Matt Cordell's(..the formidable Robert Z'Dar, under heavy prosthetic make-up)restless soul is conjured by a voodoo priest, with the resurrected zombie seeking a mate, which is provided when he hears about a shoot-out at a pharmacy between a female cop, Katie Sullivan(Gretchen Becker)and a sadistic junkie, Jessup(Jackie Earle Haley). Katie doesn't know that the employee working in the pharmacy is Jessup's gal who picks up a revolver willing to kill the cop who had "saved her." A couple of corrupt news clowns falsify the story, by deleting certain material which proves Katie's innocence, depicting her as a rogue cop using illegal weaponry, not allowed by the force to carry. In a vegetative state, Katie's brain seems dead, and her "guardian", Detective Sean McKinney(Robert Davi, returning from the previous film as the chain-smoking, reliable, street-wise cop whose seen it all and then some)is disgruntled with how his best friend is being treated in the press. Despite his decomposing state, Cordell still understands how he himself was treated by those he considered allies, and begins murdering those who offer Katie harm, hoping to clear her..while also planning to betroth her in unholy matrimony, with assistance of the voodoo priest who brought him back to life! Dr. Susan Fowler(Caitlin Dulany), the on-call physician over Jessup, who somehow survived multiple gun shot wounds from Katie's firearm, will assist McKinney while also falling in love with him during the process.
Despite Larry Cohen's sloppy, incoherent mess of a script, director William Lustig and Joel Soisson(..Soisson, I'm guessing, was probably more associated with the stunt-work)unload plenty of action sequences which impress such as the final car chase between a burning Cordell trying to drive McKinney and Fowler off the road, or bloody shoot-outs where a heavy supply of squibs were utilized to show bullet-riddled bodies. There's a thrilling shoot-out in the hospital when Cordell releases criminals from their handcuffs, with McKinney getting to show out his skills of evading gunfire.
Beside Haley's psychotic junkie, many familiar faces make appearances such as Robert Forster as a happy-go-lucky doctor who plans, faithfully, to carry out a plan to remove Katie off of life support so that the police department could save face with the public as the image of the force has been dealt a serious blow, becoming one of many Cordell victims, thanks to the nasty use of an X-ray machine. Paul Gleason(..with his typical slimy charm, always portraying those kind of characters you love to hate) plays an unapologetic lawyer for the police department who wishes for Katie to be taken off of life support so that they wouldn't have to forfeit millions to Jessup. His demise, along with Jessup's grinning lawyer who sees future engagements(..such as television shows)for her client regarding Katie's supposed mishap, will probably elicit applause from the audience..Cohen's screenplays always seem to have these appalling suits attempting to screw over unfortunates unable to defend themselves, meeting grim fates in crowd-pleasing fashion. I thought Dulany was fine as Davi's love interest, she's the kind of dependable female support Davi's cop needs when the stack is decked against him. Davi, as always, brings his usual grit to the role of a city detective..looking the part of a cop whose been through the rigors of such a job, only helps sell his character. The whole sub-plot regarding Cordell's desire to marry Katie didn't really work for me, but maybe it will you. It does provide a memorable sequence in the voodoo priest's church where Cordell, on fire, carries Katie's corpse in his arms walking towards a trapped McKinney and Fowler. I'm not really sure why the priest resurrected him unless he felt that Cordell's reign of terror over those who betrayed him, wasn't finished, and that he needed further vengeance for how others wronged him. There seems to be a theme of anger towards the police force and their methods of justice, while also hammering the message home that the streets are a difficult place for the men and women in blue trying to halt crime.
Despite Larry Cohen's sloppy, incoherent mess of a script, director William Lustig and Joel Soisson(..Soisson, I'm guessing, was probably more associated with the stunt-work)unload plenty of action sequences which impress such as the final car chase between a burning Cordell trying to drive McKinney and Fowler off the road, or bloody shoot-outs where a heavy supply of squibs were utilized to show bullet-riddled bodies. There's a thrilling shoot-out in the hospital when Cordell releases criminals from their handcuffs, with McKinney getting to show out his skills of evading gunfire.
Beside Haley's psychotic junkie, many familiar faces make appearances such as Robert Forster as a happy-go-lucky doctor who plans, faithfully, to carry out a plan to remove Katie off of life support so that the police department could save face with the public as the image of the force has been dealt a serious blow, becoming one of many Cordell victims, thanks to the nasty use of an X-ray machine. Paul Gleason(..with his typical slimy charm, always portraying those kind of characters you love to hate) plays an unapologetic lawyer for the police department who wishes for Katie to be taken off of life support so that they wouldn't have to forfeit millions to Jessup. His demise, along with Jessup's grinning lawyer who sees future engagements(..such as television shows)for her client regarding Katie's supposed mishap, will probably elicit applause from the audience..Cohen's screenplays always seem to have these appalling suits attempting to screw over unfortunates unable to defend themselves, meeting grim fates in crowd-pleasing fashion. I thought Dulany was fine as Davi's love interest, she's the kind of dependable female support Davi's cop needs when the stack is decked against him. Davi, as always, brings his usual grit to the role of a city detective..looking the part of a cop whose been through the rigors of such a job, only helps sell his character. The whole sub-plot regarding Cordell's desire to marry Katie didn't really work for me, but maybe it will you. It does provide a memorable sequence in the voodoo priest's church where Cordell, on fire, carries Katie's corpse in his arms walking towards a trapped McKinney and Fowler. I'm not really sure why the priest resurrected him unless he felt that Cordell's reign of terror over those who betrayed him, wasn't finished, and that he needed further vengeance for how others wronged him. There seems to be a theme of anger towards the police force and their methods of justice, while also hammering the message home that the streets are a difficult place for the men and women in blue trying to halt crime.