Return of the Living Dead Part 2: Collectors Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Return of the Living Dead Part 2: Collectors Edition

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
“Brains make the pain go away!”

Ahh, Return of the Living Dead. I remember being absolutely terrified of the brain munching zombies back in my childhood days due to the fact that Return of the Living Dead was one of the first movies to feature zombies with some sense of intelligence and manipulation in their effort to eradicate humanity by gulping down their gray matter. It’s a bonafide classic in its own right, and a fun movie to boot. Scream Factory redid MGM’s already good Blu-ray with a stellar collections edition, and Lionsgate actually released Return of the Living Dead Part 3 on Blu-ray through their “Vestron Video” line of movies. This mean that the 1988 sequel to the first movie was left out in the cold and us collector’s had to make due with the old DVD set. Well, luckily Scream has gone back and given the much maligned 1988 sequel a brand new rescan from the Interpositive and packed it to the gills with special features. It may not be a great movie, but Return of the Living Dead Part 2 is a campy romp that’s so bad that it’s hilariously awesome.

As is common with the Return of the Living Dead franchise, we open up the film with a military transport truck transporting mysterious barrels through a brand new housing development. A couple of the barrels fall off the track and vanish into a drain tunnel where it is discovered by a group of young boys. Unaware of the evil government experiment trapped within, the boys mess around with it and open the sealed container up, unleashing the infamous green vapor that will turn humans into zombies, and raise the dead from their graves. Terrified and running, a group of humans have to band together and hopefully make it out of their little town before the zombies eat them, or the military shoots them as a way to cover up their role in the outbreak.

Return of the Living Dead is a classic film and one that revitalized the dying zombie genre during the 1980s. It is lovingly called a “punk rock zombie movie”, and reveled in blending comedy, horror, gore and suspense all together in a fun movie. It was also one of the first films to portray zombies as being more than just mindless. They spoke (“bring more...paramedics!”, used their wits to trap human victims, and it was astonishingly gory for the time period. The 1988 sequel (3 years after the original) wasn’t able to capture that punk rock vibe that the original had, instead using the same premise of undead monsters arising from the green vapor and sitting them right in the middle of an urban environment. The film also amped up the comedy factor to high camp level, adding musical cues and physical comedy that made it almost seem like we were in a Three Stooges comedy special at times.

There is also the fact that this sequel tends to wander and meander around a bit as well. The zombies are just dropped in the housing development and we’re left watching them wander around munching people randomly. There doesn’t seem to be nearly as much tension or character development in Part 2 either. We get to see the escape from three different points of view with a guy and his gal, a little kid and his sister, as well as an old man. But at the end of the day none of them are really fully developed and are more comfortable saying one liners while stabbing zombies. If I had to give acting props to anyone it is veteran actor James Karen (who was also in Scream Factory’s release of Unborn which was reviewed a few days ago), who hams it up as the panicked cemetery groundskeeper.

The high level of camp and cheese save the movie from being a really bad movie. Or I should say, saves it from being an unenjoyable movie, as Return of the Living Dead Part 2 IS in fact a very bad movie. It’s just that the camp and cheese make it one of those “so bad it’s awesome” type of movies. While I may not exactly think it’s the best movie on earth, I will admit that Return of the Living Dead Part 2 is definitely better than the 3rd film, and head and shoulders above the 4th and 5th movies. It’s a fun, cheesy, campy romp that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is loads of fun to watch.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




Video:

Scream Factory has gone back to the interpositive to do a brand new 2K scan, and the film itself looks gorgeous in this collectors edition. My old DVD NEVER looked even remotely this good, and the organic feeling of the 1980s filming style comes through with near perfection. Details are strong throughout the film, and while it has a mildly soft and hazy look that has been with the film through every home video release I’ve ever seen (I would venture to say that’s just how the film was shot), the details and clarity are incredible. You can see bits of brain matter hitting the pavement in the end chase, as well as all the little bits of gooey makeup and prosthetics that were obviously used for the film. Some of the effects (like the electricity) looks a bit cheesy and dated on high def, but the blacks are strong and the contrast levels even, making this one of the better 80s restorations Scream Factory has done recently.





Audio:

It looks like the new audio mix for the film has given the track back it’s original score and musical numbers (something that had been hinky for several of the DVD releases). Not only is the 2.0 DTS-HD MA track included, but Scream Factory has included the alternate audio mix from the DVD as well in 192 kbps 2.0 Dolby Digital (the one with the voice over at the beginning). The new 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix is solid, but it’s not going to bowl anyone over. The track is a bit thin and doesn’t have much dynamics to it. However, it is very stable and I couldn’t detect any recording issues or volume fluctuations at all. The dialog is precise and clean, giving us crisp vocals and a good balance between it and the score.






Extras:

• NEW 2K scans from the interpositive
• NEW Audio Commentary with actress Suzanne Snyder
• NEW Audio Commentary with Gary Smart (co-author of The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead) and filmmaker Christopher Griffiths
• NEW Back to the Dead: The Effects of “Return of the Living Dead Part II” – including interviews with Special Make-up Effects creator Kenny Myers and Special Make-up Effects artists Andy Schoneberg and Mike Smithson
• NEW The Laughing Dead - a new interview with writer/director Ken Wiederhorn
• NEW Undead Melodies – an interview with composer J. Peter Robinson
• NEW interview with actor Troy Fromin
• Audio Commentary with writer/director Ken Wiederhorn and co-star Thor Van Lingen
• They Won’t Stay Dead: A Look at RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD II including interviews with James Karen, Thom Matthews, Brian Peck, Kenny Myers, Susan Snyder, Michael Kenworthy and more…
• Archival Featurette – Live from the Set
• Archival interviews with Ken Wiederhorn, James Karen, Thom Matthews and Kenny Myers
• Behind the Scenes footage
• Theatrical Trailer and Teaser Trailer
• TV Spots
• Still Gallery of posters and stills
• Still Gallery of Behind-the-Scenes stills from Makeup Effects artists Kenny Myers and Mike Smithson

Final Score: ​

Return of the Living Dead Part 2 is a bad movie, a bad sequel, and a really bad production (some of the behind the scenes featurettes mention a lot of issues in production), but it is hilariously awesome to watch. It keeps the gore and humor of the first one, but amps it all up to level 11 and just revels in the gloriously awful results. Not to mention the fact that Scream Factory has decked this release out to the make. The video is a great looking transfer, and the extras are some of the most feature packed that I’ve seen in their lineup. It’s not often I give a 5/5 rating for extras, but this one truly deserves it as the thing is just packed to the gills. The new artwork blends in with the new artwork for the first film and I really appreciate the snazzy slipcover (which is usually only reserved for first pressings, so first come, first served on that aspect). The movie itself is a bit of goofball watch so I have to balance the fun factor with the objective awfulness of the film. Thus the 3.5/5 rating. Recommended as a fun gory watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: James Karen, Thorn Matthews, Michael Kenworthy
Directed by: Ken Wiederhorn
Written by: Ken Wiederhorn
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 89 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 14th, 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I can't remember this one but will try and check it out.