C.H.U.D II: Bud The Chud is one of those horror sequels of the ’80s an early ’90s that has next to nothing to do with the original film except some basic plot elements and the title. However, it’s actually better than the original film, and it’s by the same director David Irving (no, not the infamous holocaust denier and fake historian.)

Weirdly enough, plotwise it’s fairly similar to another one of the films that has been released this week under the Vestron Video Collector’s Series label, The Return of the Living Dead III. Both films deal with teenagers who by stupid snooping start a chain reaction that causes havoc in their towns with zombies. The C.H.U.D.s here are far closer to zombies than the cannibalistic humanoid underground dwelling mutants of the original film. The kids soon have the FBI, the military and local law enforcement on their tails, because when they just had to swap a body that went missing, they picked a military experiment that went wrong called “Bud The Chud” to accomplish the deed.

It’s a really fun, quintessentially ’80s, horror comedy that succeeds on laughs and gore in even amounts. It doesn’t quite have the solid cast of the first, like John Heart, Kim Griest or even John Goodman in a small role. The most notable cast member is Bianca Jagger in an extended cameo. However, the movie lives up to the genre just fine, even if has next to nothing to do with the cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers. It’s a much better and more enjoyable film that its IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes scores suggest it is.

The disc includes commentary from Irving, and a bunch of interviews with cast members and special effect.s people. The trailer and a stills gallery round the package off.

★★★½

Ian Schultz

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