Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)


The Return of the Living Dead turned out to be a surprising cult hit.  Written and directed by Dan O'Bannon and based on a story by John A. Russo, one of the original collaborators on Night of the Living Dead, it became one of the most renowned horror comedies of the '80s.  Its punk style, outlandish characters and imaginative gore put it ahead of much of the competition.  

There would end up being five movies in total, but the first follow-up is pretty much a remake with less gore, no nudity and quite a bit more comedy.  That is why there are no references to Louisville, Kentucky getting blown up by a nuclear bomb at the end of the first film.  Instead, we are now in a fictional town called Westvale, somewhere in the Midwest, when that darn old Trioxin starts doing its thing again.

It turns out there are plenty of old barrels of Trioxin 245 around the country and the Army is rounding it up.  Unfortunately, they're about as competent as before, and a few barrels fall into a culvert in Westvale, near a new housing development.  They are found by three kids, Jesse Wilson (Michael Kenworthy) and his not-so-good friends Billy (Thor Van Lingen) and Johnny (Jason Hogan).  Jesse is away when the gas is released, but since the culvert is near a cemetery it does its job, including on Ed (James Karen) and Joey (Thom Mathews), who are busy robbing graves.  

Soon the inhabitants are all around and Joey's girlfriend Brenda (Suzanne Snyder) finds herself in danger.  Meanwhile, Jesse tries to convince his sister (Marsha Dietlein) that the dead are coming back to life.  They quickly find themselves surrounded and, with the help of cable repair man Tom (Dana Ashbrook) and befuddled physician Doc Mandel (Philip Bruns) they try to find a way to end the threat to their town, which the Army has cordoned off.

James Karen and Thom Mathews play what are technically different characters than the first movie, but still pretty much the same, right down to dress.  It makes for an amusing joke later on, but they are the reason I disliked this movie for the longest time, and will probably be what turns a lot of people off from seeing it.  They, along with Suzanne Snyder, spend most of the movie yelling and screaming to such a degree that it is unbearable.  Most of the shouting is just normal dialog that doesn't need to be said in such a histrionic manner.  Once it gets going it is like nails on a chalkboard.

If one can get through that then the rest of the movie is pretty solid, although not any substantial improvement on the first movie.  This just doesn't have the same offbeat style as Return of the Living Dead no matter how much it tries.  It does try to ape Steven Spielberg's style of storytelling, and once Ed, Joey and Brenda are out of the picture it's pretty decent.  However, pretty decent doesn't equal the classic status of the original or the strange love story of the third entry.  Instead, Return of the Living Dead Part II is fun to watch, but it's not essential to either of the movies that bookend it, and pretty much has nothing to draw the viewer in like they do. 

The Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
Time: 89 minutes
Starring: Michael Kenworthy, Marsha Dietlein, Dana Ashbrook, James Karen, Thom Matthews, Suzanne Snyder
Director: Ken Wiederhorn

 

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