Return 3 starts off very poorly. Actors are pretending to be in the military in a very cheap looking set. As usual in many low budget horror movies, moronic teenagers decide to break into a top secret military facility for fun.... <sigh>, and naturally accidentally release whatever the base is trying to contain. I was prepared at that point for the worst and settled myself in for 90 minutes of frustration. Return of the Living Dead 2 was one of the worst sequels I had ever seen, so I really wasn't expecting much from Return 3. But then something happened, and Return 3 got better and better. There was a real story! The director actually tried for some character development! There was suddenly plenty of extremely well done gore! There were some moments of real horror!
The scenes where Julie starts cutting and impaling herself were difficult to watch, that's how well done they were. The movie moves from a cheap horror-comedy into a well put together love story with incredibly gory effects. I actually really felt for the main couple, even though she was slowly turning into a zombie! Normally, one of them would get whacked which would give the remaining person a few lame Arnold-type lines, and an excuse to obliterate whatever (or whomever) is supposed to be the bad guy. However, this movie doesn't follow that formulaic path. It takes a very weird turn halfway through and never looks back.
When Julie makes her transformed appearance in the sewer, it is truly an awe-inspiring site! They actually managed to make her look both incredibly repulsive and very sexy at the same time. This film reminded me a lot of the Ginger Snaps movies in the type of character development pursued within the confines of a horror movie. Very pleasant surprise.
8/10