As any sequel worth its salt should, Zombie Bloodbath 2 knocks things up a few notches. Longer runtime by 20 minutes, more plot and a considerable added dollop of human depravity to the mix, it all comes together to make for a solidly watchable rock bottom trash opus. Interestingly it seems to take place in a different continuum to the first film, making it less a sequel than a different vision. This time around the zombies have demonic inspiration, they rise as the result of blood spilled upon unholy ground. Three slimy escaped convicts hole up with various hostages in a farmhouse whilst at the same time two even slimier crooks terrorise the staff of an all night gas station, events build and build until both parties must face an onslaught of gut hungry zombies. Its a good decision to take the focus away from the zombies for a good portion of the films length, it means instead of repetitive intestine chewing from near the outset there's actually some vague sense of character and even suspense. Well actually there isn't much sense of character or suspense, but some of the events are surprising/interesting, the dialogue is often fun (read hysterical) and one or two actors really bring their A (read Z, but in the best possible way) game. The trumps are definitely awesomely mulleted Jerry Angel and Matthew Jason Walsh as the two truly nasty crims, all nervous energy, wild expressions and continual jabbering taunts, they give a great charge to their scenes. Harry Rose carries himself with a decent gruff authority as a US Marshall as well, while the rest of the cast do their best, all generally enthusiastic enough to please. The zombies in this one are pretty variable, at first they appear made up with even less care than the original but as the film goes on they do improve with some OK gory wounds. I wasn't too convinced by the first attacking wave being decked out in things like a UCLA hoodie or Lakers gear though, didn't really support the idea of their being menacing long undead fiends. Gore is about what one would expect, lots of entrails, lots of red gloop, a few shootings, stabbings etc and some entertaining spectacle in the finale (definitely one of the high points of the trilogy). It was spoilt at times by use of black and white, slow motion, out of focus shots and crudely edited Satanic imagery though, a no frills approach would have been much better. Pretty standard blaring generic death metal on the soundtrack, mediocre but bringing the right sort of mood. I can't exactly say that this is a good film on the whole, but its a good ride for what it is. If you like micro-budget, pretty much amateur splatter trash then its definitely worth a watch, if you don't its definitely one to avoid. 7/10 from me as I like this sort of thing
