Return of the Living Dead Part II

1988 "Just when you thought it was safe to be dead."
5.7| 1h29m| R| en| More Info
Released: 15 January 1988 Released
Producted By: Greenfox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A group of kids discover one of the drums containing a rotting corpse and release the 2-4-5 Trioxin gas into the air, causing the dead to once again rise from the grave and seek out brains.

Genre

Horror, Comedy

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Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) is now streaming with subscription on Starz

Director

Ken Wiederhorn

Production Companies

Greenfox

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Return of the Living Dead Part II Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
amesmonde A mixed group of townsfolk team up to destroy the reanimated dead that have taken over their town to eat brains.With lines that mirror and hark back to the 1985 surprise hit, it's more of a remake despite being called part II, akin to Evil Dead 2 in relation to part one. Here three kids, find a canister which contains a Trioxin enriched body. The barrel which (literary) fell off a back of a lorry is unlocked by two of the three teens, releasing a gas which make the two bullies ill and also revives the occupants of the local grave. Young teen lead Michael Kenworthy's Jesse Wilson and Marsha Dietlein as Lucy Wilson are worthy of note (possibly named Wilson at a stretch to possibly link the two films with Burt Wilson from the original). Jesse who is locked up by the young bullies escapes their fate while locked up in a mausoleum. Director/writer Ken Wiederhorn offer excellent practical and make up effects, (despite continuity errors where Tarman 2's design inexplicably changes between shots), there's plenty of Thriller styled undead on display. Unfortunately the soundtrack (recreating the vibe of the original) was replaced due to license issues and the replacement music sadly takes away some nostalgic and complementary value. The supporting cast are solid, if somewhat hysterically panicked. With a good mixture of horror and comedy there's Dana Ashbrook (Twin Peaks) as Tom, notable is Suzanne Snyder as Brenda, whose dressed in her best Tiffany outfit. At one point military men wielding guns show up, one of which is actor Mitch Pileggi pre-X-Files. Memorable is Philip Bruns eccentric Doc Mandel. The excellent James Karen and Thom Mathews return as grave robbers who release Jesse from the mausoleum. They in effect reprise similar characters from the first outing, echoing the same slow changes into zombies, at one point Mathew's Joey even gives an acknowledging line of, "I feel like we've been here before. You... Me... Them!" and as a viewer you'll feel the same as many of the setups give a feeling of de ja vu right down to another leathery talking female corpse. The setting including a graveyard, contrasting suburbs and town offers enough chills as the lumber dead horde go in search of brains, at one point even breaking into a pet shop. There's hands (reminiscent of Adams Family's Thing and Ash of Evil Dead's appendage), talking decapitated heads, plenty of body parts, worms coming out of faces, rotten flesh and every kind off blood guts and severed spines a horror fan could want.As the survivors lure the zombies with carts of brains and Jesse faces off against his now dead bully there's a satisfying conclusion including a Michael Jackson thriller style zombie thrown in just for the hoot. Wiederhorn's offering doesn't get under the skin as much as its predecessor nor does it have the nihilistic ending that made part one standout. Nevertheless, the special effects hold up much better than the mix of horror comedy and its still a cadaver load of zombie fun.
GL84 Joining up with friends in a cemetery, a kid's discovery of a long-lost barrel of military-test chemicals finds that the release of the chemicals brings the dead to life and stalking their home-town forcing them to hold off the creatures as they find a way of stopping them.This here was a pretty descent sequel with some fun stuff about it. Among the better features here is the really exciting and enjoyable opening here, which features some nice action and some creepy visuals together for a fun time here as the sprawl through the cemetery and being chased by the bullies where he gets backed inside the mausoleum where he encounters the dead bodies in their caskets and leads into the fantastic resurrection scenes as the billowing cloud slowly works out from the drainage pipe into the cemetery where the gnarled hands break free from the heaving earth in the middle of the pouring rain. The later scene where he confronts the tar-man in the tunnel before the bigger mass-grave exhumation filled with hilarious gags and cheesy music makes for a great blend of suspense and cheesy action, which leads nicely into the race to get out of the cemetery as the swarming hordes of zombies overrun the graveyard in a really enjoyable time here. Even the suburbia scenes here are quite fun with them initially driving around and meeting with the two, the house attack which leads to their hilarious escape attempts and finally sneaking through the neighborhood to escape in the car which has some really fun and enjoyable moments here. Likewise, the film has a really enjoyable and exciting finale here with the soldiers confronting the zombies in a massive shootout before they begin chasing the group through the streets in several different attack scenes while they lead the creatures to the power-plant which has some fantastic action in the mass swarming on the truck that locks them inside, the eventual escape and chasing around the facility both inside the truck and out on foot before utilizing a comically cheesy yet oddly creative and effective disposal method of the zombies that really ends this on a high note. Along with