Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Well i was a fan of the first one at a very young age my teenage siblings would rent it on vhs and i was allowed to see it so long as i "turned my head" for the T and A parts.. but eating human brains oh thats fine for the little guy he'll love it.. but part 2 is even more special to me but in a melancholy way.. it came out in theaters unlike parts 3 and 4 and i recall my mom picking myself and my lil brother up after elementary school to see a flick at the mall. i picked this and at the tender age of 8 or 9 it did scare me somewhat but more than that.. it became a special memory to me and only because.. it was that late afternoon that year.. they just never did come up with anything else like this for me to see.. very derivative of the original but only as a sort of sideshow act.. i can only describe it at best..melancholy fun.. if you arent the type that loves a bad funeral dont watch it.

Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)** (out of 4) Jesse Wilson (Michael Kenworthy) and a couple friends stumble across a container, which contains the infamous gas that causes the dead to return to life. Later that night the friends accidentally release the gas and the zombies come looking for brains.RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II was the first horror film I ever watched on the big screen back when I was eight years old. At the time I remember liking the film because I could relate to the Jesse character and it was fun pretending that I was him battling all these zombies. With that said, even at that time I knew this sequel was a major step back from the original film and as I've gotten older I've enjoyed this film less and less.The film tries really hard to capture the mood and spirit of the original and that includes paying homage to several of the characters in the original include Tar Man, Jr. showing up here. We've also got James Karen and Thom Matthews returning but this time playing grave robbers who wind up battling zombies again. The two actors have that chemistry that they did in the first picture but it just isn't as fresh or original here. Even the zombies here are pretty bland as there just aren't too many memorable ones.The film remains slightly entertaining because you do like the characters and there are a couple funny moments scattered throughout the picture. There's a lot more humor here than in the first movie but the problem is that a lot of it doesn't work. Another problem is that there isn't nearly enough zombie action and even the gore level is pretty low. I've always thought this here played like a cleaned up version of the original and it just doesn't have that dark tone that it needed.RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II has some minor entertainment scattered throughout but certainly not enough to keep it moving at a good pace.

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.

If you're a fan of the cult horror film Return of the Living Dead (1985), then chances are you've watched this lazy sequel, only to be left wondering where the last 90 minutes of your life have gone. The plot surrounds another lost toxic barrel, containing the chemical gas that will awake the living dead. An obnoxious child witnesses the birth of the zombies after the gas is accidentally released, and the town is soon overrun by seemingly indestructible, brain-eating zombies. A couple of gravediggers robbing the dead are caught up in the midst of the zombie outbreak, and with the boy and his family, try desperately to survive the onslaught.If the plot sounds extremely dull and familiar, it's because it is. The first film was a very amusing, and often quite clever little movie, bursting with ideas and scenes of pure lunacy brought to life by a cast who look like they're genuinely having fun. Part II obviously knows this, and rather than trying to expand on the originals quirky charm and develop the universe, director Ken Wiederhorn, who ended his relatively short career in television, chose to simply re-hash the first, involving similar scenes and situations, and even bringing back some of the actors. What the film becomes is almost pure comedy, aiming at a teenage audience (although the humour is for infants), and lacking the fun horror and gore from the first. There's nothing that even comes close to the limbless female zombie demanding "braaaiinnnss!" from the first.What we do get is a wise-cracking severed head with the voice of a finger-snapping black woman, a little boy hero who I was praying to be brutally murdered, and a zombie dressed as Michael Jackson doing the Thriller dance (yes, really). It's such a desperate, pathetic attempt to humour an audience that was most likely getting into each other's pants in the back row, and I fail to see how this would amuse anyone apart from those who are entertained by jangling keys. Even James Karen and Thom Mathews, who were very funny in the first, look uncomfortable with the crap they are given to work with. It's just one boring, cringe- inducing 90 minutes, made worse by the fact that this is a missed opportunity, given the quirky charm of the first. One fellow IMDb reviewer put it better than I can, so I quote - "not funny, not campy, not scary, not good."www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com