May 21, 2024
Return of the Living Dead III (1993)
"What's going on, Curt, tell me what happened?"
"We had an accident."
"What kind of an accident?"
"On the bike."
"What happened?"
"You died."
"I what?"
#return of the living dead iii#return of the living dead 3#horror imagery#blood tw#gore tw#1993#brian yuzna#john penney#melinda clarke#j. trevor edmond#kent mccord#james t. callahan#sarah douglas#jill andre#abigail lenz#mike moroff#pía reyes#dana lee#basil wallace#sal lopez#ok whatever else I'm about to say about this film‚ whatever criticism i might level at it‚ i want to be clear that Melinda C absolutely#kills it here: she's absolutely brilliant and the whole film (for better and worse) has to hang on to her coat tails. the scene in which#she reveals her postmortem self body modification is... idk‚ it's THE scene of the film‚ a truly iconic sequence that marries dark#eroticism with body horror with female autonomy with cinematic exploitation. it's something. a hell of a moment. if only the rest of this#could live up to it... where RotLD 2 tried to go for more mass appeal with greater emphasis on splatstick and silly dialogue and family#units‚ this film over corrects and completely removes the comedy element that made the og film such a sneak hit. morbid 90s alt scene#aesthetics and teen nihilism take its place‚ and while the first film had that ingredient it was a little ironic.. here the emphasis is#pure angst and it isn't always to the film's strength (not on a cheapy b movie budget and a schlock horror script). the tragic romance#element did win me over by the end (surprised at how outraged i was by a late stage fakeout that would have denied the main relationship)#but this probably takes itself just a little too seriously for what it is: a goofy rubber fx splatter film. still‚ worth it for Clarke tbh
