{"id":1513,"date":"2024-08-03T04:29:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-03T04:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1513"},"modified":"2024-10-14T12:47:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:47:17","slug":"return-of-the-living-dead-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/03\/return-of-the-living-dead-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Return of the Living Dead Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Return of the Living Dead Part II <\/strong>(1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lorimar\/Horror-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 89 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, some gore, language, decaying corpses)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ken Wiederhorn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Ken Wiederhorn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: J. Peter Robinson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robert Elswit\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 15, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: James Karen, Thom Matthews, Marsha Dietlein, Dana Ashbrook, Suzanne Snyder, Michael Kenworthy, Philip Bruns, Thor Van Lingen, Jason Hogan, Jonathan Terry, Mitch Pileggi.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $9.2M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Like many a sequel before and after it, Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong> doesn\u2019t quite measure up to the original. Not even by a long shot. It\u2019s still kind of fun if you lower your expectations. I planned on seeing this one at the movies, but got sidetracked the day I planned to go (Monday Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Day) and missed my chance. Another movie took its place at the City Line Theater the following Friday and that was that. I had to wait until it came out on video in May.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I wasn\u2019t entirely impressed when I finally saw it at a friend\u2019s house. It had much less gore which annoyed me. Why did the makers of Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong> feel the need to tone it down? It\u2019s not like they\u2019re going to get more kids in the theater, it\u2019s still rated R. It makes no sense but then again, so little of Hollywood mentality makes sense.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In this follow-up to the cult 1985 horror-comedy, a suburban town finds itself beset by the walking dead after a barrel of Trioxin falls unnoticed off a military transport truck and into a river. Some kids find it and start messing with it despite the protests of Jesse (Kenworthy, The Blob) who was bullied by Billy (Van Lingen) and Johnny (Hogan) into joining their gang. They lock him in a mausoleum to keep him from telling anybody about their discovery. Naturally, they manage to cause a leak, releasing the toxic gas throughout the graveyard. You can guess what happens next, right?<\/p>\n

\u00a0James Karen and Thom Matthews return for Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong> but they don\u2019t reprise their characters from the first movie (Frank and Freddy died, remember?). This time they play Ed and Joey, a pair of grave robbers who find themselves looting the mausoleum (releasing Jesse in the process) when the dead rise from their graves. They manage to escape the cemetery along with Joey\u2019s girlfriend Brenda (Snyder, Weird Science) who was waiting for them in the van.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When Jesse figures out what\u2019s going on, his older sister Lucy (Dietlein) who\u2019s been left in charge of him in their parents\u2019 absence doesn\u2019t believe his story and locks him in his bedroom. The resourceful boy manages to escape and makes it to a phone where he calls the number stenciled on the barrel. He reaches the US military but is disconnected (inadvertently by Ed and Joey\u2019s stupidity) before he can tell them anything. It turns out the whole town (with quite a few exceptions) has been evacuated. Jesse, Lucy and cable guy Tom (Ashbrook, Twin Peaks) will have to team up with Ed, Joey and Brenda if they want to live to see the next day.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s my big question about Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong>. How come so many people were left behind when the military evacuated the town? Did they not knock at every door? Why don\u2019t they announce it on TV and radio? What happened to military efficiency? It\u2019s a huge gaping plot hole, but if not for that, there wouldn\u2019t be much of a story to tell.<\/p>\n

\u00a0My biggest problem with Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong> is that the characters played by Karen and Matthews are very annoying. Karen screams and wails WAY too much. There\u2019s a lot of screaming and shrieking in this movie. Also, both of them are such idiots. However, Matthews does get off one of the movie\u2019s best lines when he comments that he feels like they\u2019ve both been here before. There are a few good lines in Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong>. Here are some of my favorites:<\/p>\n

Brenda: \u201cJoey, I\u2019m not into dead guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Ed and Joey once again contract a case of living death and rigor mortis.<\/p>\n

Jesse (to zombie Billy): \u201cThat\u2019s why you\u2019re dead, ass wipe. No brains and a big mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy (as she procures guns from her uncle\u2019s house): \u201cLook, they\u2019re ugly and they\u2019re dirty and they\u2019re dumb and I don\u2019t even care if they are dead. I hate \u2018em, there\u2019s no way they\u2019re touching me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Zombie Head: \u201cGet that damn screwdriver out of my head!\u201d<\/p>\n

Writer-director Ken Wiederhorn (Meatballs Part II) places the emphasis on the comedy in Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong>. While not a killing blow in and of itself, I think he could have upped the horror a bit. The makeup effects are good. The zombies are more comical this time. There\u2019s even one that resembles Thriller-era Michael Jackson. The cast isn\u2019t as awesome this time. Dietlein can\u2019t act but she\u2019s cute in an 80s sort of way. Kenworthy is good as the young protagonist; he\u2019s clearly the smartest character and he\u2019s 11 (I think). What does that say about the others?<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ve developed an appreciation for Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong> over the years. It\u2019s an enjoyable movie despite being the weakest entry in the trilogy (I don\u2019t count the made-for-TV fourth and fifth movies). It\u2019s amusing and not the least bit scary. It\u2019s like a lesser issue of an EC comic book series. The soundtrack is still heavy on rock with songs from Anthrax (\u201cI\u2019m the Man\u201d and \u201cA.D.I.\/Horror of It All\u201d) and Joe Lamont (\u201cFlesh to Flesh\u201d). It\u2019s more heavy metal than punk this time around.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Return of the Living Dead Part II<\/strong> is a significant step down from the original, that\u2019s for sure. But it doesn\u2019t suck which counts for a lot. At least the makers appear to be making an effort which is more than I can say for other horror movies. It\u2019s fun in its own way. It\u2019s watchable but hardly memorable.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lorimar\/Horror-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 89 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, some gore, language, decaying corpses)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Ken Wiederhorn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Ken Wiederhorn\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: J. Peter Robinson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robert Elswit\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 15, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: James Karen, Thom Matthews, Marsha Dietlein, Dana Ashbrook, Suzanne Snyder, Michael Kenworthy, Philip Bruns, Thor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Return-of-the-Living-Dead-P-1.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1513"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2048,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions\/2048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}