Return of the Living Dead: Part II  -  Not as good as the first, but fun anyway

Ignoring the loose connections to ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ the original ‘Return of the Living Dead’ was also a classic in its own right.  It didn’t have the darkness, or social commentary of George A Romero’s work, but it had a lot of fun, gore, shocks and humour.  It was a good B-movie.  I guess it was only natural that it would get a sequel.

I read online that – apparently – the script that eventually went on to become ‘Return of the Living Dead: Part II’ wasn’t actually anything to do with the original.  It was just a generic zombie movie that was tinkered with to fit the events of the first film – loosely.  And, having watched it, I can believe that.  It – sort of – follows on from the events of the original, mentioning a few events, but also bringing back a couple of actors who died in the first as new characters in the second – why, I’m not entirely sure, but they’re quite funny.  Plus the Censors were going to award ‘Return of the Living Dead: Part II’ a PG13 rating if a single scene was toned down.  I can believe that.  It’s hardly the most frightening or tense horror film ever made.  It’s not even that gory.  But, despite its many flaws, I can’t bring myself to hate it.

I look at it like ‘Slapstick of the Living Dead.’ It’s – almost – a zombie movie for kids.  The dialogue is as cheesy as it comes and makes no attempt to be serious, leaving the audience never that scared for the characters or their plight.  You also have to be okay with the lead actor being a young boy.  Kids get a bad ride when it comes to films and it is unfair to try and make one carry a whole film.  The ‘star’ who plays the boy ‘Jessie’ is okay.  In some ways that’s actually a compliment when you consider how bad some child actors are.  Hopefully, you shouldn’t hate him.

That is more than I can say for the soundtrack.  I watched this film in the late eighties on VHS and the soundtrack was a million times better.  It’s been almost completely rescored and even some extra dialogue dubbed in (where the characters don’t actually move their lips!).  If you can find it on VHS I would recommend that version.

Overall, if you’ve seen the original, don’t expect a great sequel.  Be prepared for a much lighter tone from the film.  And, if you haven’t seen the first one, watch it – it’s very good.  There’s nothing wrong with Part II, just treat it as a Saturday morning type zombie film that you can sort of half watch and half do something else.

 7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that