Review: Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988)

Directed by: Ken Wiederhorn
Starring: Michael Kenworthy, Marsha Dietlein, Dana Ashbrook
Written by: Ken Wiederhorn
Music by: J. Peter Robinson
Country: United States
Available on: Blu-ray (Scream Factory), DVD (Warner Bros.)
IMDb

I don’t know exactly what possessed the powers that be to leverage the success of 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead into a gentler re-imagining of the same story, but here we are. Part II in the franchise is undoubtedly one of the strangest horror sequels ever made; it’s essentially the same flick as Dan O’Bannon’s original, but all the details have been garbled, like a game of zombie telephone. Two of the actors, James Karen and Thom Matthews, even show up in very similar roles, re-enacting some of the same jokes to much lesser effect. Don Calfa — arguably the best part of the 1985 flick — auditioned for a remixed version of his mortician from the first film, but lost out for some very poor reason.

Part II is mostly doing a pretty paltry impersonation of its talented older sibling, and its misses are most obvious when it’s explicitly trying to hit the same beats: Matthews and Karen spending 30 minutes wailing in the agony of a trioxin transformation, which is somehow even more annoying here; its second-generation xerox synth score and hard-rock soundtrack; the wonky re-imagining of the beloved Tarman. Perhaps Part II’s biggest fuck-up boils down to trying to play off the same character archetypes in O’Bannon’s version without his snappy script to make it all work. No one’s as funny as they’re meant to be and our scuzzy, sarcastic, sometimes-naked punk rockers have been replaced by some milquetoast kids in a poorly conceived experiment to Amblin-up this thing.

The opening paragraphs here make it seem like I hate Return of the Living Dead Part II, and that’s really not the case. This movie is doing some stuff real right in my (probably impaired) eyes. I actually find its lighter, less cynical tone a welcome contrast to the original, particularly when you pair them during your obligatory July 3 ROTLD rewatch. Its plot, though seemingly identical from 10,000 feet, is more lively, likely because writer/director Ken Wiederhorn moves the action to a few different locales, instead of isolating everything to the same city block. Although some of its effects gags are recreations of shenanigans from part I, there’s an extended reliance on puppetry that infuses a cartoony charm. It unapologetically slathers on the doofy camp, which was definitely the right call. Wiederhorn’s film is pretty dang atmospheric, too, thanks to a wealth of misty and moss-strewn graveyards, a dank mausoleum, and hand-constructed sets whose artifice reinforces the compelling aesthetic. Cinematographer Robert Elswit is doing some heroic work. The poster/box art is fucking awesome. Ken Wiederhorn made Shock Waves, which is pretty, pretty cool.

It’s obvious Part II is nowhere near as good as its predecessor. But does that mean it’s bad? Sorta. But it’s also pretty fun, especially if you can train your brain to process it as a silly, curious companion piece instead of a legitimate attempt to remake or continue the story from the 1985 film. Let them both have a spot in separate compartments of your horror fandom and you’ll find they can peacefully, even delightfully coexist.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10