Return of the Living Dead Part II
by Ken Wiederhorn
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DVD details
Actor: Dana Ashbrook, James Karen, Philip Bruns, Thom MathewsDirector: Ken Wiederhorn
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: Ken Wiederhorn
Producer: John Daly
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-05
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Return of the Living Dead Part II
DVD Review: "Brenda, your brains smell so good. So rich and spicy."
Summary: 2 Stars
Having purchased both The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Return of the Living Dead III (1993) at the time of their respective release to DVD, I couldn't understand why Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) had yet to be released. I waited, and waited, and waited...and finally I got news from some source or other it was finally coming out...I put my pre-order in, and it finally showed up on my doorstep...too bad it wasn't the film I was expecting...oh, the movie is the same one I saw so many years ago, but something was amiss...faulty, improper, flawed, afoul, awry, in error, mistaken, off course, improper, imperfect, defective, deficient, and just generally wrong...I was unable to put my finger on it, since I hadn't seen the film in such a long time, but in reading recent reviews posted by others on here, it became clear I wasn't alone in what I was feeling (I'll get to it later)...
The film, written and directed by Ken Wiederhorn (Shock Waves), stars a number of actors, including Dana Ashbrook (She's Out of Control), Suzanne Snyder (Weird Science), Marsha Dietlein (Boiler Room), Michael Kenworthy (The Blob, the 1988 remake, not the original with Steve McQueen), and Phil Bruns (Corvette Summer). Also appearing are Thom Mathews (Alien from L.A.) and veteran actor James Karen (The China Syndrome, Poltergeist, Mulholland Dr.), both of whom starred in the first film, but aren't actually reprising their original roles but playing roles very similar....make sense?
So what is the movie about? Well, if you guess zombies, you'd be correct (what gave it away? Was it the use of the term `living dead' in the title?). Okay, the army is transporting these containers, containers filled with some sort of chemical that causes dead tissue to come back to life (such as it is). One of the containers falls of a truck, and some punky kids find it, open it, and let out the noxious gases, which permeate the air near a local cemetery. Sounds bad, but it gets worse...the rain comes, soaking the chemical into the ground, thus re-animating an army of the dormant dead into zombies...and we all know what zombies like to do...eat the flesh of the living (more specifically, within the context of this series, they seem to love to eat the brains of the living). This does not bode well for the nearby town. The town is evacuated and sealed off (the army, or, at least the grunts who are on guard, are informed that the town has been closed due to a plague...yeah, a plague of the dead...and they apparently have orders not to let anyone in or out), except for a small group of people, who must now run for their lives, lest they lose their minds...literally, as the zombies want their `succulent and spicy' gray matter. Will they escape? Or will they suffer the ignominious end of having their brains eaten by those who were once living, now decaying worm fodder?
Mixing horror and comedy is always a tricky proposition, or, as director Wiederhorn puts it, it's the equivalent of cinematic suicide, as horror fans don't generally appreciate having their genre being made fun of, and let's face it, people who enjoy comedies aren't likely to choose a film with a title like Return of the Living Dead Part II when looking for something to watch. Despite all that, I did enjoy the film, even if the humor was a little weak and the movie was short on the gore (given the fact the main character of the film was a small boy, it was pretty much clear from the get go that the gruesome death scenes, even deaths in general, would be far and few between). I thought all the actors did reasonably well, but I thought it kinda odd that Mathews and Karen should play practically the same types of roles as in the first. My favorite character in the film was that of Doc Mandel, played by Bruns. His character seemed similar to that of John Ratzenberg's character in House II (1987) in that they're both quirky, secondary characters that don't actually seem affected by what's happening within the story. I thought the special effects, particularly the zombie make-up, was really excellent and realistic, in terms of what I think zombies would look like (I've never actually seen one in real life, in case you were wondering). The overall story is a bit weak, and this is definitely the least of the three films, the first being the best, followed by the third. The main problem, specifically with this DVD release, is something I alluded to at the beginning, and something other reviewers have already mentioned, in that some of the original musical score has been changed, and not for the better. Why? I have no idea...maybe Warner Brothers was unable to secure the rights to the music or unable to pay the extra costs to do so, but there is good news if you understand French as if you do, you can watch the film with the original musical score as it's intact on that track. Very odd...I guess all I can say is that if you happen to own a previous version, say on VHS or laserdisc, you might want to hang on to it, as it seems like this is what we're stuck with...
The wide screen picture provided on this DVD looks great, and the audio is really pretty good (except for the `new' music, whose audio levels don't even match up with the remaining original audio track). Special features are few, including an original theatrical trailer and a commentary track by the director and one of the lesser actors in the film. The commentary seemed odd, but then I realized that they were recorded separately, and then somewhat sloppily combined into one track. All in all a 2 star release for a 3 ½ star movie.
Cookieman108
Description of Return of the Living Dead Part II
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD 2 - DVD MovieCurious kids open a barrel of green gas linked to a mysterious military experiment, and soon a tenebrous green cloud of fog is making its way through the creepy town cemetery. Knowing exactly where this is headed is, of course, part of the fun in this tongue-in-cheek zombie sequel. Maybe it's not as fresh as its successful predecessor, but all of the key zombie ingredients are still well preserved in this second installment: ravenous "undead" in search of human brains, severed limbs with a life of their own, and lots and lots of shrieking! Taking a hackneyed premise that is a close retelling of part I, director Ken Wiederhorn (Freddy?s Nightmares, Shock Waves) rejuvenates the genre with sporadic genuine scares, lots of plain old silliness, and some literally eye-popping special effects. Followed up a few years later with the equally enjoyable Return of the Living Dead Part III, this is a fun franchise that reminds you of what '80s horror was all about: bad synth music, and perms. --Matt Wold
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