Review of Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) by Al H — 16 Nov 2014
Awful sequel to the classic comic punk rock zombie flick. The original was one of those few examples of when horror and comedy work well together. It's a hard job for horror/comedies to be both funny and scary.
Usually they fail in one of the area, which then ends up bringing the film down. The original "Return of the Living" is a great example of successfully mixing these two genres. "The Frighteners" or "The Innkeepers" are a couple other of the few horror/comedies that manage to do both well.
"Return of the Living Dead II" on the other hand fails at being either funny or scary. Writer/director Ken Wiederhorn made the classic underwater Nazi zombie film "Shock Waves" but reportedly he had little interest in doing another horror film and you definitely get the feeling that there's not much excitement or fun behind the making of this film.
There's plenty of zombies, but it's really not all that interesting. James Karen and Thom Mathews return from the original film playing different characters, but essentially doing the same parts over again.
Dana Ashbrook of "Twin Peaks" is one of the leads and in bit parts are Mitch Pileggi as Sarge and Doug Benson as Special Zombie (though I don't actually remember seeing him in the film).
This review of Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) was written by Al H on 16 Nov 2014.
Return of the Living Dead Part II has generally received mixed reviews.
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