Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis

If you're a fan of the first Return of the Living Dead movie, please don't watch this one. You'll loose ten years of your life from aggravation. The film is supposed to be set in the United States, but was actually shot in Romania and most of the actors' accents are worse than Jurgen Prochnov's on a good day. The Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis won't even qualify as a "good bad cult movie" 20 years from now. Parts 2 and 3 were already pretty bad, but this one is just embarrassing. Trash, Suicide and even Julie Walker will roll over in their graves. I wonder if the makers have even bothered to watch the first three films. Unlike Romero's walking corpses, the Return of the Living Dead zombies are not supposed to die when you shoot them in the head! Nor do they give speeches or box. The movie does have one thing going for it, though: it proves that all those B actors they got playing KGB agents in cheap 80s crime flicks got their accents right after all.

I was really impressed with the atmosphere created by the first ten minutes in Chernobyl. The grim surreality of the actual setting perfectly set the mood for living death.

Unfortunately, the film plummets from that point. The two-dimensional characters and talentless cast are forgivable--no one rents a zombie flick for Shakespearean depth--but is basic continuity too much to ask from the fourth installment of a series? Or how about some black humor, which made the first two films stand out from vanilla zombie flicks? After the Chernobyl opening, there's no reason to waste the next hour of your life. There's not even a titty flash to wake you up. Peter Coyote was a near-relief from the rest of the dreck, planting his thumb firmly in cheek as if to say, "Yeah, I know: this film is runny crap and I apologize, but I have gambling debts to pay off by Thursday or they'll break my kneecaps. But hey, dig my impression of a James Bond villain." Lots of people gave this film a 10 rating. Don't be fooled--they must be friends and family of the film-makers. "Dawn of the Dead" deserves a 10; the original "Return of the Living Dead" an 8 or 9. But this movie has next to nothing going for it.

I saw this movie on the Sci-Fi Channel the other night. I think the fact that this was on cable television speaks volumes on what kind of movie this is. I think it was better than most "original" movies that pop up on late night television; it still does not make up for how bad this movie became. It's hard to believe that this is a sequel to a movie that was originally released theatrically.

This movie has just about everything corny from bad acting to Nick-at-Nite humor. The writing by William Butler was absolutely dreadful, and even a Jack Nicholson-like performance by the cast could not have made his writing appear any better. William Butler was just all over the place.

Dirtbikes, machine guns, kung-fu are some of the stupid things about the plot. Is this a horror film or an action film with some zombies? None of the characters take anything seriously in this movie. A group of high school kids know everything and there is no reason to be afraid. None of them were fazed by the fact that zombies were eating their friends and fellow classmates. Its like "Eh, whatever." and they move on to the next action sequence. A 7 year old child with a flame thrower. A little blonde girl beating up zombies. If children aren't afraid of these things, then why in the hell should I be?! Come on.

Everything about this movie was going through the motions and that comes across quite clear after viewing this movie.

I can see why many DVD distributors passed at this movie. If they get lucky, they can maybe get a deal with Anchor Bay or Elite Entertainment.

The only reason why I give this movie a 3 is because of the special effects. I appreciate that cable television probably showed more than they should have, but this movie is a joke anyway so why get worked up about some blood and brains. The special effects were the ONLY thing good about this movie.

The scientist of the powerful and evil corporation Hybra-Tech Charles (Peter Coyote) goes to Chernobyl to buy some gallons of toxic waste to perform experiments with zombies. When a teenager has an accident with his motorcycle and vanishes, his teenager's friends, leaded by Charles' nephew, find that he was moved to Hybra-Tech. They break in the facility trying to find their friend and accidentally release a group of zombies starving for brains.

"Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis" is incredibly awful. The absurd story and the screenplay are among the most ridiculous collection of clichés I have ever seen. The lame direction works with a group of young actors and actresses that seem to be amateurish. It is amazing how bad the acting is, leaded by Peter Coyote, who seems to have had a neurological problem that deformed his lips. I guess the level of the sequel of this crap. In the end, this flick is so dreadful that becomes funny. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "A Volta dos Mortos Vivos: Necrópolis" ("The Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis")

Last week, December 2, 2005, I was at the Hollywood home of the Director, Ellory Elkayam, who is married to my niece. I told Ellory about the comments on IMDb, so we logged in and read what was written by draven528, brennan79, ibanez747, jsauce, and many others.

Ellory said, "I don't disagree with what any of these people wrote." and stated that he needed the money and accepted the job for Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave. He stated that he had no control over the script and that the whole experience was something that he wishes to forget. He may send in his own critique of these movies to IMDb in the future.