D V D C R Y P T

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II

Directed and written by Ken Wiederhorn
Music by J. Peter Robinson
Cast: James Karen, Thom Mathews, Dana Ashbrook, Marsha Dietlein, Philip Bruns, Michael Kenworthy

1987/89 mins/Color/Stereo
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from Warner Bros. DVD

An Army truck accidentally drops a tank of the reanimation gas from the first film. When, two bullies crack it open, they and others are exposed to it. Those, this happened to, begin to turn into zombies; meanwhile, the dead rise from the graves, all of them hungry for brains. We follow a small group of people (two of them who are infected) as they try to survive, and ultimately, destroy the zombies.

When, I was younger, for whatever godforsaken reason, I liked this piece of worm food. I always knew it was not anywhere near the level of greatness of the original, but I still kind of enjoyed it. Looking at it over now, though, I can honestly say, I have no clue what I was thinking back then. It is a pretty stupid, fucking movie.

That said, there are a few laughs to be had, and there are worse zombie films out there (HOUSE OF THE DEAD II, anyone?), and it ain’t as awful as some make it to be. But, this is really the faintest of praise. Most of the jokes are real groaners and the characters are really fucking annoying. Take for example the pretty red-head played Suzanne Snyder. Sure she is easy on the eyes, but, she gets on one’s nerves really fucking fast, and you just wish she would get her brains eaten already. Matthews and Karen return from the original, in what seem to be different roles, but, in the end, rehash the same shit they did in the original, albeit in a much more stupid and annoying manner.

Zombie films are supposed to be gorefests, but alas this one fails at that, too. Sure, there is some brain munching and some human on zombie violence, but most of the film really pussies out. The zombies range from OK looking to looking like something you buy at your local Target around Halloween time. There is even a new Tarman (played by returning Allan Trautman), I say he is new because the last one lost his fucking head, literally, but he looks disappointing, too. The movie refers little to the original, aside from some rather silly allusions; all, of which, makes this crap that more pointless and unneeded.

Warner Bros. resurrects RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II to make its DVD debut, in this single disc edition. It is presented in its anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The colors look beautiful and have no artifacting. The stereo sound is OK, but the soundtrack has been, for whatever fucking reason, been reedited. The score has been changed, and, to say nothing of the fact that, the kick ass music by Anthrax is now lowered. Really fucking lame, if you ask me. That said, the quality of the sound, itself, is very good.

There is not much in form of extras, but we do get a running commentary by writer/ director Wiederhorn and actor Thor Van Lingen (who played the main bully who gets zombified) is pretty good. Just about anything you would wanna know about the making of the film is told here. We, also, learn that Wiederhorn did not wanna make horror movies and decided to make this more comical. This probably explains why so much of the film, quite simply does not work. Their commentary features no real interaction between them, which leads me to believe, that they were each recorded separately. The only other extra is the film’s trailer.

The disc, which comes in a keep case, has no inlet card, but it is broken up into twenty-three chapters. They can be accessed from the static menu. At least, the cover keeps the original artwork, which is great and was always one of the films best things.

Image:

Audio:

Extras:

Packaging:

This Film Features: