Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005)

   
Directed by: Ellory Elkayem

Written by: William Butler & Aaron Strongoni

Starring:

John Keefe ... Julian Garrison
Aimee Lynn Chadwick ... Becky
Cory Hardrict ... Cody
Jana Kramer ... Katie Williams
Peter Coyote ... Uncle Charles
Alexundru Geoana ... Jake
Diana Munteanu ... Mimi
Elvin Dandel .... Zeke Borden

Release Date: Cannes Film Festival: May 14, 2005 (France)

*Images courtesy at: www.returnofthelivingdead4and5.com

 

 

 

Rating:

 

A troubled teen Julian Garrison (John Keefe) keeps having bad dreams about his parents dying in a car accident over and over again.
Suddenly one of his friends Zeke (Elvin Dandel) is injured from a motorbike accident. He is rushed to a hospital but suddenly he disappears and some say that he's dead. But however Julian and his gang of friends discover that Zeke has been taken to a mega corporation called Hybratech owned by his Uncle Charles (Peter Coyote) who is a mad scientist and has a dark secret on his parents.
They go on a search there to try and rescue him as he is trapped in a cell. Not only that, Charles is reanimating the dead by turning them into brain eating zombies which is a deadly target for Julian and his friends especially when he finds out what has happened to his parents.

 

There's a nice beginning with close up shots on supporting characters like Hector and Boris smoking cigarettes while talking to Uncle Charles plus there's good shots at an abandoned looking building as well as a nice shot on a zombie looking down on this ghoul yelling brains which was good timing and then a nice shot on Uncle Charles shooting his gun at the zombie.
Perfect shots on the teens riding their dirtbikes with front and back shots on them.
Good moments with Uncle Charles at his lab testing a cut off hand in a lab in a glass unit and a jumping moment with the hand trying to attack.
Nice discussions with Cody, Julian Garrison and Zeke Borden daring each other to ride their motorbike over a ramp which looked natural as teens peer pressuring one another.
A good shot on Zeke riding his bike up the ramp and then falling down which looked suspenseful.
A nice shot looking up on him in a room chained up with him freaking out.
There's a good conversation on two homeless people on a corner roasting a possum with their natural discussions together. Plus there's a good shot on a pipe blowing the contagious smoke out. A nice shot on one of the bums getting ready to eat the possum and then it attacks which is a great jumping moment as well as him running over to his friend who's turned sideways sleeping and then he lunges out like a zombie towards him which showed great timing.
There's nice shots on the army troops setting up weapons and getting ready for battle with good shots on their dirtbikes riding away in the night and going to the building and trying to find some clues. There's also good separate shots with two of them walking towards them screaming brains and nice shots on them pulling out their guns and shooting them.
A good moment with Uncle Charles acting crazy towards the soldiers as well as them walking in an alleyway with zombie's barred up and trying to reach for them.
Cheesy shots on Jake, Julian and Cody duking it out with the zombie's in which it seemed very corny.
A good shot on Cody driving in a vehicle next to Zeke in the passenger seat with him acting like a goofball and then a nice shot on him staring at her trying to get to her brain as he does well with his expressions that he has already turned.
Many good shots on the young army troops firing their guns at zombie's surrounding them.
We spot a good confrontation with Zeke towards Julian acting evil towards them plus great action blocking on the two of them duking it out.
Bottom line: To alot of people this was a major bore and uninspired. However, I didn't find this film too bad. Sure it was on a thin budget and some scenes borrowed a bit from the first one and part 3 but oh well.
There's lots of fun touches with the zombie's approaching and trying to attack along with some of the odd jumping moments too giving the film a nice horror feel to it. There's the odd dark comedy in the film but not like in the first two flicks.
The makers tried to make this one as original as possible by having zombie's attacking near a military zone but they didn't go too far. There was some elements that seemed similar to Terminator like the parents now as zombie's that have weapons built on them. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it made the film look fun and exciting to watch.
None of the Return of the Living Dead flicks were related to one another but they did pay a tribute to one another with the lines that were told and other stuff like that.
There's some good effects with the explosions on the zombie's as well as the gun shooting too. There's a good duel between someone who turned into a zombie against his fellow dirtbike racer which looked enjoyable too.
This may be a put down to the die hard fans of the first movie but if you want to accept this one for what it is it can still be entertaining.

The acting was in fine shape as lead actor John Keefe (Julian Garrison) seemed to do well with his emotions in the film and showing lots of descent energy by trying to survive the zombie attacks. He pulled off his characteristics in a good fashion so he deserves a bit of good credit to all of what he had to do throughout the story.
However, lead actress
Aimee Lynn Chadwick (Becky) who played a geeky type of teen, seemed a bit too average in her part but however seemed to put a bit of characteristics when she tries to save herself from the zombies which looked fairly impressive.
Jana Kramer
(Katie Williams) as a security watchperson says her lines very smoothly and was fine one in the cast. She brings on a nice charm and caring type of attitude on the set as she reminds you of those nice girls you'd always want to be around.
Peter Coyote
(Uncle Charles) stole the film though with his nutty performance as a mad scientist gone wrong bringing the dead to life with his toxic fumes. He acted very outragoeus and knew how to act very evil with his actions playing the perfect horror character in the film.
Alexundru Geoana
(Jake) was another interesting character in the film as one of the head dirt bike members who really brought a good goofy aggression to the set of the film. He could get work in other teenage tpye films like this one.
Elvin Dandel
(Zeke Borden) really showed a good smart alecky and threatening type of personality as the head dirt biker of the group really acting like a twit as he brings this type of character to life big time as well as when he changes into a zombie and really putting out his energy making his part a perfect drawing card. He does well with his expressions that he has already turned into a zombie by his actions.

A guy's forehead is graphically bitten off with blood splurting and then a zombie is shot in the head very graphically as well.
There is a piece of a zombies arm as well as three pieces of brains dropping into a glass room where a zombie is trapped in.
Several bodies from security guards are being ripped apart.

A zombie bites the back of a persons head.
Lots of gruesome looking zombies too.
Plus zombies head are being blown off too.

There's good metal clanging sounds as well as low trombone playing plus we have the nice smooth violing playing too. There's some nice low gloomy keyboard thumping which sounded incredibly creepy too. All the music was nicely composed by Robert Duncan.

Random Zombie: Send more security guards!

Cody: Shoot her man!
Julian Garrison: I can't shoot her! She's my friend! I lost my virginity to her.
Cody: Man, everyone knows your first time sucks! Split her damn head open!