This sequel wants to take a BITE out of the Return of the Living Dead franchise, but does it have the BRAINS to live up to the legacy? Zombie puns!
George Romero tends to get credit for single-handedly writing the bible of zombie tropes, and he is obviously largely deserving of praise in that regard. Yet, the original Return of the Living Dead (not a Romero film, despite the similar naming convention) is responsible for a lot of what pop culture has absorbed about zombies. For instance, Romero’s zombies have an affinity for human flesh, but not brains specifically. Certainly none of the undead in Night of the Living Dead, muttered the iconic “…braaaiiinss…” as happens in Return. Likewise, the overall aesthetic of Romero’s zombies don’t exhibit the breadth of bizarre and creepy styles of the other franchise. The little green guys in Plants Vs. Zombies, for example, certainly owe much more to the off-brand Living Dead property than the original.
Also, The Simpsons.
We’re certain to get around to reviewing the iconic 1985 film sooner or later here on 31 Movies for 31 Days, but today I want to focus on the third entry in the franchise, released sixteen years later in 2001. I had no idea what to expect from the movie considering its distant remove from horror’s mid-eighties heyday. I was pleasantly surprised at how much it delivered the particular delights I’ve come to associate with that era of genre film-making. The story has late nineties fashions, and some extra sheen, but it feels very much like a companion piece to the original without re-treading the exact same story beats. Curt is the son of a military scientist who is experimenting with weaponizing dead bodies through a zombifying toxic chemical. Curt is sick and tired of his dad’s discipline, as well as the military lifestyle of re-locating every six months, so he takes off on his motorcycle with his rebellious girlfriend Julie. Before they can relish their new-found freedom, however, Julie is horsing around on the back of the bike and ends up going partial-Hereditary with a street sign. Curt steals some of that sweet zombie toxin to go complete-Pet Semetary on his girlfriend, and that turns out to be game plan of dubious merit.
This really feels like a movie transported in from a different time. While it’s light on the obvious humor of the franchise’s first film, it has the idiosyncratic and unpredictable plotting of a lot of eighties horror. Most low-budget horror flicks had gone all in on terrible, early CGI by the aughts, but RotLD III delivers its considerable gore through practical methods. Even the characters, including an unhinged third protagonist/mentor character and a stereotypical gang of Latino street toughs, feel like throwbacks. I personally cherish the horror of the Reagan era, and feel like the pendulum has only recently swung back in terms of seeing substantial effort in the genre. It’s probably a bit much to call RotLD III substantial, but it captures the soul of great horror, nonetheless. It isn’t really scary, but is disturbing at times (particularly a late-movie sequence where Julie goes semi-Hellraiser on herself, transforming into an S&M vengeance zombie) and features a great nihilistic ending. The way the action ramps up along with the gore and depravity throughout the film’s third act reminds me of the work of Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond).
This is not a movie that will become any kind of annual tradition for me. It can’t compete with the increasingly more thematically rich horror of recent vintage, nor does it have the nostalgia of the grindhouse-style ephemera from my youth. Yet, for a free-streaming dart throw on a random summer night*, it was plenty satisfying.
* I tend to have big ideas about how far ahead I’ll get by writing about scary movies months ahead of October, knock out one or two entries, then face the same ungodly scramble as the prior year when the season actually arrives.
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