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Mindy Clarke, J. Trevor Edmond, Kent McCord, Sarah Douglas, James T. Callahan ... see more see more... , Basil Wallace , Michael Deak , Billy Kane , Dana Lee , Sal Lopez , Mike Moroff , David Wells , Brian Peck , Fabio Urena , Jill Andre

A more straightforward horror film than the darkly comic Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988), this third chapter in the "Living Dead" saga was directed by Brian Yuzna and is quite similar plot-wi... read more read more...se to his earlier film, Bride of Re-Animator (1990). J. Trevor Edmond and Mindy Clarke star as Curt Reynolds and Julie Walker, a young couple in love. Curt's father is Col. John Reynolds (Kent McCord), a scientist working on a top-secret project at a nearby military compound. When Curt steals his dad's security pass and sneaks Julie into the base, they discover that the project involves bringing corpses back to life using the powerful gas Trioxin, responsible for events in the previous films. The military hopes to use the mindless, flesh-consuming zombies as weapons, but the experiment goes gruesomely awry. Later, Julie is killed in an accident on Curt's motorcycle and the grief-stricken boyfriend brings her to the base and exposes her to the gas. As she begins craving human flesh, Curt must try to keep her alive while also facing down a local street gang he's unintentionally crossed, as well as the soldiers seeking Julie, led by his father. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Flixster Users

44% liked it

14,986 ratings

Critics

38% liked it

8 critics

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Brian Yuzna

Release Date: January 1, 1993

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DVD Release Date: August 28, 2001

Stats: 618 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (618)

  • phubbs1
    May 21, 2011
    phubbs1
    The third outing in this undead franchise is still just about hanging in there in terms of a decent film that will keep you hooked. This film unfortunately has taken the plunge into the deep dark realms of the 'straight to video/DVD' which does give you a bad feeling but fear not... read more 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. 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, wether that's the right way to go I'm not so sure as the horror comedy was the best part of the original films.

    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, the imagination and gross factor is high as Johnson really gets to create anything he can think of, think of 'Evil Dead: Army of Darkness' and you will get an idea of what the crazy undead hordes look like. In short this film isn't great until the last 30min when everything breaks loose.
  • YosemiteSamFan
    February 19, 2011
    YosemiteSamFan
    A small-scale zombie movie with good gore and makeup effects. There weren't the hoards of zombies, which was disappointing. I liked some of the ideas in this forgettable movie.Tied to the first two movies, the barrels of green gas are being used to bring the dead back to life at ... read morea military research facility. Rather than escaping, it is used to revive a hot lady after she is wounded in a motorcycle accident. Isolated gorey scenes follow, with a liquor store robbery, a much-fest in some sewer tunnels, and a final battle at the lab where twisted zombie experiments were being done. Good ending, I'd say. Too bad a part 4 was never made.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    August 9, 2010
    TheDudeLebowski65
    After the somewhat lacking and disappointing second film, Return Of The Living Dead 3 is a terrific return to form. Some people have compared this film with Re-Animator. ROTLD3 offers insane ammounts of gore and in the end, it pays off as Yuzna directs every scene with precision ... read moreand thats what makes this film soar, Yuzna doesn't rush the film he slowly paces everything and slowly the film unfolds and succeeds in deliver something great. Return Of The Living Dead is a fine return indeed.
  • matertenebraum
    October 24, 2008
    matertenebraum
    Teen army brat Curt (J. Trevor Edmond) is so in love with wild, sexy punkette Julie (Mindy Clarke) that he decides not to let her untimely death in a motorcylce accident keep them apart. Thankfully his father (Kent McCord) works at a top-secret military lab experimenting on bring... read moreing the dead back to life. Curt sneaks in and uses the "Trioxin" gas to revive Julie, then spends the rest of the movie watching helplessly in horror at her mental and physical deterioration and increasing hunger for human flesh!

    Having very little to do with the two previous comic RETURN titles helps Part III overcome familiarity, while director Brian Yuzna delivers loads of brain-munching horror without losing sight of the compelling, tragic central romance. Excellent FX work by Steve Johnson and many others, including Julie's amazing transformation from whimpering ghoul to multi-pierced, S&M femme fatale zombie queen.

    This film was released in R and unrated versions. Shoot for the latter
  • LitelBluHli
    August 29, 2008
    LitelBluHli
    Old school scary movie! Me likes.
  • drblood
    June 24, 2007
    drblood
    A really great storyline reminiscent of Wes Craven's "Deadly Friend" and "Reanimator" in that what is dead should stay dead.
  • superclerk25
    February 16, 2007
    superclerk25
    I thought this was pretty good actually.
  • DrStrangeblog
    August 20, 2011
    DrStrangeblog
    Some quality gore effects and piercingly effective makeup on Mindy Clarke make this zombie romp memorable enough.
  • fb1603361359
    July 28, 2011
    fb1603361359
    I saw the uncut/unrated version of this one on an old VHS so now I'm happy I'm able to say what's good for what this sequel was meant to be. It doesn't necessarily follow up from the terrible Part 2 which was a smart move for once, but with the nice gore effects present (not incl... read moreuded in the R-Rated version), improved acting, and a plotline that's similar to Part 1 but still working well, this unheralded flick is worth it for horror fans (uncut version only).
  • donnarenee2006
    September 21, 2008
    donnarenee2006
    This one actually made sense on how the Biohazard Zombies were made. Imagine the military being involved with creating such a thing. Story was pretty cool.

View All Return of the Living Dead 3 Reviews

Critic Reviews

Tim Brayton
April 18, 2010
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

It's kind of inept, but it wants to be better than it is, and that's sort of charming. Full Review

Stefan Birgir Stefansson
March 23, 2008
Stefan Birgir Stefansson, sbs.is

fun schlock

Steve Crum
November 9, 2006
Steve Crum, Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers

More zombies, more gore, more bore.

Scott Weinberg
April 3, 2005
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

Quite a bit better than you might expect, horror freaks!

Karina Montgomery
September 19, 2002
Karina Montgomery, Cinerina

embarrassingly funny

February 23, 2012
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
March 26, 2009
Emanuel Levy, Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
August 12, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Frank Swietek
July 10, 2004
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion

No review available.

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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