After Julie (Melinda Clarke) dies in a motorcycle accident, Curt (J. Trevor Edmond), her boyfriend and the son of a military officer (Kent McCord) working on secret experiments, brings her back using the zombie-making chemical from the first two films. She fights her desire for brains, but in the end zombies are running around in the city and at the military base.
This third and best film in the Return of the Living Dead series is more serious than its predecessors. Brian Yuzna of the Re-Animator franchise took over the helm, reducing the camp element by instilling the movie with his darker sense of humor. Return of the Living Dead III has all the violence and gore of its predecessors. It also has a great deal more character development as it is a love story. Curt and Julie’s relationship is actually quite touching and I found it easy to care about Julie. In the film’s most wonderfully twisted scene, Julie (played by the beautiful Mindy Clark) pierces her body, including her breast, with springs and wires in an attempt to distract herself from her growing hunger. It is only partially effective, and when she comes to mangle the criminal gang that has been following them, she appears as a horrible and sensual undead goddess.
More than in any other zombie picture, the walking dead are to be pitied, not feared. They are the lesser of two evils, if evil at all, when compared to the military. There are plenty of action scenes in Return of the Living Dead III but this is a tragedy, Romeo and Juliet with zombies and the military, so the focus is on emotions, making the film feel deeper than the first two. It is at least more entertaining.
Follows Return of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead II.