brian yuzna – Horror Ghouls

Return of the Living Dead III (1993)

Posted on October 28, 2026November 1, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

What the hell happened to Return of the Living Dead III ? Trimark bought the rights and Brian Yuzna, who had made a name for himself in the horror biz after Society (1989) and Bride of Re-Animator (1990), was hired to direct. The only few questions he had before signing, were: Do the movie have to continue the characters? (No.) That was good to know. Do we need to bring back actors? (No.) Does it have to be funny? (No.) So what does it have to be? You gotta have the Trioxin and brain eating. Yuzna had a problem with the brain eating as he found it too cliché and comical. All his horror films are comical, but whatever. The script was written by John Penney, who worked as assistant editor on the first film.

The film was a box-office disaster and only grossed $54,207 in the USA of a $2,000,000 budget. Oof. Solid movie, though!

Julie (Melinda Clarke) is a young rebellious sadomasochist ginger with looks that could kill and has an impressive high pain threshold that would even make Pinhead and Kakihara raise their eyebrows, and maybe other things. Her boyfriend is Romeo, I mean Curt (J. Trevor Edmond), and one night they don’t have better things to do, they sneak into an Army research lab where Curt’s dad works. From a hiding spot, they witness something interesting where a cadaver, Tarman, I assume, gets rolled into the lab to be tested with the Trioxin as their plan is to use zombies as bioweapons. And poor Tarman. He looks rough as hell and completely destroyed after all the hard partying in the 1980s. Mötley Crüe can relate and Dr. Feelgood is certainly not in this building.

Fun fact: under the makeup (if there actually was makeup at all) of this particular zombie, is the legendary Clarence Epperson ― a homeless man who lived by the Los Angeles Airport where the exterior scenes of the military base were shot. In the interviews on the Blu-ray we can also learn that he was on meds, lived in his “own world“ and had to be looked after so he didn’t disappear. Huh, interesting…

Anyway, the Trioxin works and one of the lab doctors puts his fingers into his mouth, because that’s what lab doctors do, and next we have a messy bloodbath that’s more gory than the first two films combined. He eventually gets taken down, and to Curt’s frustration, Julie just seems exited over what they just witnessed. They can’t even have sex without having her fascination of necro come to mind. How nekromantik. Jörg Buttgereit wants your phone number, Julie. Yes, she’s a bit “strange and unusual“, we can say, who could as well be the sister of Trash from the first film. Then tragedy strikes with a motorcycle accident where Julie flies off and knocks her head straight to a pole…and dies. RIP. So you thought. After Julie gets resurrected in the lab after sneaking her fresh dead body in, we have an urban chaotic odyssey of pain, screaming, tears, a hurricane of strong feelings, and of course, brain eating, and more fun gory stuff.

And speaking of: the gore/prosthetic effects and Melinda Clarke is everything about this movie. Melinda has admitted that she’s not a horror fan, and took the inspiration of playing a messed-up zombie junkie after portraying Nancy Spungen in the theater play Vicious. Never trust a zombie. The rebellious look of Julie with the nose-and lip ring was her own idea, and she actually had to fight with the studio because they found it to be “too much“. So did the MPAA. And yes, we’re talking about USA, not North Korea. We have come a long way with Art the Clown, haven’t we. Some of the producers must have gotten a serious stroke when they saw her in her full zombie-makeup/outfit where she looks more like a Cenobite from Hellraiser, and gives the horniest Kubrick stare ever put on film. And we’re sure to have close-ups so we can see the nice, grotesque details of what she has done to herself. There’s also a “logic“ explanation of why the self-mutilation has more importance than just pure shock value, something that Yuzna had to explain to the censor bureaucrats to avoid the big bad X-rating.

The third film takes a big leap from the comedy, and that was maybe for the better. You could easily remove the Trioxin name and the film would’ve been exactly the same, and works perfectly as a standalone. The original working title was Curt and Julie. Lame. In Spain it was released under the alternate title Mortal Zombie. Much better, and even Yuzna agrees. That said, the silly and eccentric undertones reeks through the cracks, especially during the zombie outbreak with some gooey animatronics and goofy cartoonish growl sound effects. Nothing to take serious even though Melinda Clarke and James Callahan plays it strong and straight all the way through. It’s well-directed and relatively fast-paced with little to no dull moments where we actually have a fourth act, so that none of the impressive gore effects and some more surprises goes to waste. Great, tasty stuff and certainly one of the goriest zombie movies to come out of the 1990s, at least on the surface level.

