C.H.U.D. II
It's no C.H.U.D. I
Sample dialogue: "Steve, you have a live dead guy lying in your bathroom!" If this doesn't give you an idea of the sophistication level of this movie, there's no way I can spell it out for you.
Two bumbling high school students manage to lose their teacher's dead body (that is, the body their teacher?s going to show them in class), so they go to the local Center for Disease Control and help themselves to a replacement. Unfortunately for them, the one they pick is a frozen, un-re-animated C.H.U.D., basically, a zombie (rather different than the creatures we were given in the first film). They leave him in the bathtub, but accidentally drop in a hairdryer (just why this guy was standing there with an activated hairdryer at all, I don't know), and next thing you know, Bud The C.H.U.D. is on the move.
Bud (played by Gerrit Graham) is used entirely for comedy here - hell, the whole movie's comedy, but Bud's the star as he leads his ever-increasing army of C.H.U.D. to their ultimate destination at the high school dance, where they...dance. (no kidding) Brian Robbins plays one of the teens, sporting a creepy, chimpanzee-like grin, basically playing the same role he did in that Head Of The Class show (that is, the "cool" guy). Robert Vaughan's also here as a riding crop-wielding army Colonel, as well as June Lockhart, Bianca Jagger, Norman Fell, Larry "The Snakeman from Dreamscape" Cedar, Rich Hall, Clive "The Emperor from The Empire Strikes Back" Revill"...man, you can hear their stomachs rumbling.
Maybe the filmmakers took the easy way out by making this sequel such overt comedy with nary a dash of horror, but I admire the tenacity with which they stuck to that goal. Most attempts at a more comedic sequel would be just more comedic, with gore and usually clumsy attempts at scares. This one goes all the way in its chosen direction. It doesn't go all the way very well, but there?s an effort here.
The script actually introduces words like "C.H.U.D.-ified" and "C.H.U.D.-ism"; and you've gotta love that scene where a mailman is dragged away by a C.H.U.D.-ified poodle. I also liked a foxy Tricia Leigh Fisher (half-sister of Carrie, sister of Joely) as the students' friend along for the ride, and Vaughan gets some funny moments (like when he puts in a request for massive armament and reinforcement to combat the C.H.U.D. plague, and adds "...and don't tell the President. He wouldn't understand anyway.", or when he blows up a truck with one shot from a pistol). We get to see a C.H.U.D. with a flaming bunsen burner punched through his head. And some severed-head gags never get old, like the guy who plays soccer with...you guessed it.
Still, I'd be lying if I said there was anything fresh or original here. The original C.H.U.D. was pretty fun and gave rise to one of my all-time biggest laughs during a Simpsons episode. This, I doubt I'll remember a frame of it when I get up in the morning (well, afternoon, now. There's no way I'm going to bed til sunup. Grumble grumble...fucking Blair Witch Project.).
The IMDb insists that there's an uncredited cameo from Robert Englund in here, but I didn't spot him. The script is credited to "M. Kane Jeeves", apparently a one-time pseudonym for W.C. Fields (it's probably a safe bet that Fields himself didn't write this one).
Only about an hour or so of dark left. I'll be okay. Just give me some daylight.