Return of the Living Dead III (1993)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

I quite enjoy the films of producer/director Brian Yuzna, who had no connection to the first two Return of the Living Dead films and puts his own stamp on this series wit this third entry. The story follows a punk rock girl who happens to witness a secret government project and finds herself turned into a walking talking zombie following a motorcycle accident. Yuzna leaves out much of the comedy of the earlier films and made more of a straight horror films, but he didn't make this a traditional Romero style zombie picture either and instead made the punk rock girl more of a human-like zombie who the audience feels empathy for, which was a new twist on the genre for the time. When this film was first released, I remember being disappointed and wanted a more traditional of zombie siege film, with characters trapped somewhere and surrounded by the hungry reanimated dead, but going into this film knowing it wasn't that type of story, I think I appreciated it more this time around, even if it still isn't exactly a classic or in the same league as Yuzna's best films (those would be "Society" and "Beyond Re-Animator," though I also quite enjoyed "Faust" and "The Dentist").

The first Return of the Living Dead is by far the best of the series, being immensely entertaining and creepy with very little wrong. This second sequel, and the third in the series, is an improvement over the second, which relied on too much humour (most of which was very forced) and had very few scares, and certainly much better than the fourth and fifth films, both of which were horrendous, especially the latter.Return of the Living Dead Part III does have things wrong. It does start off poorly, with a lack of suspense, some cheesy and out of place comedy (though luckily the film is never too over-reliant on that, allowing the horror and scares to come out for much of the film) some of the worst of the limited budget and it felt like it had jumped to half-way through, and some of the story does feel and wear thin in a few places, doesn't quite sustain the running time, with a very clumsy final five minutes. The limited budget does sometimes show, in some cheap-looking sets and some shoddy effects. The zombies are also very underused.However, the film is very well shot and atmospherically lit, the zombie make-up is some of the best of the entire series and most of the special effects are good. The music is haunting and catchy, with a lovingly nostalgic 80s vibe that never felt dated or cheesily over the top. The scripting is not too bad, it is nowhere near as strained as the second film's and treats its Romeo and Juliet-like story to an enjoyably dark and moving effect if sometimes taking things a little too seriously. While the execution of the story is not perfect, it doesn't try too hard to be funny and it's nowhere near as dull or as incoherent as the succeeding two sequels.It is by far the darkest and most original of the series, it does offer some genuine scares and emotional impact, the gore is suitably harrowing and the last thirty minutes is mostly enjoyably over-the-top and poignantly tragic until the clumsy final five minutes. People will argue that it is nothing like the first two, and that is one of the main reasons why it is the most polarising of the five films and understandably, I for one didn't have a problem with it.The love story is handled with a good deal of emotion and doesn't get too sappy, saccharine or silly. The zombies are underused, but when they do appear they look great and have a real sense of fun and menace, while the characters are some of the more likable and less annoying of the series, Julie is a very interesting character and easy to root for. The direction is competent, and the acting is pretty good, Sarah Douglas chews the scenery is an enormously fun way (and this is coming from a person who is not a huge fan of that kind of acting) and Mindy Clarke is excellent as Julie.All in all, not perfect or great but pretty decent and by far the best of the sequels. 6/10 Bethany Cox

The third outing in this undead franchise is still just about hanging in there in terms of a decent horror film that will keep you hooked. This film unfortunately has taken the plunge into the deep dark realms of the straight to DVD which does give you a bad feeling. But fear not as despite the mawkish plot, bad acting and obvious reused sets the second half of the film gets back on track with plenty of zombie action. The plot is the downfall really, its a bit wet and sloppy. A cringeworthy Romeo and Juliet type love story between two young teens and yet more toxic stuff. The young girl gets killed in a motorbike accident (typical reckless kids huh) and is reanimated by her boyfriend using this toxic stuff in a military base. Oh yeah the boys dad runs this military base where they are using the toxic stuff to animate the dead for dubious purposes...as you do.It is important to note that this is the first film in the series that takes itself seriously and becomes more of an outright horror leaving out the comedy aspect, plus it moves away from the first two films and tries to be a stand alone feature. Whether that's the right way to go I'm not so sure as the horror comedy aspect was the best part of the original films but this still has some really nice ideas.Makeup effects by the wizard Steve Johnson saves this film from the abyss of crapola with some of the best creepy looking undead makeup in the whole franchise. His dark imagination combined with the high gross-out factor is uber cool as Johnson really gets to create anything he can think of. I admittedly did like the kinky 'Hellraiser-esque/fetish' look for the young undead female teen. Yeah call me a pervert but there's clearly a nice BDSM vibe going on there which is sick yet alluring at the same time.Think of 'Evil Dead: Army of Darkness' but even more twisted and gruesome and you will get an idea of what the crazy undead hordes look like. In short this film isn't great up until the last 30min or so, then everything breaks loose and kicks ass nicely.6/10

I recall wanting to rent something cheesy and campy for a weekend alone and came across Return of the Living Dead III. I knew it had to be better than part 2 (which I consider the worst zombie movie). I expected a lot of skin, a lot of gore, a lot of comedy, and not much in regards to plot. What I got was some skin, a lot of gore, no comedy, and a fairly decent plot. True, some of the plot shenanigans were fairly predictable, and I think the writers were not too sure how to end the movie, but there is an interesting twist of being a zombie. Curtis and Julie are in love. Curtis' dad is in the military and working on a top secret project to use the pesky chemical that brings back the dead. Curtis and Julie see an experiment gone awry and run away. Curtis' dad then is re-assigned to Oklahoma City and must leave immediately. Of course, his son does not want to leave Julie behind. He runs off with Julie, but an accident happens and Julie is killed. Curtis remembers the experiment and brings her back - but she's not the same girl as before. She doesn't want to hurt Curtis, but struggles with her own transformation into a zombie. I was pleasantly surprised how some character and plot developed. There was conflict and dilemma for Curtis, his dad, and Julie. On the other hand, the movie's ending came off a uneven and unfocused. And it falls into the trap of a few horror clichés - like kids sneaking into a military complex. For a change, the Return of the Living Dead franchise got a little resuscitation and came back to life.