And this is the second time (I believe) the film has been released in “Full Uncut Version“. That was until 2024 when it came to light that there’s actually even more lost footage, of eight minutes to be exact, that was rediscovered by filmmaker Dustin Ferguson when he saw the first cut on a T-120 VHS Master. Well… good for him. The Blu-ray from Vestron Video has nevertheless more than enough meat, brains and red corn syrup to fill your stomach.

Director: Brian Yuzna
Writer: John Penney
Country & year: USA, 1993
Actors: Kent McCord, James T. Callahan, Sarah Douglas, Melinda Clarke, Abigail Lenz, J. Trevor Edmond, Jill Andre, Michael Decker, Billy Kane, Mike Moroff
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107953/

Necronomicon (1993)

Posted on October 24, 2026October 24, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

H. P. Lovecraft himself is visiting a monastery, where they store a copy of the Necronomicon. When he enters the place and meets some rather dubious monks, he asks if he can read the Alchemical Encyclopedia Vol. III, and manages to steal a key from one of them. He hurries to the cellar vault, where the Necronomicon is being held. Once inside, a vault door closes behind him. Taken aback by this he drops the key down a grating and into water, but he still proceeds to do what he came for, and sits down and starts reading.

And from here on the movie is separated into different segments, which Lovecraft is sitting there reading. The first one is called The Drowned, and supposedly based on The Rats in the Walls. The story is about Jethro De Lapoer who lost his wife and son. He uses the Necronomicon to bring his family back to life. Of course, we know that bringing back the dead always ends in even more misery. The next story is called The Cold, based on Cool Air. Here we meet Dale Porkel, a reporter who is investigating a string of murders in Boston which has taken place over several decades, and interviews a woman who lives in a freezing cold house. Next up is Whispers, based on The Whisperer in Darkness. This time we meet two police officers, Paul and Sarah, who is pursuing a suspect nicknamed “the Butcher“, where we go into creature-feature territory. And all the while Lovecraft has been reading these stories, seals have opened up to let in…something.

Necronomicon (also called H. P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead or Necronomicon: To Hell and Back) is an anthology horror film from 1993, featuring segments that are loosely inspired by some of Lovecraft’s stories. The segments are directed by Brian Yuzna, Christophe Grans, and Shusuke Kaneko, and they were written by Gans, Yuzna, Brent V. Friedman and Kazunori Itō. Animatronic effects and special makeup were supervised by Tom Savini, and were created by John Carl Buechler, Christopher Nelson and Screaming Mad George. So, yeah…it goes without saying that the effects here are kickass. The film won the award for Best Special Effects at the 1994 Fantafestival. The film did pretty well upon its initial VHS release in the US, and even better in Europe and Asia.

I found all the segments interesting and nice enough in their own way, but the film’s final segment, Whispers, is definitely my favorite, and the most insane and fast-paced of them all. It barely has jack shit to do with the original Lovecraft story, so if you want something more true to that you should check out The Whisperer in Darkness from 2012. Whispers is the darkest segment of the bunch, going into pure horror territory in an old abandoned house and a nasty feeding ground deep inside some creepy tunnels leading to a cave. We also get some cool body horror elements here, plenty gore and creature effects. But yeah, the segments are just veeery loosely based on the original stories, where I guess the first one regarding theme and atmosphere is probably closest to the vibe of a “cosmic horror“ Lovecraft story with sea people, rejection of the Christian God and a tentacled monster, while Cool Air is the one closest to the source material. I love Lovecraft’s stories, and I’ve gotten used to the fact that most movies based on them doesn’t really manage to capture them in a solid way. That being said, I also love the more loosely-inspired ones (and even some of the parody ones), I’m not picky. I can easily see how some of the more hardcore Lovecraft fans might wrinkle their nose like someone just farted in their face when seeing this film, though, despite how much fun I personally find it.

Jeffrey Combs plays the role as H. P. Lovecraft here, and for some crazy reason the makeup makes him look like Bruce Campbell’s twin brother. A little uncanny, to be honest. The ending/climax features of course some wrap-up with Lovecraft and the monks, which is fun. While some of the segments leaves a bit to be desired story-wise, the movie makes it all worthwhile with the awesome special effects. Plus Bruce Camb – er, I mean Jeffrey Combs, of course.

Necronomicon is a bit of a mixed bag, but it’s pure 90’s fun through and through with special effects from some of the best. It’s a little hard to come by, but we got the German Wicked Vision Blu-ray release which includes both the German dub and original English language + English subtitles.

