Return of the Living Dead 3
Encyclopedia
Return of the Living Dead 3 is an American romantic
-horror film
released in 1993. It was directed by Brian Yuzna
and was written by John Penney. The film stars Melinda Clarke
as Julie Walker, J. Trevor Edmond
as Curt Reynolds, Kent McCord
as Col. John Reynolds and Basil Wallace as Riverman. Return of the Living Dead 3 is the second sequel to Return of the Living Dead
(1985) but bears little resemblance to its predecessors. It drops the comedy that had defined the series prior and replaces it with a dark serious romantic theme. It is followed by Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis
(2005).
) steals his father's security key card, he and his girlfriend, Julie Walker (Melinda Clarke
), decide to explore the military base where his father works. Using the card, they sneak into a hangar and observe Curt's father, Col. John Reynolds (Kent McCord
), Col. Peck (James T. Callahan
) and Lt. Col. Sinclair (Sarah Douglas
) overseeing an experiment with a corpse.
The corpse is exposed to 2-4-5 Trioxin gas. Trioxin, developed in the late 1960s, re-animates the corpse into a zombie
but with behavior change from previous films in the series; these zombies show that they run rather than walk or limp. The military's intention is to use zombies in warfare as expendable soldiers. However, once re-animated, the zombies are difficult to control.
To solve this problem, Sinclair plans to attach the zombies to exoskeletons, which could be locked down when the zombies were not in battle. Reynolds takes a different approach: his scientists have developed a method of "paretic infusion" to paralyze the zombie until it is needed. They fire a chemical bullet into the forehead of the zombie which creates a localized endothermic reaction that freezes the creature's brain. At first, the paretic infusion test looks successful, but the effect wears off much more quickly than expected and the re-animated zombie comes back to life and bites Dr. Hickox's fingers off. The zombie then proceeds to bash Hickox against a wall until he is dead. Having been infected by the zombie, Hickox is re-animated as another zombie and starts biting one of the other technician's legs while the technician begs and pleads for mercy. Hickox is paralyzed with bullets and everyone in the room is quarantined. The magnitude of this failure causes Reynolds to be re-assigned to Oklahoma City
and Sinclair to be promoted to head of the project.
When Reynolds informs Curt that they'll be moving again (something they've done a dozen times in Curt's life already) Curt refuses. Angrily, he storms out of home, riding off on his motorcycle
with Julie. While the bike speeds down the road Julie playfully grabs Curt's crotch causing him to lose control of the motorcycle. He veers into the path of an oncoming truck, swerves and slams strongly into the road guard rail
. Julie is thrown from the bike and into a telegraph pole, the impact breaks her neck and kills her.
Distraught, Curt brings Julie's corpse back to the military base. Using the key card again, he sneaks her in and uses the Trioxin gas to re-animate her. Julie initially seems perfectly normal (most likely due to her extreme "freshness" as a corpse, having only been dead for less than an hour), but soon starts exhibiting symptoms, such as pain (from rigor mortis
and the general state of being dead, as mentioned in previous movies) and hunger that cannot be satiated by regular food. An attempt to do so in a convenience store accidentally leads to a confrontation with a Hispanic street gang, where the Chinese owner is shot and left for dead and later is turned into a zombie as well. Julie bites and infects Mogo, one of the gang members. This leads to a subplot of the gang chasing Julie and Curt through the city, not realizing what is happening to their infected friend. After Julie attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge they encounter a vagrant
who calls himself Riverman, who takes them in and hides them in the sewers. He gives Curt a coin, saying it is a representation of his philosophy of "if you meet someone, do them some good, then tell them to pass it on". In the meantime, the military has learned of Curt's break-in and Julie's exposure to the Trioxin. While Curt's father is extremely worried about his son's welfare, Lt. Col Sinclair couldn't care less. She is only interested in reclaiming a valuable test subject.
