Horror Sequel Posters and the Living Dead

The Return of the Living Dead Part II (two stars total) My most memorable Halloween, probably the last one that I went trick-or-treating, I was allowed to stay up late watching what must have been an edited-for-broadcast-TV version of Return of the Living Dead (1985). At the time I figured I was seeing the original, the cult classic, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968), but I wasn't even seeing its first sequel, Dawn of the Dead (1978) or the one released the same year, Day of the Dead (1985). Recently I rewatched Return of the Living Dead, and it was so awful I began to wonder if it was really the same movie I had enjoyed as a kid. Then last week I was walking down the horror aisle in Blockbuster Video when I saw the cover artwork for Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) and it was like déjà vu. All of a sudden I was a little kid again, staring at horror movie posters and wishing I didn't have to wait till I was older to see them. There were five that I remember as the most intriguing/repulsive and they were all sequels in totally '80s horror movie series: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987), House II: The Second Story (1987), and in all its painted glory, Return of the Living Dead Part II. Was this the movie I actually saw all those Halloweens ago? It turns out that no, it was definitely the first Return that I saw, because I remember the characters gathering in a cemetery at night and the only cemetery scenes in Part II take place during the day. Sentimentality aside though, Part II easily beats its predecessor. The hero is a kid who reads comic books and sneaks out of the house at night. His older sister wears neon spandex and hooks up with the cable TV repairman. The villain is the neighborhood bully who becomes a zombie. It even has an homage to Michael Jackson's Thriller (1984) music video. It will never be a cult classic though. Unlike Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978) or The Toxic Avenger (1984), the movie just isn't bad enough to be good. But people who think that the concept of "fast" zombies started with 28 Days Later (2002) should be required to watch this.