Return of the Living Dead 3
The original Return of the Living Dead is one of my favorite horror films. It is the perfect mix of dark comedy, punk rock, nihilism, and terror. Following that up would be close to impossible. As it turns out, that was very much the case. The 2nd film was essentially a watered-down version of the 1st. It wasn’t terrible;there are some entertaining moments. Those aren’t enough to save the film from being seen as a far inferior take on ideas the original already perfected. The ‘80s are known for milking a series dry with sequels of deteriorating quality. It looked like Return of the Living Dead was going to fall victim to the same fate.
It would eventually, but not before giving us a genuine surprise with the 3rd film. Return 3 was directed by Brian Yuzna, whom I am most familiar with for producing the great Re-Animator. His directing work is a tad spottier. Yuzna has an eye for grotesque imagery and grand ideas. Unfortunately, he often paints his characters and their development with broad brush strokes. That can work in some films that are meant to be so outlandish to the point where strong writing isn’t a priority. He comes across as a great ideas man who needs a good writer to balance him out.
I had low expectations for this film, to be honest. It seemed like one of the many horror cash grabs that permeated around this time. I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. I was taken aback when the film turned out to be really good. Not as great as the original of course. That would be an unfair expectation to have. Return 3 sets itself apart from other trashy horror sequels by actually making the effort to tell an emotional story. You don’t get many romantic zombie films. That is quite a niche subgenre. This is easily the best execution of that idea. Many will counter that by bringing up Shaun of the Dead. As much as I love Shaun, it is a romantic film with zombies, not a zombie romance film. There is a distinct difference. Return 3 goes away from the darkly comedic tone of the 1st film and becomes a tragic Romeo and Juliet inspired tale.
The story of Return 3 takes place a few years after the events of the previous film. Curt Reynolds lives with his father, Colonel John Reynolds. He is used to moving around the country thanks to his father’s military life. One day, Curt and his girlfriend Julie sneak into his top-secret military base where his father works. There they see his involvement with a horrific project where the infamous Trioxin gas is used on a corpse to bring it back to life. Because that went so well in the last two films. The military wants to use these walking corpses in combat, an idea that proves foolhardy when the reanimated body attacks the scientists in the room. The people it attacks are then reanimated and put in quarantine. The humungous failure of the tests is enough for the military to kick John off the project and transfer him to a different state.
Curt and Julie are stunned by what they saw, but Curt tries to hide the fact that he witnessed what happened. John comes home and tells Curt they will have to move again. His son is understandably upset by this development and refuses to go along with it. So, he expresses his angst by riding off on his motorcycle with Julie. One thing leads to another and she ends up getting killed by accident. A grief-stricken Curt takes her back to the military base and uses the Trioxin gas to bring her back to life. This relationship between Curt and Julie is the soul of the film and what makes it unique.
Her return from the dead is not without complications. She starts going through similar symptoms that Frank and Freddy went through in the original. Curt does whatever he can to help her and keep her “alive.” This puts an interesting twist on the zombification process in the original. In Return 1, the zombies were in constant pain, and eating brains was the only way to make their suffering go away. In Return 3, Julie discovers that inflecting pain on her body is enough to temporarily halt her hunger. These are some of the most graphic moments in the film as she pierces her body with anything she can find. Those who are uncomfortable watching self-harm may want to steer clear of Return 3.
I am not going to go as far as to say this film is a masterpiece. There are parts that are a bit clumsy and harken back to Yuzna’s tendencies to have the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Julie and Curt have an altercation with a gang that tries to hunt them down for a substantial chunk of the story. The gang is stereotypical and exists to terrorize Curt and Julie. Their reasons for being so furious at the couple are quite contrived as well. What makes the film work so well despite those wobbles is the tragic love story. Curt and Julie have wonderful chemistry. Kent McCord is solid as Curt, but it’s Melinda Clarke who steals the show as Julie. She perfectly conveys every ounce of suffering her character goes through as she morphs into a zombie.
There are not many zombie films I can think of that put so much emphasis on emotion and tragedy. Most of them boil down to the same cliché of saying they aren’t the monsters, we are! After a while, I get pretty bored of that idea repeated ad nauseum. It’s the main reason why I think as a creature, zombies are far more limited than vampires with what you can do with them. Return 3 shows that you can tell an original and compelling story with an overdone monster. There are certainly the usual moments of gore and campiness that define the genre. Those moments are elevated by Julie and Curt’s desperation to save her from becoming a monster.
One more issue with Return 3 though is the music. Return 1 had a fantastic punk rock soundtrack that gave it a distinct identity. Return 3 keeps the punk aesthetic with Julie’s visual transformation, but it replaces that fun music from the original with a generic score that sounds like any other horror film. It tries to have a gothic edge and there are times when that shines through in the music. For the most part, though, the music has a low-budget sound that detracts from the quality of the film. Despite the issues I mentioned, Return is a really good romantic horror film. If you don’t mind your love stories having a healthy helping of gore, then this is one to watch.
