Return of the Living Dead, Part 2, (1988)

Get ready to open a fresh can.

    The brain-hungry undead are back in an almost carbon-copy remake/sequel of the first Return, right down to the James Karen/Thom Matthews alive-but-dying duo! 

     As a blatant copy, it lacks originality. Its most obvious defect, however, is its characters. Awful, awful people. And always yelling! (Drinking game idea: do a shot every time someone shouts "What's going on?" or "We gotta get outta here!" This certainly will make the movie more enjoyable, anyways!) Every character was annoying and unlikeable, and NOT in a good way like the crew of misfits from Return, Part 1! (Except Philip Brun's 'Dr. Mandel.' Him, I liked. Go figure.)

     So, no points for originality, even though the movie did introduce electricity as a way to kill the living dead, where previously, nothing did, short of total cremation. (True, on a logical level, electricity to kill the living dead makes no sense, but really? Let's not draw that line here. Just accept it for the movies sake. It has enough going against it already!)

     Horror factors take a back seat, and scary scenes are again compromised but the insertion of a pop/punk soundtrack, (yet another carry-over from Part 1!) My mute button helped bring back some creepy!

     Production, acting, pacing, SPFX, and some more decent-looking zombies flipped the right switches on the Zombie Movie Rubric, to bring in a GENEROUS 2.5 out of a possible 4.0.

     YouTube has the official movie trailer here: RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, PART 2  

And very cool poster art.