Return of the Living Dead III first cut with 8 additional minutes has been unearthed (and will be shown at a film festival)

UPDATE: The Popcorn Frights festival in Florida has revealed that there will be a special presentation of the “lost cut” of Return of the Living Dead III at 10pm on August 10th at the Savor Cinema Fort Lauderdale, with director Brian Yuzna in attendance!

The original article follows:

Several years ago, director Brian Yuzna’s Return of the Living Dead III (watch it HERE) got a great special edition Blu-ray release as part of the Vestron Video Collector’s Series… but now a discovery has been made that has fans of the film hoping for a new release as soon as possible: a VHS tape of the “first cut” of Return of the Living Dead III, featuring almost 8 minutes of additional, never before seen footage, has been unearthed! That tape is now in the hands of filmmaker Dustin Ferguson, who took to social media to share a picture of the tape, and associate Chris MacGibbon.

Ferguson and MacGibbon have spent the last few years working together on a highly anticipated documentary on the Night of the Demons franchise, The Party’s Just Begun: The Legacy of Night of The Demons, and MacGibbon was credited for remixing the audio on the Night of the Demons 4K and Blu-ray released by Scream Factory last year.

Ferguson didn’t share any details on what’s being planned for the first cut of Return of the Living Dead III (which has a running time of 1:44:23), but there seems to be some kind of release in the works and more information will be provided soon.

Directed by Yuzna from a screenplay by John Penney, Return of the Living Dead III has the following synopsis: Julie and Curt are sweethearts. But puppy love turns into tragedy when a motorcycle accident kills Julie and separates the young lovers permanently. Still devoted and very heartbroken, Curt tries desperately to keep Julie alive by exposing her to Trioxin, a potent drug which brings the dead back to life. There’s only one problem: when she’s revived, she has an intense urge to feed on human flesh. Now Curt’s got to find a way to manage the undead while not becoming dinner himself.

The film stars Melinda Clarke, J. Trevor Edmond, Kent McCord, Basil Wallace, Sarah Douglas, James T. Callahan, Mike Moroff, Sal Lopez, Fabio Urena, Pia Reyes, and Dana Lee.

What would you like to see happen with the first cut of Return of the Living Dead III? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and as soon as there’s an update on the situation, we’ll share it here on JoBlo!