Plot
In the town of Seabrook, werewolves, humans and zombies live in peace. It is their last year at Seabrook High and Addison has been accepted into Mountain College. Zed is pursuing an athletic scholarship at Mountain College and is hoping to join Addison there. During the night before a highly anticipated football game, where, should they win, Seabrook will have their first zombie/monster recruited into college, bringing down a barrier for all other monsters, a UFO arrives and causes mass panic. The alien leaders, called "A-Lan, A-Li and A-Spen", teleport down from their ship. The aliens are in search of an interstellar map to Utopia, a new home for their species, which can only be found in "the most precious thing in Seabrook". To cover up their real purpose, they claim to be here to compete in the National Cheer Off, which Addison previously had organized. While being interrogated by Z-Patrol, A-Spen finds a loophole so Zed can get into college by having an exceptional scholarship from improving his grades.
Willa, Wyatt and Wynter are extremely distrustful of the aliens, as they think they are there to take what is theirs. The aliens settle into Seabrook temporarily. The aliens interrogate the werewolves and scan their minds with their Luma Lenses. Eliza, who is currently interning at Z-Corp, the maker of the Z-bands, helps Zed with his scholarship. However, the aliens beat Zed's records, both athletic and academic, lowering his chances of entering college. Zed, in return for the aliens altering his report card, helps the aliens identify the moonstone, which they scan for coordinates and discover is lethal to them. A-Spen meets Addison, whom they reveal to that they are in love with Zed. At cheer practice, the cheer team is threatened after witnessing the aliens practice. The aliens are almost caught by the werewolves and head to their Mothership where Zed helps them with his knowledge of Seabrook, whereas Addison is mistakenly beamed up to the Mothership. A-Spen, A-Li and A-Lan reveal their true reasons for arriving in Seabrook. After fixing and watching the Scout's logs, they discover that the scout is none other than Addison's maternal grandmother, Angie. (Bucky, Addison's cousin, is not related to Angie, as he is related to Addison on her father's side.)
Zed is nervous for his home college interview, which is the last thing he needs to overcome before finding out if he has been accepted in Mountain College. Addison's alien powers cause him to "zombie out" during his interview, causing his interviewer, Ms. Crabtree, to leave. Addison questions her identity as an alien, asking her mom about her grandma. The trio of aliens suspect that the Seabrook Cup, which is the trophy Angie created and now awarded to the winning team of the Cheer Off, which is crafted with materials from their home world, is their map home. Addison discovers this same thing soon after and realizes either the aliens win it or she does. The werewolves discover the aliens' mission and alert the Z-Patrol. Zed, after learning he was accepted into college, discovers the Z-Patrol's orders and tries to stop the aliens from competing in the Cheer-Off. The extraterrestrial team is disqualified, leaving Addison as their only chance of finding Utopia. The Seabrook Mighty Shrimp are victorious at the competition and win.
The werewolves crash into the cheer pavilion and reveal the aliens' plans. The aliens, Addison and Zed escape before Addison reveals to the town her alien heritage. Zed reveals his college news and the aliens realize that the coordinates to Utopia lie in Addison's DNA. Unfortunately, their map is dynamic, meaning they must take Addison to their new home. A conflicted Addison agrees to go. Zed offers to go with her, but it's impossible as he would be killed by their stardust energy within minutes. The day the aliens and Addison are set to leave for Utopia, the aliens' ship is critically damaged, so the werewolves offer their moonstone and Eliza states that they could charge the ship by filtering the moonstone's energy through their Z-Bands. Zed risks his life by interfering with the power of the aliens and the moonstone, though he survives. As the others race to exit the ship before it releases into space, Addison and Zed share one last kiss before he is beamed back to Earth and the spaceship disappears into hyperspace.
A few days later, in a world without Addison, the group celebrates their graduation as the aliens decrypt Addison's DNA as the map coordinates. Addison realizes that her grandma Angie wanted her species to live on Earth, just as the map is decoded into revealing that Earth was Utopia the entire time, confirming Addison's beliefs. The aliens then return to Seabrook, as a joyful Zed, Bree, Willa, Wynter, Wyatt, Bonzo, Bucky and the Aceys celebrate their return. Afterwards, the aliens fully move in to Seabrook, along with several other monsters and creatures including vampires and merfolk.
During the credits, Bucky is shown boarding Mothership and activating it for launch, aiming to "bring cheer to the farthest reaches of the galaxy".
Reception
Audience viewership
According to Whip Media, which tracks viewership data for the more than 21 million worldwide users of its TV Time app, Zombies 3 was the fourth most watched film across all platforms in the United States during the week of July 15, 2022. [19] According to Nielsen, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, Zombies 3 was the 7th most watched film across all platforms during the week of July 17, 2022. [20] [21]
Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 75% of 8 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.30/10. [22]
Sourav Chakraborty of Sportskeeda found Zombies 3 to be a solid finale in the Zombies franchise, praised the film for its depiction of love, acceptance, and equality, applauded the soundtrack of the film across its songs and the chemistry between the characters, and complimented the premise involving extraterrestrial characters. [23] John Serba of Decider praised the music and the choreography, stating the songs manage to be appealing, and complimented the film's message dealing with acceptance and inclusion, while finding the film colorful, garish, and sometimes nonsensical. [24] Jennifer Green of Common Sense Media rated the film 3 out of 5 stars, praised the presence of positive messages and role models, citing diversity, equality, and inclusion, and complimented the diverse representations. [25]
Lena Wilson of The New York Times wrote that the film is much more than "90 minutes of silliness" and praised its tone, but criticized how Zombies 3 portrayed socio-cultural differences, specifically Terry Hu's queer character. [26] Brian Lowry of CNN found the film energic and progressive, but wrote that the film was "dead on arrival" and "hard to get fired up for," voicing concern at the use of aliens (which he found clichéd) after the first two films had depicted zombies and werewolves, and found the songs to be of mediocre quality, except "I'm Finally Me" and the reprise of "Someday." [27]