the great zombie make-up and fun cheese, these here make for a really fun time here against the film's few flaws. The film's main problem here is the convoluted and clumsy mid-section here, built entirely around the absolutely tired ploy of nobody believing anything he says here without any reason why which continually leads them into encounters with the zombies when a fair bit of smartness would've prevented endless running around. That would've avoided the time-wasting scenes in the hospital, dealing with the infected friends and their adventures through town which are just unnecessary here and ruin the flow of the film. The other problem here is the rather overbearing sense of cheese here from the jokes, the goofy situations and non-threatening nature of the zombies in their actions here. While it makes the film fun, this one does come off more of a cheesy version of the genre.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, children-in-jeopardy and questionable child activities.
bowmanblue Ignoring the loose connections to 'Night of the Living Dead,' the original 'Return of the Living Dead' was also a classic in its own right. It didn't have the darkness, or social commentary of George A Romero's work, but it had a lot of fun, gore, shocks and humour. It was a good B-movie. I guess it was only natural that it would get a sequel.I read online that – apparently – the script that eventually went on to become 'Return of the Living Dead: Part II' wasn't actually anything to do with the original. It was just a generic zombie movie that was tinkered with to fit the events of the first film – loosely. And, having watched it, I can believe that. It – sort of – follows on from the events of the original, mentioning a few events, but also bringing back a couple of actors who died in the first as new characters in the second – why, I'm not entirely sure, but they're quite funny. Plus the Censors were going to award 'Return of the Living Dead: Part II' a PG13 rating if a single scene was toned down. I can believe that. It's hardly the most frightening or tense horror film ever made. It's not even that gory. But, despite its many flaws, I can't bring myself to hate it.I look at it like 'Slapstick of the Living Dead.' It's – almost – a zombie movie for kids. The dialogue is as cheesy as it comes and makes no attempt to be serious, leaving the audience never that scared for the characters or their plight. You also have to be okay with the lead actor being a young boy. Kids get a bad ride when it comes to films and it is unfair to try and make one carry a whole film. The 'star' who plays the boy 'Jessie' is okay. In some ways that's actually a compliment when you consider how bad some child actors are. Hopefully, you shouldn't hate him.That is more than I can say for the soundtrack. I watched this film in the late eighties on VHS and the soundtrack was a million times better. It's been almost completely rescored and even some extra dialogue dubbed in (where the characters don't actually move their lips!). If you can find it on VHS I would recommend that version.Overall, if you've seen the original, don't expect a great sequel. Be prepared for a much lighter tone from the film. And, if you haven't seen the first one, watch it – it's very good. There's nothing wrong with Part II, just treat it as a Saturday morning type zombie film that you can sort of half watch and half do something else.
Boba_Fett1138 Confession time; I never was really fond of the first "The Return of the Living Dead" in the first place. I know I'm a minority on this but the humor was very childish and simplistic to me, as was the script, while the movie itself seemed to think that it was being a very clever one. Can't really say they improved any of this in this first sequel.I can see how this movie got mostly catered toward teenagers at the time and perhaps I would had liked this and the first movie better if I had grown up with it in the '80's. This is a problem I often have with popular '80's movies that are made for youngsters; I just don't get what's the appeal of them. This is of course not the case with just any movie but this does seem often the case with movies that are being regarded as cult-classics now days.But luckily I'm not all on my own this time. Generally speaking "Return of the Living Dead Part II" is not a very well liked movie, which does seem a bit surprising to me, since I just can't really see how this movie is worse than the original. As a matter of fact; I honestly liked this movie a bit better than the first one, simply because I didn't felt as annoyed with it this time.It's obviously not a great movie. It takes a far too simplistic and cliché ridden approach with things for that. The story is pretty much non-existent. Things just happen in this movie and most stuff seems very random. It doesn't follow a clear main plot line, which makes it feel like this movie is just going on and going on forever, even though the movie in fact is only about 85 minutes short. I was just pretty much fed up with all of it about an hour in already. I just couldn't care less about anything that was happening and I never got into any of the characters. I don't even remember any of their names and was actually more annoyed by most of them. The little kid is annoying (I hate it when they don't let children act like real children) but so was the screaming and shouting girl, as well as the old guy who was supposed to be funny but just never really made me laugh.The effects are also only half successful in this. At times all of the zombie and gore effects are fantastic and quite convincing looking, while at others it's just way too fake. It's very uneven, just like the entire movie basically.It's harmless and silly enough to still entertaining plenty of people I guess, just don't mistake it for a good movie as well.5/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/