Dead Part II to be followed by sequels and create a long-lasting series, the critical and commercial underperformance of that film curtailed Fox's ambitions. [7] [2] Eventually Trimark Pictures picked up the rights to The Return of the Living Dead with Brian Yuzna assigned to produce and direct the film while Fox would step back into the role of executive producer. [2] When Yuzna was hired Trimark, the company didn’t give him a set direction and only included the mandate that Trioxin Gas had to be included as a plot point to justify usage of the Living Dead name. [2] The screenplay was written by John Penney who was hired on the basis he had served as an editor on the first The Return of the Living Dead . [2] Early on, both Yuzna and Penney wanted to avoid rehashing the plots of the prior entries and instead shift focus to a main character who was a zombie. [2] The movie was shot over the course of 24 days at Santa Clarita Studios from October through November 1992. [2]

The following production notes were noted in the October 1993 issue of Fangoria magazine (#127):

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 55% based on 11 reviews and an average rating of 4.8/10. [8] On Metacritic, Return of the Living Dead III scored 47 out of a 100 based on five critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [9]

Entertainment Weekly 's Benjamin Svetkey gave the film a grade of "B+", writing that, "it's chock-full of brain-munching zombies, campy dialogue, and gross anatomical effects–but it's that touch of amore that makes this one so special". [10] Brian J. Dillard of AllMovie wrote, "Although it features the same vaguely punk-derived fashion sense and many of the same plot elements as its predecessors, the third effort in the Return of the Living Dead series lacks much of the goofy entertainment value of the previous installments". [1] Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For author Arnold T. Blumberg wrote that "Clarke tries to make the most of her after-death angst", but the film was "little more than a twisted catalogue of fetishistic imagery for horror movie aficionados keen to have a female zombie they can actually find attractive." [11]

In 2017, Return of the Living Dead III premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival. [12]

Related Research Articles

Return of the Living Dead is a zombie comedy film series that consists of five films beginning with the 1985 film The Return of the Living Dead.

<i>Re-Animator</i> 1985 film by Stuart Gordon

Re-Animator is a 1985 American science fiction comedy horror film loosely based on the 1922 H. P. Lovecraft serial novelette "Herbert West–Reanimator". Directed by Stuart Gordon and produced by Brian Yuzna, the film stars Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, a medical student who has invented a reagent which can re-animate deceased bodies. He and his classmate Dan Cain begin to test the serum on dead human bodies, and conflict with Dr. Carl Hill, who is infatuated with Cain's fiancée and wants to claim the invention as his own.

<i>Bride of Re-Animator</i> 1991 film by Brian Yuzna

Bride of Re-Animator is a 1990 American comedy horror film produced and directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Yuzna, Rick Fry, and Woody Keith. It is a sequel to the 1985 film Re-Animator and the second entry in the Re-Animator film series. Like its predecessor, it is loosely based on the serialized story "Herbert West–Reanimator" (1921-1922) by H. P. Lovecraft. Unlike its predecessor, it was released direct-to-video.

<i>Beyond Re-Animator</i> 2003 horror film

Beyond Re-Animator is a 2003 Spanish-American horror film directed by Brian Yuzna and starring Jeffrey Combs, Jason Barry, Elsa Pataky, Simón Andreu and Santiago Segura. It is the third and final installment in the Re-Animator film series.

Living Dead, also informally known as Of The Dead is a blanket term for the loosely connected horror franchise that originated from the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. The film, written by George A. Romero and John A. Russo, primarily focuses on a group of people gathering at a farmhouse to survive from an onslaught of zombies in rural Pennsylvania. It is known to have inspired the modern interpretation of zombies as reanimated human corpses that feast on the flesh and/or brains of the living.

<i>Return of the Living Dead Part II</i> 1988 film by Ken Wiederhorn

Return of the Living Dead Part II is a 1988 American comedy horror film written and directed by Ken Wiederhorn, and starring Michael Kenworthy, Marsha Dietlein, Dana Ashbrook, Thom Mathews, James Karen, and Phil Bruns. It is the first of four sequels to The Return of the Living Dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Yuzna</span> American film director

Brian Yuzna is an American film producer, director, and writer. He is best known for his work in the science fiction and horror film genres. Yuzna began his career as a producer for several films by director Stuart Gordon, such as Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986), before making his directorial debut with the satirical body horror film Society (1989).

<i>Necronomicon</i> (film) 1993 horror anthology

Necronomicon is a 1993 anthology horror film. It features three distinct segments and a wraparound directed by Brian Yuzna, Christophe Gans and Shusuke Kaneko and written by Gans, Yuzna, Brent V. Friedman and Kazunori Itō. The film's ensemble cast includes stars Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Payne, Richard Lynch, Belinda Bauer, Maria Ford, Dennis Christopher, Gary Graham and David Warner. The extensive special makeup and animatronic effects were supervised by Tom Savini and were created by John Carl Buechler, Christopher Nelson and Screaming Mad George.

