Alright, well I will start off by saying this movie is a much needed movie to save the reputation of the "House of the Dead" games after the first movie that came out so savagely torn it apart. This second installment is so much better than the first one, that after having seen this one, you wish you never laid eyes on the first one, or at least don't want to openly admit to having seen the first one.The storyline in "House of the Dead 2" is simple and easy to follow, and has much more depth and meat (no pun intended) than the first movie. And already here, this movie is on a better course than the first one. Of course, it is not brain-warping material, but still, the storyline and plot were well enough thought out and entertaining.The characters in the movie were also given a bit more depth and time to develop than the ones in the first movie, again a notch upward. And it is always cool to see Sid Haig in a movie.Moving on to the effects and the zombies. Nothing really bad or lacking here. I was adequately entertained with what I saw and found it to be alright.For a zombie movie, this is a good contribution. Of course, it is not top of the line, but still, for a semi-low budget production, they pulled it off quite nicely. If you haven't already seen "House of the Dead 2", then buy the DVD and sink your teeth into it right away, it should be seen. Oh, and forget that you ever saw part one when you sit down to watch this one.

A clandestine experiment at a university campus causes a zombie outbreak. 29 days later, a squad of Special Forces soldiers & government scientists are sent to the campus to find the original zombie in order to develop a vaccine from its blood. But their mission is jeopardized by a soldier's plans to sell the blood sample to a biotech firm, as well as the zombies, who are tougher than the team expected."House of the Dead 2" is the second of two film adaptations of the popular video game. The original HOUSE OF THE DEAD was lambasted by almost all reviewers as being one of the worst zombie films ever made. The only connection this film has with the original is the screenwriter, Mark A. Altman, a genre fan who co-wrote the script for the first film.After viewing the first film, which was a third-rate spin off from a second-rate game, I set my expectations low before sitting to review this sequel. I was slightly impressed with the film.Given the film industry's penchant for making films from older films, films made by other countries & videogames, "House of the Dead 2" works surprisingly well but is let down by a number of factors. First, the source material, in this case a video game, does not lend itself too readily for filmwork. The game is nothing more than a cheap attempt to rip-off the massively successful RESIDENT EVIL games, with the zombies being nothing more than targets for the player's guns (as well as the fact that the zombies act very un-zombie like, jumping, wielding weapons & not feeding on flesh). The original film, for all its faults, actually was pretty faithful to the game, with the exception of the setting. HOTD 2 again uses a different setting to that of the original but unless you count a college campus as a house, the title is a stretch at best.Despite being derived from the game, the zombies here are a marked improvement over their game counterparts. They stick to the Romero mould, unlike the creatures in the first film, which were nothing more than undead thugs. The film tries a new idea – that of scientists trying to locate the original zombie in order to find a cure from its blood – which is perhaps its saving grace. That & the fact that the actors giving some good performances, as well as some clever characterizations. But while these elevate the film to a higher level than the original film, it still suffers from a poorly developed script. With the recent spate of comedies which derived their humour from film references, HOTD 2 throws in a few genre film references (one character mentions "Alone in the Dark"; the film is set 29 days after the experiment, after the British zombie film 28 DAYS LATER; the campus is named Cuesta Verde after the housing development in POLTERGEIST) which don't work too well.

OK to start things off, I personally think the 3.9 is harsh for this movie. When i saw the first movie it remained in my mind as the WORST zombie movie of all time. Now when i saw this in the video store i was like "Why would they make a sequel to one of the worst films in the world". Well I was way off. This movie blew me away "Compared to the first one" Acting was better, zombies weren't doing back flips, and skimpy Chinese girls weren't running around half naked jumping 10 feet in the air shooting zombies. Instead this movie took a new approach with an OK script and some mediocre actors (Except Sid, hes awesome:P) It is a huge improvement to the first film (Which isn't that hard) A lot of funny moments and lines like "NO MAN THEY GOT THE SARGE MAN NOT THE SARGE!" I love that line. all in all i would usually give this film and 5 or 6 out of ten but seeing its poor rating of a 3.9 i think it deserves a 5.4 or something so that's why i have a 10/10 for it.Must see for zombie fans and if your in the mood to just chill and watch some OK acting kill some sharp teethed zombies :P

Marginally better than the original, the extremely low-budget HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 plays a little straighter and even takes us into other zombie movies at times, most notably 28 DAYS LATER and DAWN OF THE DEAD. A special forces unit is called in to deal with a zombie outbreak at a university, and just getting there itself proves a battle. While there are almost no scares, there are some good kills and some decent makeup jobs, certainly better than any sported in your typical Italian zombie movie. Everyone is a stereotype of the worst sort, and the one familiar face is Ed Quinn, late of EUREKA. Two very attractive females get to sport their black underwear for a bit, which is better than nothing. In the end, unfortunately, the movie goes nowhere.