RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 3 (1993)
All notes and summary below by Chris Fischer (1998).
Notes: 97 minutes.
Julie: Mindy Clarke
Curt Reynolds: J. Trevor Edmond
Colonel John Reynolds: Kent McCord (“one-Adam-twelve!”)
Colonel Sinclare: Sarah Douglas
Colonel Peck: James T. Callahan
Santos: Mike Moroff
Felipe: Sal Lopez
Mogo: Fabio Urena
Alicia: Pia Reyes
Store Owner: Dana Lee
Chief Scientist: Jill Andre
Riverman: Basil Wallice
Directed: Brian Yuzna
Produced: Gary Schmoeller, Brian Yuzna
Written: John Penny
Summary:
The story opens with Curt and his girlfriend Julie sneaking intothe army’s testing facility to see what Curt’s dad, Colonel JohnReynolds, does all day. What they see is Dad trying to use thechemical that brings the dead back to life to create the ultimatebiological weapon. Curt and Julie leave the facility and laterCurt has an argument with his dad and decides to run away to Seattlewith Julie.
Unfortunately, Julie fools around too much while Curt it tryingto operate a motorcycle properly and causes them to wreck. Juliedoes a nice face plant into a telephone and “bing,”she’s dead. Curt has a brainstorm and decides to sneak her intothe testing facility to bring her back to life. It works butCurt ends up setting one of the canned zombies free, causing somehell to break loose. Curt and Julie escape anyway.
Julie slowly turns into a flesh-eating zombie but still for somereason doesn’t eat Curt. Those two must just have a good bondbetween them. Eventually Curt’s dad and some of the containmentpersonnel from the testing facility find Curt and Julie in theprocess of stopping the zombies that Julie had been creating bysnacking on them.
Julie is placed in containment but Curt just can’t handle thethought of her becoming a biological weapon. He lets her anda bunch of zombies loose at the same time, but he gets bittenand is now destined to become a brain-sucker himself. With thathorrible thought in his mind, Curt and Julie throw themselvesinto the incinerator, ending the story.
Commentary:
This third installment of the Return of the Living Deadseries in definitely different. Instead of a bunch of corpsesrising from a cemetery, only a few zombies are produced here andthere. The real theme that sets this movie apart from the firsttwo is the pseudo-love-thing between Curt and Julie. I guess ifI had to point out a message in this movie, it’s don’t try tobring your girlfriend back to life with nasty chemicals if sheslams face first into a telephone pole. (The doctor in TheBrain That Wouldn’t Die had a similar realization.)
Beer Factor: 6