1993
Lionsgate 4 film pack
R rated cut
Since seeing the first Return of the Living Dead opening night I have been a fan of the series. Part II came out and I was very disappointed in how it was mainly lame ass comedy. Well part III never played a theater near me so I didn't see it till sometime in 1994 on VHS. And I loved it. For years I had a great poster of Melinda Clarke all pierced up on the back of my bedroom door for years. And I have been wanting to get it on DVD. But for some unknown reason the R rated cut was the only version they released. Plus I got the unrated VHS and held onto it. But then sometime last year I found a 4 pack with Return of the Living Dead III and IV,plus 2 other films. I had been wanting to see part IV so I bought the 4 pack.
Return of the Living Dead is the story of a son of a military guy. Well his dad tells him he is being moved soon,and the son doesn't want to move and lose his girlfriend. And since she is played by Melinda Clarke who can blame him. So the two of them run away. They break into the facility that the father works at and see that the military is using the trioxen gas to reanimate dead bodies. The plan is to use them as the ultimate weapon. Well they head out,and he ends up having an accident on his bike which kills Melinda Clarke. In his state of shock he takes her dead body back to the military facility and exposes her to the Trioxen gas. She comes back to life. But is slowly turning into a zombie.Very quickly she finds out that by causing herself pain she can keep herself from craving human flesh. Finally she ends up piercing 80% of her body and the two of them in up in the sewer system.
Now this was the first time I have ever seen the R rated cut. And I am not sure how much shorter this version is,but I did notice that most of the gore scenes are way shorter. Even in this edited version the gore is very well done. And it doesn't hurt that Melinda Clarke is a very beautiful woman. The story is a departure from the first 2 films in this series. But it is way better than the horrible part 2. Return of the Living Dead 3 gets a B+. The unrated cut gets a A.