<i>The Return of the Living Dead</i> 1985 film by Dan OBannon

The Return of the Living Dead is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon from a story by Rudy Ricci, John Russo, and Russell Streiner, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Mathews, and Don Calfa. The film tells the story of how a warehouse owner, accompanied by his two employees, mortician friend and a group of teenage punks, deal with the accidental release of a horde of unkillable, brain-hungry zombies onto an unsuspecting town.

<i>Let Sleeping Corpses Lie</i> (film) 1974 horror film directed by Jorge Grau

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is a 1974 zombie horror film directed by Jorge Grau, and starring Cristina Galbó, Ray Lovelock and Arthur Kennedy. It focuses on two protagonists who are harassed by a local police investigator in the English countryside and are implicated in murders committed by zombies who have been brought to life by a farming tool designed to kill insects via ultra-sonic radiation.

<i>Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis</i> 2005 film by Ellory Elkayem

Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis is a 2005 made-for-television action horror film directed by Ellory Elkayem, starring Aimee Lynn Chadwick, Cory Hardrict, John Keefe, Jana Kramer, and Peter Coyote. It is the fourth film in the Return of the Living Dead film series.

<i>Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave</i> 2005 film by Ellory Elkayem

Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave is a 2005 made-for-television action horror film directed by Ellory Elkayem and starring Aimee-Lynn Chadwick, Cory Hardrict, John Keefe, Jenny Mollen, and Peter Coyote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie comedy</span> Film and television genre

Zombie comedy, often called zom com or zomedy, is a film genre that aims to blend zombie horror motifs with slapstick comedy as well as morbid humor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie</span> Undead creature from Haitian folklore

A zombie is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies are most commonly found in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in which a zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magical practices in religions like Vodou. Modern media depictions of the reanimation of the dead often do not involve magic but rather science fictional methods such as fungi, radiation, gases, diseases, plants, bacteria, viruses, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie apocalypse</span> Subgenre of apocalyptic fiction

Zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Typically only a few individuals or small bands of survivors are left living. In some versions, the reason the dead rise and attack humans is unknown, in others, a parasite or infection is the cause, framing events much like a plague. Some stories have every corpse rise, regardless of the cause of death, whereas others require exposure to the infection.

<i>Marvel Zombies 2</i> Comic book limited series

Marvel Zombies 2 is a five-issue limited series published from October 2007 - February 2008 by comics publisher Marvel Comics. The series was written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and Arthur Suydam. It is part of the Marvel Zombies series.

<i>Warm Bodies</i> 2010 novel by Isaac Marion

Warm Bodies is a novel by author Isaac Marion. Described as a "zombie romance", it makes allusions to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The author, based in Seattle, originally wrote a short story titled "I Am a Zombie Filled with Love". Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, acquired the publishing rights to the full novel in early 2010.

<i>Warm Bodies</i> (film) 2013 American zombie romantic comedy film

Warm Bodies is a 2013 American paranormal romantic zombie comedy film written and directed by Jonathan Levine and based on Isaac Marion's 2010 novel of the same name, which in turn is inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The film stars Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, Lio Tipton, Cory Hardrict, and John Malkovich.

John Penney is an American film producer, screenwriter and director who has been working in the horror genre for over thirty years. He has created material for, and been involved in, a range of subgenres, including zombie movies, classic Creature Features (Amphibious), and supernatural thrillers (Hellgate).

<i>The Return of the Living Dead</i> (soundtrack) 1985 soundtrack album by Various artists

The Return of the Living Dead is the original soundtrack from the film of the same name, released in 1985 by Enigma Records. The film itself is a horror comedy film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon about a group of teenage punks dealing with a horde of brain-hungry zombies.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dillard, Brian J. "Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)". AllMovie . Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Biodrowski, Steve (Winter 1993). "Ticks". Imagi-Movies. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Return of the Living Dead III". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  4. ↑ J.C. Maçek III (June 15, 2012). "The Zombification Family Tree: Legacy of the Living Dead". PopMatters . Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  5. ↑ Aldwinckle, Nick (September 14, 2017). "The Bottom Shelf: Return Of The Living Dead 3, The Evil Within and The Jerk, Too". Den of Geek . Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  6. ↑ Farrow, Kevan (September 22, 2016). "Vestron Bringing Return of the Living Dead 3 to Blu-ray". Scream . Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  7. ↑ Biodrowski, Steve (March 1988). "Return of the Living Dead Part II". Cinefantastique . Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Return of the Living Dead III (1993)". Metacritic . Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  10. ↑ Svetkey, Benjamin (April 22, 1994). "Return of the Living Dead 3". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved December 26, 2021.
  11. ↑ Blumberg, Arnold (2006). Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For. Telos Publishing. p. 314. ISBN   9781845830038.
  12. ↑ Gaudion, Andrew (August 26, 2017). "FrightFest 2017: 'Return of the Living Dead 3' Review: Dir. Brain Yuzna". The Hollywood News. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.