Return of the Living Dead: Part II | January 15, 1988
"Return of the Living Dead Part II" is a 1988 American comedy horror film directed and written by Ken Wiederhorn. The film stars Michael Kenworthy, Marsha Dietlein, Dana Ashbrook, Thom Mathews, James Karen, and Phil Bruns. It is the first of four sequels to "The Return of the Living Dead."
Released on January 15, 1988, by Lorimar Motion Pictures, the film earned over $9 million at the U.S. box office against a production budget of $6.2 million, achieving modest box office success.
Set after the events of the first film, the story begins with a U.S. military truck transporting barrels of Trioxin. One barrel falls into a river and leaks. The next day, teenage delinquents Johnny and Billy bring Jesse Wilson to their club’s initiation ceremony at a monument. Scared, Jesse flees to a nearby drainage ditch where the group discovers the fallen barrel. Opening the barrel, they find a corpse, and the toxic gas starts leaking out, causing them to scream and run away. Jesse suggests calling the military using the phone number on the barrel, but the delinquents leave him behind and lock him in the abandoned monument.
Billy and Johnny return to the barrel, opening it and causing Trioxin gas to spread across the cemetery. Grave robbers Ed and Joey, along with Joey's girlfriend Brenda, arrive at the cemetery. Brenda stays in the van while Ed and Joey open the monument and start looting it. Taking advantage of the distraction, Jesse escapes to his home. At home, Jesse is ordered by his sister Lucy to do his homework, but he sneaks out when cable repairman Tom arrives. Jesse goes to Billy’s house but finds Billy ill from Trioxin exposure, who warns him not to tell anyone. Jesse investigates the barrel again in the sewer and witnesses tar-covered zombies before fleeing to the cemetery, where newly resurrected corpses begin emerging from their graves. Ed and Joey witness the corpses coming back to life at the monument, and Joey kills one with a wrench before fleeing.
Jesse returns home and tries to tell Lucy about the zombie attack, but she ignores him and locks him in his room. Jesse sets a fire to create smoke, drawing Lucy's attention so he can escape. He calls the military and connects with Colonel Glover, but the call is cut off. Ed, Joey, and Brenda steal Tom’s van but can't get through the zombie horde and rush to Jesse’s house. Joey starts showing symptoms of Trioxin exposure. As zombies approach the house, the survivors look for a way to escape. They break into a doctor’s house, persuade him to use his car, and head to a seemingly deserted hospital.
At Billy’s house, Billy’s father is attacked and eaten by zombies, and Billy, now fully zombified, attacks his mother. Meanwhile, Tom, Lucy, and Jesse drive through the desolate town to Grandpa’s house and arm themselves. They return to the hospital where Ed and Joey suffer from rigor mortis. Jesse is attacked by zombies who have been shot multiple times, but the group escapes in a vehicle and encounters a military unit. Fully zombified Ed attacks and kills one of the soldiers, causing the remaining troops to flee. Brenda tries to escape with Joey but is attacked and eaten by him.
While fleeing, they steal an ambulance and reach a roadblock where the military mistakenly fires at them, believing them to be zombies. Realizing the entire town has been evacuated, Tom leads them to a meat processing plant, where they plan to lure zombies by distributing brains. They aim to draw the zombies to the power plant, and although Billy opens the gate, he gets trapped inside by the zombies. Jesse activates the power at the plant, electrocuting all the zombies. Billy tries to kill Jesse but is pushed into a transformer and killed. Colonel Glover and his unit arrive, take control of the situation, and evacuate the survivors.