Back in the underground, Julie discovers that extreme pain seems to make the cravings to feed on humans go away for a while, which leads to a scene where she adorns herself in "S&M zombie" gear scavenged from the debris around Riverman's lair, complete with a large shard of glass driven through one hand, and a piece of leather, weighted down with a rock, pierced through the other. This actually comes in handy when the gang finally tracks Julie and Curt down. In a very messy confrontation with the gang, she uses her new decorations to stab, beat, and otherwise kill several of the members. Unfortunately, her body starts to become numb to the pain over time, and she winds up turning on Riverman, infecting and killing him. Things seem very bleak for the survivors until they are "rescued" by the military.
With the remaining gang members shot, Curt is taken back to the base, and Julie is impounded as military property by Sinclair. Curt manages to rescue Julie, but in the process he winds up setting off a chain of events that free the remaining original Trioxin zombies from their containers. While trying to escape, Curt and Julie encounter none other than Riverman, who is now locked into one of Sinclairs's prototype exoskeletons. Sinclair soon finds out the exoskeletons aren't quite as effective as a means of restraint as she had hoped (which incidentally leads to her death). Riverman is about to kill Curt as well, until Curt displays the coin Riverman gave him earlier. This apparently brings to the surface enough humanity to cause Riverman to spare Curt and Julie.
By now the entire facility is on a countdown to incineration. Curt and Julie are nearing the exit, when a Trioxin zombie manages to bite and infect Curt. Realizing that he is now infected and then will become a zombie in a few moments, Curt decides at the last moment not to escape, but to just commit suicide
, despite his father's pleading. His father watches in horror as Curt and Julie leave the area. Curt and Julie end up going to the crematorium and climb inside the furnace. The two lovers then share a final embrace as the flames surround them and the screen fades out while they burn to death offscreen.
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
-horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
released in 1993. It was directed by Brian Yuzna
Brian Yuzna
Brian Yuzna is a director, writer and producer of films.- Life :Yuzna grew up in Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Panama before moving to the United States in the 1960s.- Career :...
and was written by John Penney. The film stars Melinda Clarke
Melinda Clarke
Melinda Patrice Clarke is an American actress who has primarily worked in television. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of our Lives, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper-Nichol on The O.C., and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather on CSI...
as Julie Walker, J. Trevor Edmond
J. Trevor Edmond
J. Trevor Edmond is an American actor appearing in film and television.-Biography:Edmond was born Jerome Trevor Edmond in Encino, California. Edmond's recent role in television is appearing in Pacific Palisades taking the role of Michael Kerris...
as Curt Reynolds, Kent McCord
Kent McCord
Kent McCord is an American actor best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.- Biography :...
as Col. John Reynolds and Basil Wallace as Riverman. Return of the Living Dead 3 is the second sequel to Return of the Living Dead
Return of the Living Dead
The Return of the Living Dead is a 1985 American zombie film that was followed by several sequels. The film was written and directed by Dan O'Bannon and starred Clu Gulager, James Karen and Don Calfa....
(1985) but bears little resemblance to its predecessors. It drops the comedy that had defined the series prior and replaces it with a dark serious romantic theme. It is followed by Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis
Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis
Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis , is a 2005 zombie television horror film directed by Ellory Elkayem, starring Aimee Lynn Chadwick, Cory Hardrict, John Keefe, Jana Kramer, and Peter Coyote. The plot revolves around a group of teenagers attempting to rescue their friend from an evil corporation...
(2005).
Plot
When Curt Reynolds (J. Trevor EdmondJ. Trevor Edmond
J. Trevor Edmond is an American actor appearing in film and television.-Biography:Edmond was born Jerome Trevor Edmond in Encino, California. Edmond's recent role in television is appearing in Pacific Palisades taking the role of Michael Kerris...
) steals his father's security key card, he and his girlfriend, Julie Walker (Melinda Clarke
Melinda Clarke
Melinda Patrice Clarke is an American actress who has primarily worked in television. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of our Lives, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper-Nichol on The O.C., and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather on CSI...
), decide to explore the military base where his father works. Using the card, they sneak into a hangar and observe Curt's father, Col. John Reynolds (Kent McCord
Kent McCord
Kent McCord is an American actor best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.- Biography :...
