Return of the Living Dead 3 - Good little zombie flick (rotten sequel)

If you’re looking for an excellent, fun little zombie film, filled with laughs, gore and general gross-outs... then watch ‘Return of the Living Dead.’ That’s ‘Part I’ that is. ‘Part II’ was basically ‘zombies for kids’ (even if it did try to follow on directly from the original and keep the humour/gore style intact.  However, ‘Part III’ doesn’t really feel like part of the saga at all.  Yes, it continues to chart what happens to barrels of the chemical ‘245 Trioxin’ (the stuff that creates zombies, if you’re interested!), but, apart from that, it’s a whole new film.

You can understand those who enjoyed the first one (and the second didn’t have too many fans to begin with) being disappointed with the third entry.  It’s really a sequel in name only.  But, believe it or not, not a bad film.

Yes, it doesn’t have a budget and no, it doesn’t really have any actors who are that famous, but it did have an original little concept (for its time).  Back in 1993 the idea of zombies having an ‘inner conscious’ was actually something new.  Since zombies came back into fashion, we’ve had all sorts of takes on that idea, but in the early nineties, when a girl dies before her time in a (easily prevented!) motorcycle accident, then her boyfriend uses his dad’s access to the military base and its stores of Trioxin to bring her back.  Naturally, things don’t go to plan.  Yes, his beloved Julie returns to him, but also with a desire to eat anyone not going out with her.

Don’t expect a masterpiece.  It’s one of those films that, if you like the genre and can find it for free (it must be on Netflix or the like by now!), then you’ll probably enjoy it.  The two primary characters are likable (if a little stupid at times) for you to care enough about and there’s some decent (non CGI) gore to keep the ‘claret-lovers’ happy.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that