Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)

Loved it as a kid... then I grew up.

'Return of the Living Dead Part II' tried to re-capture the lightning-in-a-bottle so brilliantly achieved by the original. It fails on all levels. This time around the comedy is more abundant, but nothing is funny here. The effects are bad, the acting is atrocious... and THE MUSICAL SCORE HAS GIVEN ME EAR CANCER. I found out shortly after viewing this turd that the music on the DVD is not the original score. Believe me, 'ROTLD2' might be a hair better if the original music was in place, but it's still a failed attempt at zombie comedy. I felt bad for James Karen and Thom Matthews as they stumbled around trying to be like their characters from the first movie. It's really quite embarrassing to behold. Do yourself a favor and buy the excellent 'Return of the Living Dead' and pretend its four sequels never happened. October 4, 2008

The NEW Soundtrack makes this movie Unwatchable!!!

As others have said before me in their own ways, this movie is no Casablanca or anything but was fun to watch when I saw it as a kid - and enjoyable enough to add to my collection to sit next to my eagerly and long awaited DVD release of the original Return of the Living Dead (1984).
I was very excited to see this finally get released on DVD and could not wait to purchase it - I bought it at Best Buy the day it came out!!! That said - I have tried to watch this movie at least five times since it's release in October of 2004 (now August of 2008) and cannot get any further than the first cemetary scene...THE SOUNDTRACK IS AWFUL!!! It truly makes this movie unwatchable!! No joke - seriously - I mean REALLY UNWATCHABLE!! What the hell were they thinking?! If they couldn't secure the rights to the original soundtrack then they shouldn't have released it at all...this new soundtrack is mediocre at BEST!! Please WB, recall each and every one of these DVD's and have them shredded...they should not be allowed to even be seen or heard. The new soundtrack is the scariest part of this DVD!! I can't believe someone could have actually TRIED to mix this awful music into the movie and feel, "Oh, yes, this is great - I'm sure fans of this film will love this new simplistic version of the soundtrack." I am aware I am going on a little bit too much about this 2 star movie at best but, well, I actually liked it back in the day (warts and all) and one of the best things about this movie back then was it's original "Score" (although, it was synthesized orchestrations - they definitely sounded WAY BETTER than this S**T!!)
Put the original score back and re-release it for us true fans, please.
Thanks...umm, anyone want to buy a DVD of ROTLD II...great condition...Practically unwatched... August 7, 2008

A classic horror

In short, this movie mixes humor with good special effects considering the time it was released. This is a five star rated movie- June 9, 2008

yummy!

ok maybe i confused the review i put for the first one with this one.but hey,this is still great:D June 2, 2008

Not too bad, but far from good

Well, I'm really being generous giving this one three stars. But to be fair I did give it a watch just prior to writing this and it was better than I remembered, if only slightly. This love it/hate it sequel to the classic Return of the Living Dead fails to live up to the original in just about every aspect. The humor is cornier, the soundtrack is nowhere near as good, and even the gore effects seem to be a step down from the effects from the original. However it's still a good old fashioned 80's zombie flick with a hint of redeeming quality, so let's take a closer look.

Not much time is spent developing a plot or story here. Right from the get-go, a tank containing one of the infamous bodies falls off an army truck. Some meddling kids find it lodged in a drainage pipe, and wouldn't you know it, they unleash the poisonous zombie-creating gas. About 20 minutes into the film, the living dead are already rampaging the town in full force. A randomly assorted group of people attempt to escape the clutches of the zombies before their brains are eaten. This group containing a plethora or stereotype roles, (Annoying little kid, older teen sister with an attitude ala Ferris Bueller, the alcoholic and possibly senile old man, etc).

Thom Matthews and James Karen pretty much reprise their roles from the first film, only without actually reprising them. They are playing the same characters verbatim, and the infamous line from the first even makes an appearance when James Karen warns "Watch your tongue boy, if you like this job", to which Matthews replies "Like this job?!". These two are very enjoyable together in this film, although like the plot, the characters are unfortunately very underdeveloped. Although the original had lots of it, this film manages to be much more direct with the humor. Sadly most of it falls pretty flat and resorts to mundane situations such as the young lead cursing, zombies getting horny watching a woman in tights, and an almost Leslie Nielson-esque doctor. Although there are a few noteworthy moments, the scares and laughs here are far and few between.

All in all if you are a hardcore fan of the first, you'll get at least some form of enjoyment out of this chapter. However in reality, Return of the Living Dead 2 fails to match its predacessor without a shadow of a doubt. Thanks for reading! February 16, 2008

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