Return of the Living Dead III

"She's to die for."

1993 1h 37m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

🥫

58%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.9

IMDB

★6.6TMDB · 932🥫58%Rotten Tomatoes●47Metacritic★5.9IMDB · 18,340

HorrorRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Having recently witnessed the horrific results of a top secret project to bring the dead back to life, a distraught teenager performs the operation on his girlfriend after she's killed in a motorcycle accident.

“She's to die for.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Melinda Clarke
Julie Walker (as Mindy Clarke)
J. Trevor Edmond
Curt Reynolds
Kent McCord
Col. John Reynolds
Sarah Douglas
Lt. Col. Sinclair
James T. Callahan
Col. Peck
Basil Wallace
Riverman
Mike Moroff
Santos
Julian Scott Urena
Mogo

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Brian Yuzna
Writers: John Penney
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America, Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 3% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

33 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Japan.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Return of the Living Dead Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Brian Yuzna, shot by Gerry Lively. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Barry Goldberg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Brian Yuzna directs. Gerry Lively behind the camera. Barry Goldberg scores. Christopher Roth cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America, Japan. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 3% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
333 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
5International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Japan.
6Part of the "Return of the Living Dead Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
7Directed by Brian Yuzna, shot by Gerry Lively. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Barry Goldberg. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Christopher Roth shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Melinda Clarke and J. Trevor Edmond and Kent McCord carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "She's to die for.".
12IMDB entry: tt0107953 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
13Classified under 14 themes, including "halloween", "military base", "undead", "addiction".
14Released under 23 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Gerry Lively
Original score: Barry Goldberg
Editing: Christopher Roth
Production design: Anton Tremblay
Costume design: Jananicole Mincer
Makeup / hair: Kevin Brennan
Sound: Richard D. Rogers
Stunt coordinator: Gary Paul
Runtime: 97 min · 1h 37m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $54,207
Return: 3% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Return of the Living Dead III (1993)
Rotten Tomatoes: 58% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 47/100
IMDB rating: 5.9/10 · 18,340 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

3 wins & 1 nomination total

Part of

Return of the Living Dead Collection

The series came about as a dispute between John A. Russo and George A. Romero over how to handle sequels to their 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead. The two reached a settlement wherein Romero's sequels would be referred to as the Dead movies, and Russo's sequels would bear the suffix Living Dead.

Also by

Brian Yuzna

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2026-10-08
★ 8/10
Maybe it’s not a good idea to resurrect your dead girlfriend with Trioxin This third film in the franchise deviates from the first two in that it’s not a horror-comedy. Sure, some things are so overdone that it can be sorta amusing, but it’s at heart a serious and horrifying zombie flick in the tradition of “Dawn of the Dead” from 15 years earlier. Brian Yuzna takes over the helm and brings influence from the Re-Animator series, particularly his “Bride of Re-Animator.” As such, this can be viewed as a stand-alone horror movie that throws in the Romeo & Juliet angle with the girl’s name even being Julie. Speaking of which, the stunning Melinda Clarke kicks axx in the role and is one of the highlights. The film pulsates with creativity from beginning to end, starting with the ominous military base and its secret biomechanical weapons project, yet continues with Julie’s ghastly (but somehow alluring) metamorphosis, the Latino family and corresponding fracas at the convenient mart, the interesting Riverman and his hidden abode, the melee in the viaduct sewers, and the wild close at the military installation. It surprisingly bombed at the box office but performed well on home video and has deservedly amassed a cult following. It runs 1h 37m and was shot in 24 days from Oct-Nov 1992 at Santa Clarita Studios, just northwest of Los Angeles, with a key sequence done at the 7th Street Bridge in the heart of the big city, not to mention an early one done on the coast. GRADE: A-

Production companies