Writer: Jonathan Sullivan
In keeping with the Halloween spirit, this week's Watch This! is a movie that you may have seen bits and pieces of when flipping the channels, as it was a Sci-Fi(sorry SYFY) Channel staple for many years. The movie in question this week is a little straight to video (I'm assuming, I could be wrong) film called Return of the Living Dead 3.
The third film in a weird little zombie series (ROTLD was a horror movie, while the second one was a comedy, and the ones after this are just bad), the film is first and foremost a love story. I know, Shaun of the Dead is the ultimate zombie rom-com, but this one came first and back when I actually thought I had feelings, I used to love this film. It stars J. Trevor Edmond and Melinda Clarke as Curt and Julie, two teenage lovers. Curt's dad works for the military and one night they sneak in to watch the lab experiments, which involves reanimating the dead using a chemical called Trioxin (the staple of the ROTLD series). Afterwards, they go home and bang and talk about how crazy it was. Curt's father comes in and he and Curt have a disagreement, so he and Julie run off. Unfortunately for the two lovers, they get into a motorcycle accident and Julie is killed. Stricken with grief, Curt brings her body to the military lab and uses Trioxin to reanimate her. They then go on the run, aided by an odd homeless drifter, and Julie slowly gives in to the hunger and trappings of being a zombie, all the while being chased by the government and a gang of stereotypical Mexicans.
This doesn't have the same feel as other zombie movies. It's not scary and there's no sense of danger at any point. The movie is a love story, pure and simple as Curt attempts to keep Julie from becoming a full fledged zombie by the power of his love...or whatever. Return of the Living Dead 3 is about two people, and one of them happens to be zombies. The thing is...you get invested. Julie slowly turns into a zombie, cutting and stabbing herself to control her cravings, and you feel for them as Curt tries so hard to keep her consciousness from disappearing completely.
The effects are actually pretty damn good for a movie that obviously had a low budget, as the zombies/monsters (depends on how hardcore you want to be about it) look very believable. The acting doesn't even suck either, as the two leads (Edmond and Clarke) do well with a script that obviously won't win many Oscars.
I don't know, maybe I'm just a sucker for a good love story and zombie movies. Return of the Living Dead 3 has both. It goes in a direction never seen before (at the time anyway) of a zombie movie, focusing on a transformation and how it affects the people around them. It's a film worth checking out, and since no one really likes it (story of my DVD collection), you can find it for cheap. Give it a shot you bastards!
Return of the Living Dead 3 can bought on Amazon.com or you can add it to your Queue on Netflix.
The third film in a weird little zombie series (ROTLD was a horror movie, while the second one was a comedy, and the ones after this are just bad), the film is first and foremost a love story. I know, Shaun of the Dead is the ultimate zombie rom-com, but this one came first and back when I actually thought I had feelings, I used to love this film. It stars J. Trevor Edmond and Melinda Clarke as Curt and Julie, two teenage lovers. Curt's dad works for the military and one night they sneak in to watch the lab experiments, which involves reanimating the dead using a chemical called Trioxin (the staple of the ROTLD series). Afterwards, they go home and bang and talk about how crazy it was. Curt's father comes in and he and Curt have a disagreement, so he and Julie run off. Unfortunately for the two lovers, they get into a motorcycle accident and Julie is killed. Stricken with grief, Curt brings her body to the military lab and uses Trioxin to reanimate her. They then go on the run, aided by an odd homeless drifter, and Julie slowly gives in to the hunger and trappings of being a zombie, all the while being chased by the government and a gang of stereotypical Mexicans.
This doesn't have the same feel as other zombie movies. It's not scary and there's no sense of danger at any point. The movie is a love story, pure and simple as Curt attempts to keep Julie from becoming a full fledged zombie by the power of his love...or whatever. Return of the Living Dead 3 is about two people, and one of them happens to be zombies. The thing is...you get invested. Julie slowly turns into a zombie, cutting and stabbing herself to control her cravings, and you feel for them as Curt tries so hard to keep her consciousness from disappearing completely.
The effects are actually pretty damn good for a movie that obviously had a low budget, as the zombies/monsters (depends on how hardcore you want to be about it) look very believable. The acting doesn't even suck either, as the two leads (Edmond and Clarke) do well with a script that obviously won't win many Oscars.
I don't know, maybe I'm just a sucker for a good love story and zombie movies. Return of the Living Dead 3 has both. It goes in a direction never seen before (at the time anyway) of a zombie movie, focusing on a transformation and how it affects the people around them. It's a film worth checking out, and since no one really likes it (story of my DVD collection), you can find it for cheap. Give it a shot you bastards!
Return of the Living Dead 3 can bought on Amazon.com or you can add it to your Queue on Netflix.