Following an outbreak, a military convoy transports several barrels of Trioxin only for one of the barrels to fall into a ravine near a suburban housing development. The barrel is discovered by young Jesse Wilson (Michael Kenworthy) following an altercation with two neighborhood bullies who eventually open the barrel exposing themselves to the contents as well as a nearby cemetery where graverobbers Ed (James Karen) and Joey (Thom Mathews) are working. While Jesse tries to tell his sister Lucy (Marsha Dietlein) of what's going on she doesn't believe him until an outbreak of living dead swarms the neighborhood.
Following the success of The Return of the Living Dead, producer Tom Fox decided to personally finance a sequel believing it to be a sure investment as his previous two horror films Blue Monkey and Dark Tower failed to match the success of The Return of the Living Dead. Fox hired director and writer Ken Wiederhorn after circumstances prevented him from directing Dark Tower with Wiederhorn only accepting on the condition that the film play up the humor introduced in the original film rather than straight horror as Fox had initially wanted. While Fox envisioned the film as the first entry in a long running horror franchise in the vein of Friday the 13th, Return of the Living Dead Part II didn't match the financial or critical success of its predecessor with most reviews skewing negative and only earning $9.2 million against a $6 million budget. Pretty much everything on display in Return of the Living Dead Part II is a revisit to what was done in the first one, only with the edges filed down and a considerably more farcical tone this time out.
Despite being called "Part II", there's little connective tissue to the first film whose darkly comic implied apocalyptic ending is pretty much ignored for the sake of this sequel being able to exist. While some have stated the film's opening is in reference to the events in the first film, it really doesn't make sense from a continuity perspective as it requires a complete misunderstanding of the events of the first film. The movie even makes a joke of the blatant similarity by casting James Karen and Thom Mathews in roles that while differently named pretty much serve the same purpose with Thom's character even mentioning feeling a sense of déjà vu, but that leads to the underlying issue in that nobody seems to be taking the situation seriously which in turn makes the film less funny. While I was initially interested in the setup of a child protagonist in a zombie film, Jesse is not well written at all with a lot of his decisions lacking sense especially in relation to two characters who seem to be bullies but he goes out of his way to be with because the movie needs him to. When you compare Jesse to similar characters seen in Lady in White, Phantasm, The Gate, or The Stuff the movie just handles the character in a manner where he's inconsistent as well as making some dumb decisions because the movie needs him to.
But it's not like Jesse's the only issue at play as pretty much every character feels massively divorced from logical decision making. While the characters in the first film weren't exactly the best and the brightest, they did exhibit behavior that you could reasonably believe from those kinds of people in that kind of situation and the fact they treated the situation seriously created comic friction with the more outlandish elements. With Part II, every character acts like they're aware they're in a comedy especially a character named Doc played by Phil Bruns whose performance feels like something Ed Wynn would be doing in a 60s Disney film.
Return of the Living Dead Part II isn't offensively awful or poorly made, but it is a disappointment in comparison to its entertaining predecessor. It's a movie that exists because the first one made money with no motivation beyond that point. Just watch the first one as it's pretty much the same film only better and made for less money.
Following the success of The Return of the Living Dead, producer Tom Fox decided to personally finance a sequel believing it to be a sure investment as his previous two horror films Blue Monkey and Dark Tower failed to match the success of The Return of the Living Dead. Fox hired director and writer Ken Wiederhorn after circumstances prevented him from directing Dark Tower with Wiederhorn only accepting on the condition that the film play up the humor introduced in the original film rather than straight horror as Fox had initially wanted. While Fox envisioned the film as the first entry in a long running horror franchise in the vein of Friday the 13th, Return of the Living Dead Part II didn't match the financial or critical success of its predecessor with most reviews skewing negative and only earning $9.2 million against a $6 million budget. Pretty much everything on display in Return of the Living Dead Part II is a revisit to what was done in the first one, only with the edges filed down and a considerably more farcical tone this time out.
Despite being called "Part II", there's little connective tissue to the first film whose darkly comic implied apocalyptic ending is pretty much ignored for the sake of this sequel being able to exist. While some have stated the film's opening is in reference to the events in the first film, it really doesn't make sense from a continuity perspective as it requires a complete misunderstanding of the events of the first film. The movie even makes a joke of the blatant similarity by casting James Karen and Thom Mathews in roles that while differently named pretty much serve the same purpose with Thom's character even mentioning feeling a sense of déjà vu, but that leads to the underlying issue in that nobody seems to be taking the situation seriously which in turn makes the film less funny. While I was initially interested in the setup of a child protagonist in a zombie film, Jesse is not well written at all with a lot of his decisions lacking sense especially in relation to two characters who seem to be bullies but he goes out of his way to be with because the movie needs him to. When you compare Jesse to similar characters seen in Lady in White, Phantasm, The Gate, or The Stuff the movie just handles the character in a manner where he's inconsistent as well as making some dumb decisions because the movie needs him to.
But it's not like Jesse's the only issue at play as pretty much every character feels massively divorced from logical decision making. While the characters in the first film weren't exactly the best and the brightest, they did exhibit behavior that you could reasonably believe from those kinds of people in that kind of situation and the fact they treated the situation seriously created comic friction with the more outlandish elements. With Part II, every character acts like they're aware they're in a comedy especially a character named Doc played by Phil Bruns whose performance feels like something Ed Wynn would be doing in a 60s Disney film.
Return of the Living Dead Part II isn't offensively awful or poorly made, but it is a disappointment in comparison to its entertaining predecessor. It's a movie that exists because the first one made money with no motivation beyond that point. Just watch the first one as it's pretty much the same film only better and made for less money.