Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
Return of the Living Dead Part II (hereafter known as RotLD2, because I’m too lazy to keep typing that big long title) has only one link to its predecessor, the toxic sludge which brings the dead to life. Other than that, you could easily watch this without having viewed the first film.
Anyway, this film begins with the army transporting some of said nasty toxin in a somewhat unsafe manner, ie: no one even notices when a drum/two drops off the wagon. How could they miss that? Easy, a walkman.
What is this ‘walkman’ you speak of?
Remember kids, this is the late 80′s, there was no iPods or MP3 players, them were the days when top of the range portable music meant that the player autoflipped the tape for you. And they had headphones, with big spongy bits that hurt your ears. But I digress…
Having just joined a gang of young youths, one kid ends up locked in a mausoleum and has a brief run-in with a couple of grave robbers who look suspiciously like the two main goofballs from part one. Oh, wait. They ARE the same (actors).
Robbing the dead was more fun when they didn’t fight back and the robbers flee the crypt. And when whopping great zombies emerge from toxic tanks you can bet there’s hell to pay!
BRAAAAINNNNSSSSSS!!!!!
The evil mist dissipates throughout the local town and before you can say ‘braaaainnnsssssss’ they’re all chewing on each others noggins!
he looked better when he was dead...
The kid, his friends, family, gang members and grave robbers meet and need to join up to live through this brain eating epidemic.
hey baby, you, uh, wanna like, 'join up'? Huh huh huh huh...
Then having procured a car they head for the nearest hospital to discover why the grave robbers are feeling a tad ‘sick’, well… I’m sure you can guess what’s happening to those two characters…
The big finale is, of course, how they will rid the town of zombies and return to a normal life…
The actresses are hot and fit, and the special effects are good too. Some excellent zombie makeup, the usual hand/arm ripping scenes and an awesome shotgun scene where a torso is blasted from its lower half.
But aren’t all sequels dire? Not in this case, I’d say RotLD2 is better than part one, due to more of the good stuff, humour and effects. It’s certainly one of the best zombie comedies ever.
Rating: 
