Nightingale (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and lieutenant Ellis (Ed Quinn), with a special force leaded by lieutenant Dalton (Sticky Fingaz), trying to get the zero sample from the first generation zombie. There is an outbreak of zombies in the campus, and the government sends a NSA medical research team, formed by Dr. In Guesta Verde University, the deranged Professor Curien (Sid Haig) is trying to bring back the dead, killing students for the experiment. All in all, a huge improvement on the first film even if it is still rather lacking. The zombies are a clear improvement also, actually showing some menace. The acting is also better than average generally, Emmanuelle Vaugher and Ed Quinn are likable leads and James Park is appropriately dignified. The downbeat ending is a welcome touch and there are some witty quips in the script which brings some bright flashes amongst the general banality. The music doesn't have much standing out but is not as over-bearing and doesn't feel like an excuse to incorporate some scares into what feels like one rambling, long music video(the first film felt like that). On the plus side, the scenery and lighting are much more atmospheric and this film is much better edited.

True it is not perfect, Sticky Fingaz never really convinced me often overplaying his part(though his death scene is hilarious), the story doesn't have any huge surprises and is lacking in scares and tension often coming across as overly-silly, the script while having the odd witty spot is banal, the characters are stereotypical and while nowhere near as annoying as those of the first one are still not very easy to warm to and Michael Hurst's direction while infinitely better than Uwe Boll's(then again any director is better than Boll) does have one too many moments where it is pedestrian. I was expecting the sequel to be even worse, but actually while not great it is much better. That is saying a lot as the first House of the Dead was absolutely abysmal in every way.

House of the dead 2 2005