), Col. Peck (James T. Callahan
James T. Callahan
James Thomas Callahan was an American film and television actor who appeared in more than 120 films and television shows between 1959 and 2007...
) and Lt. Col. Sinclair (Sarah Douglas
Sarah Douglas
Sarah Douglas is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in the first two Superman movies , and for her role as Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest .-Early life:Douglas was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the...
) overseeing an experiment with a corpse.
The corpse is exposed to 2-4-5 Trioxin gas. Trioxin, developed in the late 1960s, re-animates the corpse into a zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
but with behavior change from previous films in the series; these zombies show that they run rather than walk or limp. The military's intention is to use zombies in warfare as expendable soldiers. However, once re-animated, the zombies are difficult to control.
To solve this problem, Sinclair plans to attach the zombies to exoskeletons, which could be locked down when the zombies were not in battle. Reynolds takes a different approach: his scientists have developed a method of "paretic infusion" to paralyze the zombie until it is needed. They fire a chemical bullet into the forehead of the zombie which creates a localized endothermic reaction that freezes the creature's brain. At first, the paretic infusion test looks successful, but the effect wears off much more quickly than expected and the re-animated zombie comes back to life and bites Dr. Hickox's fingers off. The zombie then proceeds to bash Hickox against a wall until he is dead. Having been infected by the zombie, Hickox is re-animated as another zombie and starts biting one of the other technician's legs while the technician begs and pleads for mercy. Hickox is paralyzed with bullets and everyone in the room is quarantined. The magnitude of this failure causes Reynolds to be re-assigned to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
and Sinclair to be promoted to head of the project.
When Reynolds informs Curt that they'll be moving again (something they've done a dozen times in Curt's life already) Curt refuses. Angrily, he storms out of home, riding off on his motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
with Julie. While the bike speeds down the road Julie playfully grabs Curt's crotch causing him to lose control of the motorcycle. He veers into the path of an oncoming truck, swerves and slams strongly into the road guard rail
Guard rail
Guard rail or guardrail, sometimes referred to as guide rail or railing, is a system designed to keep people or vehicles from straying into dangerous or off-limits areas...
. Julie is thrown from the bike and into a telegraph pole, the impact breaks her neck and kills her.
Distraught, Curt brings Julie's corpse back to the military base. Using the key card again, he sneaks her in and uses the Trioxin gas to re-animate her. Julie initially seems perfectly normal (most likely due to her extreme "freshness" as a corpse, having only been dead for less than an hour), but soon starts exhibiting symptoms, such as pain (from rigor mortis
Rigor mortis
Rigor mortis is one of the recognizable signs of death that is caused by a chemical change in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff and difficult to move or manipulate...
and the general state of being dead, as mentioned in previous movies) and hunger that cannot be satiated by regular food. An attempt to do so in a convenience store accidentally leads to a confrontation with a Hispanic street gang, where the Chinese owner is shot and left for dead and later is turned into a zombie as well. Julie bites and infects Mogo, one of the gang members. This leads to a subplot of the gang chasing Julie and Curt through the city, not realizing what is happening to their infected friend. After Julie attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge they encounter a vagrant
Vagrancy (people)
A vagrant is a person in poverty, who wanders from place to place without a home or regular employment or income.-Definition:A vagrant is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging;" vagrancy is the condition of such persons.-History:In...
who calls himself Riverman, who takes them in and hides them in the sewers. He gives Curt a coin, saying it is a representation of his philosophy of "if you meet someone, do them some good, then tell them to pass it on". In the meantime, the military has learned of Curt's break-in and Julie's exposure to the Trioxin. While Curt's father is extremely worried about his son's welfare, Lt. Col Sinclair couldn't care less. She is only interested in reclaiming a valuable test subject.
