August of 1985 saw the release of one of the great zombie movies of all time. And we’re not talking about George Romero’s Day of the Dead, though some will argue that particular sequel deserves to be in the conversation. We’re talking about Dan O’Bannon’s punk-rock horror-comedy The Return of the Living Dead, which introduced the world to speedy, brain-craving zombies – who also have a thing or two to say when they’re feeling chatty. The movie was by no means a blockbuster, but it did very respectable business, making around $30 million worldwide off of a budget in the low single digits. Naturally, a follow-up would be necessary in the eyes of that film’s producer Tom Fox, who assumed the Living Dead title was due for the franchise treatment in the vein of Friday the 13th. It would take three years, but we did eventually get a new Return of the Living Dead, which brought along some old faces to mix in with the new. But living up to the greatness of the first film would be no easy feat. And, as it would turn out, this movie was much more of a slog to make than its predecessor. If you’re ready to party one more time, grab a bowl of brains and find out WTF Happened to Return of the Living Dead Part II.
As mentioned, Tom Fox was eager to capitalize off the success of the first Return of the Living Dead – which was a hit overseas, especially in Japan. He decided to finance the sequel himself, figuring he couldn’t miss if the budget was under $10 million and he hired the right people to bring the dead to life. Original writer-director Dan O’Bannon was not interested in coming back to this world, but gave his blessing for a sequel to be made without him, so Fox would have to seek out new blood. Oddly enough, two of the original film’s stars – Don Calfa and James Karen – had taken it upon themselves to write their own screenplays for the sequel. Sadly for them, Fox wasn’t interested in either of their takes.
Around this time, a fellow named Ken Wiederhorn was attempting to break out of a rut. He’d been struggling with the label of “horror film director” after making two moderately successful thrillers: 1977’s Nazi zombie nightmare Shock Waves and the 1981 slasher Eyes of a Stranger. His most recent film at the time had been Meatballs 2, though it was filmed under a different title and turned into a Meatballs movie by the distributor. Ken was taking a writing class hoping to up his screenwriting game under the tutelage of the legendary screenwriting professor Robert McKee. Though he was trying to get away from horror films, Wiederhorn ended up writing a comedic script that featured zombies; soon after he was finished, the script ended up on Tom Fox’s desk. Fox saw an opportunity to take Wiederhorn’s original script, change a few things around and turn it into a “Return of the Living Dead” sequel. Though he was supposedly not even impressed by his own script, Wiederhorn agreed to direct under the stipulation that the movie lean more on the comedy side of things. Fox agreed because part of the first movie’s charm was its morbid sense of humor, so he allowed his new director to go a little broader with the humor.
Ken’s vision for the film was so far left of horror that he even referred to his new movie as being the Police Academy of horror movies. That could have been one of the first signs that things were not going to work out quite as well as they did with the first film.
While the film wouldn’t exactly be a direct sequel to the first film, Ken wanted it to have some connective tissue to it, so he suggested bringing back a large chunk of the original’s cast. James Karen, despite not having his script agreed to, was down to return because he was friends with Tom Fox. Karen didn’t much like the new script, but figured collaborating with the same cast from the first film would make this a fun experience.
Thom Matthews was less enthused about returning; in fact, he told Fangoria in an interview for Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI that if there were to be a Return of the Living Dead sequel, he wouldn’t be a part of it. Eventually, Matthews agreed to take part in it because, unlike some of the other participants, he warmed to the idea of making it a more humorous affair. Additionally, he and James Karen had struck up a genuine friendship on the first one, and the opportunity to do their schtick again appealed to both of them. But the plan to bring back the rest of the original cast fell through. Beverly Randolph, who played final girl Tina in the first one, was under the impression she was going to be asked back for the sequel, but was surprised to see it announced in the trades without so much as a phone call. Similarly, Don Calfa, who portrayed Ernie the mortician in the original, had to audition for a role in the sequel – and didn’t get it. Clu Gulager, who played Burt in the first one, was never going to be asked back because he didn’t get along with anyone on the set the first time around.
The sequel was given a budget of 6.2 million dollars, more money than they had for the O’Bannon picture. Returning to do the make-up effects would be Kenny Myers, who worked on the first Living Dead under strenuous conditions because he had to replace the original artist hired. While Myers wasn’t in love with the new script either, thinking it too silly, he appreciated that he had more time and money to work with, and eventually employed up to 30 make-up artists to work on the copious amounts of zombies – most of which were portrayed by Los Angeles locals. There would be about 6 main zombie actors, including Brian Peck who featured in the first film, and these performers played multiple ghouls throughout the picture in an effort to save money on cast.