Directors: Christophe Gans, Shûsuke Kaneko, Brian Yuzna
Writers: Brent Friedman, Christophe Gans, Kazunori Itô, Brian Yuzna
Country & year: USA/1993
Actors: Jeffrey Combs, Tony Azito, Juan Fernández, Brian Yuzna, Bruce Payne, Belinda Bauer, Richard Lynch, David Warner, Signy Coleman, Don Calfa, Judith Drake
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107664/

The Dentist (1996)

Posted on January 9, 2024August 23, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

– I am an instrument of perfection and hygiene. The enemy of decay and corruption. A dentist. And I have a lot of work to do. –

His name is Dr. Alan Feinstone (Corbin Bernsen). And he’s about to have his worst day at the office. So are his patients, and co-workers – and everyone around him. On the surface, like a shallow Instagram page, he seems to have the perfect life with a big house with a swimming pool and all, and a seemingly loving wife.

And if the cold shoulders from his more and more distant wife wasn’t a bad start of his day already, he smells cigarette smoke from her mouth. Fuck. Now he has to brush his teeth again before he goes to the office. Because: – Nothing, how matter how good or how pure, is free of decay. Once the decay gets started, it can only lead to rot, filth, corruption. –

And with that statement it makes me wonder if he has any politicians as clients. Anyway, we quickly learn that Dr. Feinstone is already a mentally sick man with a head filled with schizophrenia and delusions which he always battles to keep in check. But the stream of negativity which also triggers his severe OCD is going to push him over the edge any minute.

He finally hits the breaking point when he sees his wife cheating with the pool cleaner guy as she sucks his cock in the garden in broad daylight – on their anniversary day, even. Oof. And he’s already late for work. Now he just sees filth left and right. The floodgates of filth are open.

– Filth, filth everywhere. Especially children! They’re spoiled rotten! –

Dr. Feinstone is now on a mission. He will rip the filth out of people, tooth by tooth if it’s necessary. Cut off the tongue also while we’re at it. Get rid of all the filth. And you’d bet he has some special plan for his wife on the anniversary night.

Two police detectives, played by Tony Foree and Tony Noakes get involved as soon Dr. Evil Feinstone leaves his trails of blood. Feinstone’s day isn’t getting any better when Mr Goldbum (Earl Boem), an agent from IRS, is on his neck for not delivering his taxes.

The Dentist is directed by low-budget-cheese meister Brian Yuzna (the mustached brain behind 90s cult-classics like Society, Return of the Living Dead III, Bride of Re-Animator and Faust: Love of the Damned) made for HBO TV with a budget of $700,000. Most of it was filmed in a residential home (Yuzna’s, I guess) where the whole budget went to decorate the dental operation offices. Even with the tight budget, which would be advisable for a simple premise like this, they actually managed to get over the budget, leaving Yuzna unhappy with the finished production design. The gore effects seemed to be a second thought.

With that said, the film looks even lower on the budget and filled with restrains, but the always energetic Corbin Bernsen saves it from mediocrity with his manic, over-the-top performance. We spend a lot of time in the dental office where patients drop like flies under pretty suspect circumstances where the FBI would normally raid the building in a heartbeat. Dr. Feinstone is a crazed loose cannon who does his best to keep it together and not getting caught for doing kinky shenanigans with one of his drugged-out patients. If his day and his mind wasn’t a complete shitstorm already, it’s about to get worse. So open wide and say fuuuuuuuck.

There’s some clever camera work and cinematography here despite some very dated “trippy” visuals which are as 90s as it can get. The effects, with its flavor of body horror, are nicely done in the unique schlocky way we’re used to seeing in a Brian Yuzna film, but the film’s highlight with the oversized mouth stretch, gets old old pretty fast. More time on the effect department would do the film a bigger favor. As a-madman-on-the-loose with a falling down psychosis, The Dentist is silly entertainment as long its lasts where Yuzna does the best of the little he had of resources.

The sequel The Dentist 2 (1998) is pretty much a nothing-burger with lazy and lackluster kills, filled with tedious drama where the trip to the actual dentist is more entertaining. Watch Stepfather II instead. Both films are available on a 2-disc Blu-ray from Vestron Video with audio commentary from director Brian Yuzna among other extra features.

Director: Brian Yuzna
Writers: Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, Charles Finch
Country & year: US, 1996
Actors: Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman, Michael Stadvec, Ken Foree, Tony Noakes, Molly Hagan, Patty Toy, Jan Hoag, Virginya Keehne, Earl Boen, Christa Sauls, Mark Ruffalo, Lise Simms
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0116075/