Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis

Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis
DVD cover
Written by	William Butler Aaron Strongoni
Directed by	Ellory Elkayem
Starring	Aimee-Lynn Chadwick Cory Hardrict John Keefe Jana Kramer Peter Coyote
Music by	Robert Duncan
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Anatoly Fradis Steve Scarduzio
Cinematography	Gabriel Kosuth
Editor(s)	James Coblentz
Running time	89 minutes
Production company(s)	Denholm Trading Inc. Aurora Entertainment Castel Film Romania
Distributor	Denholm Trading Inc.
Budget	$6 million
Release
Original network	Sci-Fi Channel
Original release	October 15, 2005 (2005-10-15)
Chronology
Preceded by	Return of the Living Dead 3
Followed by	Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave

Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis, is a 2005 zombie television action horror film directed by Ellory Elkayem, starring Aimee Lynn Chadwick, Cory Hardrict, John Keefe, Jana Kramer, and Peter Coyote.

An edited version of the film aired on the Sci-Fi Channel on October 15, 2005 (2005-10-15). The R-rated version of the film was released on DVD on April 18, 2006 (2006-04-18).

Plot

Set 10 years after the events of Return of the Living Dead 3, the film starts out with Charles Garrison (Peter Coyote) traveling to Chernobyl to collect the last 6 canisters of Trioxin 5. Two Russian sellers take him to an empty power station which contains the Trioxin. One of the Russians get Trioxin on his hands, turning him into a zombie. Upon hearing screams, Garrison runs to see the zombie eating the other Russian partner. Garrison promptly shoots the zombie in the head.

It is then revealed Julian and Jake (also known as Pyro) Garrison, the nephews of Charles, parents were volunteers who died a year earlier at Hybra Tech. Julian leaves the house to go motor biking with his friends. During a stunt, one of Julian’s friends, Zeke falls and gets knocked unconscious. At the hospital, a doctor tells Julian that Zeke had an unexplained reaction to the painkillers and is pronounced dead on arrival.

One of Julian’s friends, Katie, works at Hybra Tech and notices Zeke being brought in. Julian and his friends manage to hack their way into Hybra Tech website and discover Zeke is to be used as a test subject and decide to rescue him.

Meanwhile, Charles is experimenting with the Trioxin. He manages to reanimate an arm and a corpse. However, some of the gas manages to escape through the pipes (unexplainably not affecting Charles) and reanimates a dead rat that two homeless men were eating and it proceeds to attack them.

By using fake IDs, they manage to get into Hybra Tech, with Katie at the security center giving them advice over walkie-talkies. They end up sneaking through the ventilation shaft and find out that Pyro had followed them. They get out of the vent and find themselves in an armory. After some searching they are found by Charles, who shows them where Zeke is.

The group discovers a room full of zombie clones. Uncle Charles explains that they are to be the new test subjects. He also reveals that Julian’s parents are alive before managing to escape. Katie tries to deactivate the alarm but in the process releases all the zombies in the complex. During the chaos, Zeke is bitten on the neck by a zombie, and the group manages to make it to the armory and escape into the vents. Julian, Carlos and Cody separate from the group to find Julian’s parents.

Zeke, Becky and Pyro manage to make it to the parking lot and are able to find keys to a jeep. Unfortunately, Zeke turns into a zombie and tries to eat them, causing them to crash. Julian meanwhile has found the building where his parents are being held. He finds his zombie parents in a holding tank and sees they have been suited up with circular saws and mini-guns to become "uber-soldiers." They leave the room in disgust and after being chased by zombies run to the roof. A few minutes later Uncle Charles appears in the room with Julian’s parents and releases them from their tanks.

Julian manages to rappel down the building from the roof, where at the bottom, he encounters two zombies. The zombies are killed as Katie appears in a new truck and runs the zombies over. Julian and Cody then get in the truck.

Meanwhile, Pyro and Becky are trying to fend off zombies. Zeke runs towards Becky but she is pushed out of the way by Pyro. Zeke then eats Pyro’s brains. Becky manages to scare Zeke off just before Katie arrives in the truck. They pick up Becky and escape the zombies. As they drive, Julian’s dad appears and shoots the truck with the mini-gun. After he has finished shooting, Becky gets out of the truck and throws a grenade at him, nearly destroying him.

They all get out of the truck and start running, but encounter Zeke and Julian’s mother. Zeke starts a fist fight with Julian, whilst the group attempt to destroy Julian’s mother. They succeed while Julian manages to destroy Zeke.

The SWAT team arrives and shoots the remaining zombies, including Julian’s dad and mistakenly shoot Katie. The movie ends with the SWAT team disposing of the bodies, and Uncle Charles escaping with the barrels of Trioxin. The closing scene of the movie shows a newscaster reporting about a supposed zombie outbreak which Hybra Tech denies. In the end the newscaster is attacked by a zombie as the screen goes black.

Cast

Aimee Lynn Chadwick as Becky
Cory Hardrict as Cody
John Keefe as Julian Garrison
Jana Kramer as Katie Williams
Peter Coyote as Uncle Charles
Elvin Dandel as Zeke Borden
Alexandru Geoana as Jake Garrison
Toma Danila as Carlos
Diana Munteanu as Mimi Romero
Serban Georgevici as Hector
Gelu Nitu as Boris
Claudiu Trandafir as Nicholai
Boris Petroff as Crusty
Constantin Barbulescu as Joey
Razvan Oprea as Darren
Dan Astileanu as Garcia
Lorena Lupu as Genie
Esther Nathalie as Ms. Rayburn

Reception

The film was called "the worst cinematic atrocity to wound your retinas" in Rue Morgue's 2006 year in review. Bloody Disgusting was a bit more positive, "It might seem like Necropolis offers nothing special to the viewer but the film still suggests a simpler time in Sci-fi and Horror, when a few gruesome effects, a cheap script job, and a cast of pretty-but-bland stereotypes could make a Friday night schlockfest seem like the best time ever. If for nothing else, Necropolis deserves a mountain of credit for giving it the old college try."^[1]

References

↑ Tex Massacre. "Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (V)". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 28, 2009.

External links

Living Dead films

Romero's Dead series

Dead series remakes

Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006)
Day of the Dead (2008)
Day of the Dead (2017)

Russo's Dead series

Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition (1999)
Children of the Living Dead (2001)

Return of the Living Dead series

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)
Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005)
Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005)

Unofficial sequels

Zombi series	Zombi 2 (1979) Zombi 3 (1988) Zombi 4: After Death (1989) Zombi 5: Killing Birds (1988)

Other unofficial sequels	Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005) Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation (2012) Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn (2015)

Parodies

Night of the Living Bread (1990)
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006)
Night of the Living Carrots (2011)

Homages

Flesheater (1988)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Fido (2006)
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane (2007)
Dance of the Dead (2008)
Zone of the Dead (2009)
Juan of the Dead (2011)
Mimesis: Night of the Living Dead (2011)

Films directed by Ellory Elkayem

They Nest (2000) Eight Legged Freaks (2002) Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005) Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave (2005) Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling (2009)