Also not a fan of the sequel’s screenplay – boy these are really piling up aren’t they? – was the first film’s production designer William Stout. He detested the script so much that not only did he refuse to be a part of it, but he banned the film from using any of his original designs – including the infamous Tar Man, who would return for a cameo in the sequel. The Tar Man would be played once again by actor Allan Trautman , although the design was significantly changed as to not replicate the one we all know and love.
Return of the Living Dead Part II was not an easy movie to make. Things got off to a rocky start when producer Tom Fox casually announced in an interview with Variety that the movie was going to be a non-union show, which naturally led to picketing outside of the filming locations from pissed off union members, disrupting shooting for days. Though that was eventually sorted out, the movie was further plagued by bad weather: they were shooting in the winter, so even in L.A. it got cold at night, and to add insult to injury it was unusually rainy and windy, making conditions rather uncomfortable for all involved.
Things were so bad for a while that Wiederhorn joked to Fangoria that he regretted writing “night exterior” at the beginning of every scene heading, and if you listen to the audio commentary he admits he couldn’t wait for the production to end. Furthermore, he ultimately felt he couldn’t get along with the actors because he was too immersed in the film’s effects, not to mention the time constraints they were all under.
Further complicating matters was the fact that one of the film’s leads was a 12-year-old kid. Michael Kenworthy, who was cast in the role of Jesse after a nationwide search for the actor, was only allowed to film for four hours a day because of child labor rules. Since he’s in a large bulk of the movie, the filmmakers had to rush to shoot all of his scenes at the beginning of the night before he had to leave at around 10pm. This made scheduling the film difficult, and because he was somewhat new to the business, Kenworthy supposedly had trouble hitting his marks and following direction, which put them behind schedule even more.
In short: the actors were not having a good time. In a documentary made years later, Don Calfa related that he’d receive phone calls from both James Karen and Thom Matthews telling him he’d been lucky to miss out on the sequel, that they were miserable and unsatisfied with what they were making. What became clear to many people on set was that their director had an almost dismissive attitude toward his own material and the horror genre as a whole. A rift grew between the director and his cast as his ambivalence rubbed people the wrong way. Thom Matthews would quip years later that his favorite part of making Part 2 was the Craft Service table, which was supposedly one of the only improvements the sequel offered.
Wiederhorn eventually fell out briefly with his producer too. Without the director’s knowledge, Tom Fox had gone ahead and hired a composer to score the movie. Once Wiederhorn found out and heard the score, he refused to use it and phoned the production company, Lorimar Pictures, in an effort to persuade them to tell Fox the score was unusable. The head of the studio agreed, and Wiederhorn was able to throw out the unwanted music and bring aboard his own composer.
After post-production, Lorimar Pictures tested the film quite a bit, supposedly in an effort to find out just how to market it. Return of the Living Dead Part II was their first horror movie, and the company was unsure how to sell their slapstick-y zombie comedy to the public. Perhaps surprisingly to some of its detractors, the film supposedly tested fairly well; actually better than Wiederhorn thought it would. Opting to sell it to the loyal horror crowd, Lorimar’s trailers downplayed the comedy in favor of making the movie look like a straight-forward zombie thriller, deceptive marketing at its finest. If nothing else, the movie’s poster is still memorably chilling, if not a little reminiscent of the poster for Fright Night, which came out three years earlier.
Return of the Living Dead Part II was released on January 15th, 1988. It opened in fifth place with $3 million, on its way to an early grave to the tune of $9 million domestic. Tom Fox was not going to have his version of the Friday the 13th franchise after all, and he eventually sold the Living Dead rights to to Trimark, which would go on to make a third film in the series five years later, although that one jettisoned the comedy and familiar faces altogether for a darker, scarier zombie tale.
Return of the Living Dead Part II isn’t close to being in the same league as its predecessor, but it does have its champions; people who appreciate its goofy hijinks and the tenuous homages to the first film. If nothing else, some of us have a lingering sense of nostalgia for it because of its generous presence on cable TV back in the late 80s and early 90s, and one has to admit that the actors look like they’re having fun, even if they really weren’t. It’ll never be mistaken for a masterpiece, but its lack of brains might just be what keeps us talking about it to this day.
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