Return of the Living Dead 2 (1988)

Just when you thought it was safe to be dead.

A boy named Jesse attempts to join a club run by two older boys, one of whom seems to believe he is some sort of 1950's gangster based on how he talks. When Jesse's initiation into the group goes awry, the boys chase him down to give him clobbering but he hides under a bridge where their inane behavior is interrupted by the discovery of some mysterious canisters marker "Department of Army" (whatever that is).

Jesse proposes calling the army up to let them know that their lost property has been found, but his "friends" warn him not to tell anyone and lock him up in a building at the graveyard across the street just to be sure.

Luckily for him, he manages to escape when a couple of grave robbers turn up and he is able to run away through the open door. Meanwhile, the other two kids make the foolhardy decision to open one of the canisters which turns out to contain a zombie and a healthy dose of Trioxin, the gas which is responsible for reanimating the dead in the original film. 


Of course the gas quickly travels out from under the bridge and into the near by graveyard both infecting all living people it comes in contact with, and reanimating all deceased ones as well.

Return of the Living Dead 2 is much like the original Return of the Living Dead in that it is a purposely cheesy, semi-comedic zombie movie wherein acting, plot, and being scary are not really on the table. Return of the Living Dead is notable for being behind the popularization of cliche of zombies who say "braaaiiinnss!" when approaching their victims and even, at time, make wisecracks. They also look hilarious, especially the first one, which escapes from the canister opened by the kids and the one with the head in the bag. Completely goofy and ridiculous. One can only presume this is on purpose.

The best acting in the movie is from the main character, Jesse, played by Michael Kenworthy, whose career seems to have ended later that year with a role in the remake of The Blob. Most of the rest is average, some of it is painful to watch. There are a chuckle-worthy scenes for sure, some of which were actually meant to be that way. The gore is actually quite mild and some of it even happens off screen. If you are looking for a good starter zombie movie for someone who is a bit squeamish or easily spooked, this is probably a good choice. Otherwise, you may get a bit bored of the endless chase scenes, largely uneventful encounters with zombies, and general buffoonery.

This series, was blatantly marketed from the start to be a set of sequels to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead despite actually not being connected in the slightest. And while this second movie in the Return of the Living Dead series is a bit of a bore, the real sequel to Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, is one of the greatest zombie films of all time. So, a bit of a difference to say the least. This series does, however, actually has a couple somewhat watchable films in it. This isn't really one of them.

1.5 zombie face punches out of 5
Rated 18A/R for violence.


Watch the Return of the Living Dead 2 trailer.

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