Dan Obannon's classic punk rock zombie flick Return of the Living Dead is a crazed collaboration spinning out of the ideas of Romero's Night of the Living Dead to give us one of the most hilarious and horrifying original dark horror comedies of all time. Of course with the huge success a follow up was bound to happen, however this time without much of the support of the original creative team which gave us a sequel that tried way too hard on the comedy while giving the film's zombie carnage a bigger scope. Part 2 is very by the numbers as far as horror sequels go. Part 3 however much like Halloween 3 is an entirely different beast. Return of the Living Dead 3 or its European title Mortal Zombie, takes 2-4-5 Trioxin with the super strength and invincibility of the zombies from previous films and that's about it. This of course is thanks to director Brian Yuzna whom has in many sequels that he had taken on made whichever number in the series his own film and this one he turned into his gothic heavy metal zombie romance on the level of Romeo and Juliet. Can the government tear asunder the love of a boy and his zombie? 
Julie and Curt are too thrill seeking lovers who break into the military facility Curt's father works in after stealing his key card wanting to catch a glimpse of the top secret experiment being conducted there. What they see is a yellowed dead looking body with a strange apparatus hooked up and chained to the ceiling. The body is coated in the gas of 2-4-5 Trioxin, which is taken form military barrels containing dead bodies, reviving the corpse as it struggles to break free and eat the brains of the scientists studying him. The scientist hook up a strange looking gun that Curt's father has designed and fires it at the corpses head which immediately freezes the body and paralyzes. For years the military had been trying to find a way to stop and control the living dead as Curt's father had finally figured it out, however the experiment goes wrong as the paralysis bullet doesn't last and the corpse breaks free eating the scientists until they finally put it back down with several more shots. With the experiment failing Curt's father is fired and reassigned to Oklahoma. Upon hearing of the imminent move Curt and Julie decide to run away together so they can be with one another forever. Sadly in a motorcycle accident Julie is killed and in a state of utmost grief, Curt brings her back to the facility to gas her with the Trioxin to reanimate her. Unlike the other corpses Julie seems more cognizant and less hostile but still craves brains and flesh to stop the pain she is feeling. She eventually cannot resist the hunger anymore and begins feeding which in turn creates more zombies as Curt tries to stop her and take care of her with the government on their tails cleaning up the mess of zombies left in their wake. 
The best way to enjoy this movie is to completely disregard it as a Return of the Living Dead sequel. Unlike the original, zombie bites can contract the disease, they introduce the idea of causing physical pain to the zombie helps cloud its pain of the hunger, the zombies while aware in the previous installments in this one can stop their hunger and rage for someone they know. In this instance Julie the living dead is the main character. She is the protagonist in the same way Frankenstein's monster is but combined with hunger of Dracula. Brian Yuzna has said this is his Romeo and Juliet but I would almost compare it more to the Bride of Frankenstein by the end of the film. Melinda Clarke as Julie and J Trevor Edmund as Curt are a lot of fun in the film as you start off thinking their just dumb asshole kids into realizing the two truly need each other. Their romance buds through many throw away lines linking their dark pasts to discovering their lights in each other and it's truly beautiful. Sure Curt does a lot of really stupid things in the film but, what character doesn't do stupid things in a horror flick and what character doesn't do stupid things when they're in love? Their love is the centerpiece of the film and the horror falls into place with it.
With that Romeo and Juliet vibe brings in a certain amount of drama especially as we watch Julie kind of go insane from dealing with her transformation. While the first two were very comedic this film has almost no comedy in it whatsoever, it's pure drama and horror. It's almost a breath of fresh air getting a new take that works especially with after how hard the second film tried to be funny. Without the comedy aspect tying it down Yuzna is allowed to go full force into the character relationships and especially delves into a suicidal aspect of teenagers. Julie tries very hard throughout the film to kill herself or cause herself pain, weeping to Curt that she can't die and how she wishes she could, first cutting herself and then flinging herself off a bridge. It's s big part of the film that I think reflects the 90s time period of a young persons obsession with mortality and being unable to deal with life. This descends into her discovery of pain freeing her from the pain of the hunger. The more she hurts herself the less hungry she is and begins augmenting her body with piercings using broken glass, wires, sticks and a myriad of sharp jagged objects where she begins to look monstrous. These augmentations later play in as weapons to fight other zombies and soldiers who try to destroy her. 
The FX work is done by many different people and companies including Wayne Toth who would go on to do the FX work for all of Rob Zombies films, with all the different types of FX artists the zombie makeup all seems different and unique using puppetry, appliances and coloring to showcase the undead that have been collected over the decades. This all culminates into a trick finale near the end. We think the film is over and we see the horrors of science meddling with what we don't understand and one swift choice causes the film to spiral into a bloody insane and poignant finale that gives us a beautifully twisted ending full of disgustingly awesome undead taking over with our lovers right at the center. The very end between the lovers is what makes me think Bride of Frankenstein and it's beautiful. 
Say what you will about Brian Yuzna, being a better producer than director in the shadow of his long time collaborator Stuart Gordon. Yuzna may not be the greatest at setting up a shot or playing out a scene in camera but he is an excellent storyteller who puts out amazing work that doesn't repeat itself and in this case doesn't retread older stories set up by the film's that preceded it. As its own film, Return of the Living Dead 3 is a great cult classic on par with many other poignant horror films that should not be judged on its title but by the merits of its original take on the zombie genre.
20 Days til' Halloween! Halloween!
20 Days til' Halloween! Silver Shamrock!
