Main Cast: Brian Robbins, Bill Calvert, Tricia Leigh Fisher, Gerritt Graham, Robert Vaughn
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Originally conceived as a Return of the Living Dead sequel and later inexplicably re-titled (despite the highly questionable marketing value of a C.H.U.D. franchise) this clunky attempt at a horror satire involves a pair of teenage do-nothings who abscond from a military base with a corpse who turns out to be a zombie, the by-product of a backfired military experiment. Despite the C.H.U.D. (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller) references, Bud (Gerrit Graham) is really a zombie of the George Romero variety, chomping down on human flesh and spreading the virulent zombie plague to those unfortunate enough to be onscreen long enough. Eye-rolling Graham is fun to watch, as always, and Robert Vaughn puts in a goofy performance as a rabidly gung-ho general, but they provide scarce gems of humor in a morass of reconstituted horror plot elements and lame jokes. The end product is more C.R.U.D. than C.H.U.D. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Don Day - Art Director, Jonathan D. Krane - Co-producer, Simon R. Lewis - Co-producer, David Irving - Director, Barbara Pokras - Editor, Nicholas Pike - Composer (Music Score), Randy Moore - Production Designer, Arnie Sirlin - Cinematographer, Hubie Kerns Jr. - Stunts, Ed Naha - Screenwriter
C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. is a 1989 comedy horror film. It is a loose sequel to C.H.U.D., mostly in name though the ties do carry on into dialogue and plot. As in the first film, C.H.U.D stands for "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller", but the alternative acronym (Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal) is not carried over. The script was originally intended as the second sequel to Return of the Living Dead, retaining the geometric progression of the zombie menace, talking zombies (here saying "meat" instead of "brains") and using the word "zombies" to refer to the reanimated corpses. One plot similarity to the actual Return of the Living Dead 3 is the idea of freezing zombies to stop them (which is only a temporary solution in both films).
At the start of the film, the US Government has ordered a branch of the US Military to discontinue tests concerning "the C.H.U.D. project", which is built around the idea that enzymes taken from the sewer dwelling creatures from C.H.U.D. can make hyper-effective killing machines in the army. For reasons that are unclear even to those who watch the film, the last specimen of the experiment (BUD the C.H.U.D.) is hidden away in a Centre for Disease Control in a small American town, where a trio of bumbling teenagers accidentally steal and reawaken him. Bud escapes and begins to forge an army of C.H.U.Ds while harboring a deep love for Katie.
