Truly Dreadful Film

best movie i've ever seen.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's inevitable that this first sequel to the fondly remembered "The Return of the Living Dead" wouldn't be as much fun. It's mostly a more-of-the-same type of sequel, except that the comedy content is increased. Perhaps writer / director Ken Wiederhorn ("Shock Waves", "Eyes of a Stranger") realized that they couldn't top the original, so decided to take things in a goofier direction. The result is a number of gags that vary in quality. Sometimes the movie is amiable and funny, sometimes it's just silly and tiresome. But the actors give it 100% (especially returnees James Karen and Thom Mathews), and Part II does have some good energy and pacing. Certainly the zombies are made to look more cartoon like than stylized.The Army is transporting several barrels of that wonderful chemical Trioxin when some of them get mislaid. Curious kids look inside one, unleashing the deadly Trioxin which contaminates all of the corpses in a nearby cemetery. Among those who will have to save the day are plucky child Jesse (Michael Kenworthy, "The Blob" '88), his older sister Lucy (Marsha Dietlein), and cable TV installer Tom Essex (Dana Ashbrook, 'Twin Peaks'). Meanwhile, grave robbers Ed (Mr. Karen) and Joey (Mr. Mathews) buy themselves trouble by attempting to purloin human skulls.The cast of familiar faces also includes Suzanne Snyder ("Killer Klowns from Outer Space") as Joey's shrill, annoying girlfriend Brenda, original Morty Seinfeld actor Philip Bruns as the drink-loving Doc Mandel, and Mitch Pileggi ("Shocker", 'The X-Files') as Sarge. Other returnees from the first film include Jonathan Terry (who seems to be playing the same role here), Allan Trautman (who appears much too briefly as a less impressive looking Tarman), and Brian "Scuz" Peck, who plays a featured zombie here.Dopey dialogue abounds, and there are some notable gags: Brenda punches in the face of a zombie, another one trying to rise from its grave keeps getting stepped on, and a third getting blown in half, only to try to reunite its upper and lower body. The characters are generally a lot less interesting this time around, so the viewer may be more likely to root for the zombies.Not bad - it does deliver some modest chuckles - but "The Return of the Living Dead" would have been a tough act to follow anyway.Six out of 10.

Much-hated sequel to the '80s classic Return of the Living Dead is better than most people give it credit for being. It's not on the level of the first movie but it's still a fun and enjoyable horror-comedy. The plot is pretty much irrelevant but here goes: a container with a zombie in it falls off the back of an army truck. Some kids mess with it and release a toxic gas that reanimates the dead.James Karen and Thom Mathews return, playing different characters than in the last movie. They're a treat to watch, just like last time. Karen is especially funny and gets many of the movie's best lines. The main part this time around is a kid played by Michael Kenworthy. He's pretty good in what appears to have been his biggest role. The rest of the cast is fine. It's a fun movie that doesn't take itself seriously at all. I'm surprised it's hated as much as it is but the first movie was terrific so any sequel to it was bound to fall up short by comparison. Could've been a lot worse, though.

"I feel like we've been here before. You... Me... Them!" That's what Thom Mathews "Joey" says and that how I felt about this film. Thom Mathews and 'James Karen nearly duplicate their roles from Return of the Living Dead as a pair who are sickened by zombie gas. In both films they have the exchange, "Listen kid, if you like this job..." "Like this job? Like this job!" They only changes were their names, they were Freddy & Frank, now their Ed & Joey. Only this time they are not funny at all. James Karen even becomes a full fledged zombie who attacks a soldier and eats brains! But he was not convincing for me or scary at all. Thom has another girlfriend, Suzanne Synder (Brenda), in this one who is basically playing the same helpless role Beverly Randolph (Tina)played in the first one. The "so-called hero" in this one is played by a young Dana Ashbrook in the role of "Tom".In one of the most disturbing scenes for me is where the zombies are attacking a pet store and killing all the helpless animals, "Tom" gets mad and hits a zombie with the ambulance he is driving with and figures out the only way to kill these bastards is by electrocution.Which leads to the "grand finale". It is said that The blue electrocution lines in the final sequence were all hand-drawn frame by frame and cost over $50,000.Near the very end of this electrocution scene, a Michael Jackson impersonator zombie can be seen - a direct reference to his Thriller music video. This zombie is played by actor Brian Peck, the only person to have had a role in the first 3 movies in the 'Return of the Living Dead' franchise. Playing the role of 'Scuz' in the first, many of the closeup zombies in the second ('Pussface', ''Thriller', 'Jaw', 'Eye-Pop', 'Zombie on Car Roof') and finally 'Ballistics Technician' in the third. The only other actors I recognized were Philip Bruns ( Of Flashdance and Seinfeld fame)who played the Drunk Doctor.He was so so. And Mitch Pileggi (Skinner of the X-Files fame) playing a kill crazy sergeant. I wish they would have had more of him. Anyways, I feel this sequel was OK but not great. Gonna go see the 3rd one now and see if that's better. Bye!

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/