Back in the underground, Julie discovers that extreme pain seems to make the cravings to feed on humans go away for a while, which leads to a scene where she adorns herself in "S&M zombie" gear scavenged from the debris around Riverman's lair, complete with a large shard of glass driven through one hand, and a piece of leather, weighted down with a rock, pierced through the other. This actually comes in handy when the gang finally tracks Julie and Curt down. In a very messy confrontation with the gang, she uses her new decorations to stab, beat, and otherwise kill several of the members. Unfortunately, her body starts to become numb to the pain over time, and she winds up turning on Riverman, infecting and killing him. Things seem very bleak for the survivors until they are "rescued" by the military.
With the remaining gang members shot, Curt is taken back to the base, and Julie is impounded as military property by Sinclair. Curt manages to rescue Julie, but in the process he winds up setting off a chain of events that free the remaining original Trioxin zombies from their containers. While trying to escape, Curt and Julie encounter none other than Riverman, who is now locked into one of Sinclairs's prototype exoskeletons. Sinclair soon finds out the exoskeletons aren't quite as effective as a means of restraint as she had hoped (which incidentally leads to her death). Riverman is about to kill Curt as well, until Curt displays the coin Riverman gave him earlier. This apparently brings to the surface enough humanity to cause Riverman to spare Curt and Julie.
By now the entire facility is on a countdown to incineration. Curt and Julie are nearing the exit, when a Trioxin zombie manages to bite and infect Curt. Realizing that he is now infected and then will become a zombie in a few moments, Curt decides at the last moment not to escape, but to just commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, despite his father's pleading. His father watches in horror as Curt and Julie leave the area. Curt and Julie end up going to the crematorium and climb inside the furnace. The two lovers then share a final embrace as the flames surround them and the screen fades out while they burn to death offscreen.
Cast
- Kent McCordKent McCordKent McCord is an American actor best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.- Biography :...
as Col. John Reynolds - James T. CallahanJames T. CallahanJames Thomas Callahan was an American film and television actor who appeared in more than 120 films and television shows between 1959 and 2007...
as Col. Peck - Sarah DouglasSarah DouglasSarah Douglas is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the Kryptonian supervillain Ursa in the first two Superman movies , and for her role as Pamela Lynch in the 1980s primetime drama series Falcon Crest .-Early life:Douglas was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, the...
as Lt. Col. Sinclair - Melinda ClarkeMelinda ClarkeMelinda Patrice Clarke is an American actress who has primarily worked in television. Clarke is best known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of our Lives, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper-Nichol on The O.C., and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather on CSI...
as Julie Walker - Abigail Lenz as Mindy
- J. Trevor EdmondJ. Trevor EdmondJ. Trevor Edmond is an American actor appearing in film and television.-Biography:Edmond was born Jerome Trevor Edmond in Encino, California. Edmond's recent role in television is appearing in Pacific Palisades taking the role of Michael Kerris...
as Curt Reynolds - Jill Andre as Dr. Beers
- Michael Decker as Science Technician
- Billy Kane as Waters
- Mike Moroff as Santos
- Fabio UrenaJulian Scott UrenaJulian Scott Urena is a Latin American actor. Born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, and immigrated with his family to New York City while in grade school....
as Mogo - Pia ReyesPia ReyesMaria Pia Agravante Reyes is a Filipino American model and actress. She was the November 1988 Playboy Playmate of the Month.-Early life:...
as Alicia - Sal Lopez as Felipe
- Dana Lee as Captain Ping
- Ray Downie as Cop #1
- Michael Northern as Squad Soldier
- Basil Wallace as Riverman
- Joe Sikorra as Squad leader
- David Wells as Laboratory Technician
- Clarence Epperson as Cadaver
- Anthony HickoxAnthony HickoxAnthony Hickox is an English film director, actor, film producer and screenwriter.His works include Waxwork and its sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, "Prince Valiant", "Children of the Corn", "Warlock: Armageddon", "Payback",...
as Dr. Hickox - Brian Peck as Ballistics Technician
- Jimmy Marshall as Cop #2
- Otto Scottway as Drunk Zombie
- Ronnie Pellicci as Pie Eating Zombie
- David Boyce as Zombie Slug Boyce
- Cecil Garrett Esq 3rd as Zombie Cecil