House of the Dead II: Dead Aim (DVD)

In case you're still smarting from viewing the first House of the Dead movie (which I actually thought was so bad it was good), don't worry: House of the Dead II: Dead Aim is pretty much a sequel in name only.

Directed by Mike Hurst (whose previous credits include the screenplay for Mansquito) and written by Michael Roesch (Alone in the Dark), the movie doesn't exactly boast a pedigree that screams "Oscar bait", but for fans of Romero-styled zombie movies — with a dash of Resident Evil thrown in — House of the Dead II is your cup of meat.

The movie starts off with a much-appreciated cameo by the always-welcome Sid Haig as a scientist who's trapped a Patient-Zero zombie and is trying to extract her biological secrets. Of course, he winds up being bitten and, leaving her locked inside the lab, goes out into the world to continue her dirty work. Before long, the college town is peopled with zombies.

Enter: the good guys who come to the rescue, guns blazing and boobs bouncing. Yeah, there are a couple of guys on the military team, but they're cardboard cutouts compared to the busty lingerie models passing for actresses here. Actually, one of the actresses is the real deal; Emmanuelle Vaugier recently starred in Saw 2 without showing her goodies. She and her counterpart, Ed Quinn, play their parts passably, but everyone else is pretty rough. Perhaps part of the problem is the fact that it's impossible to believe that any of these wankers actually made it through boot camp, let alone into an elite special force. Then again, we are supposed to believe that zombie coeds are wandering the earth… so, never mind.

We don't see zombie movies for the acting or the realism, do we? We go for the zombie gore, and for the guys it's the zombie gore and the female nudity. The latter does nothing for me personally, but if you're into that sort of thing you will get plenty. There's also a plethora of gore in the form of biting, shotgun blasts, a bare-handed gut-rooting, and so much more. What really puts it a cut above the rest are the excellent makeups by Robert Hall and his crew at Almost Human F/X. The movie might be schlock, but at least it's good-looking B-schlock.

If you're not looking for much beyond action, violence and gore, then House of the Dead II is worth a look.  The gore is plentiful, but it's not gratuitous. The bites are brutal and stringy, and the headshots are violent and chunky. There are some strange, random set pieces (a zombie football game, for one) which many viewers will find amusing.

If, however, you'd also like good dialogue, decent acting and moments of real horror and suspense, you might be disappointed. The script isn't exactly geared toward satisfying the rocket scientists in the audience (apparently, you can get infected by a toothy nip or the prick of a pin, but you can practically bathe in zombie blood and not be affected), nor is it the second coming of Shaun of the Dead in the yuk department. In fact, the movie is rather an uneasy mix of drama and comedy — but not overly uneasy; the movie is definitely not bad. It's just kind of generic.

Special Features:

- Deleted Scenes

- Making-of featurette

- Audio commentary with Mark A. Altman and Mike Hurst

- Trailer gallery

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson