Left 4 Dead 2 (1990 film)

**Left 4 Dead 2** is a 1990 American horror comedy film directed, and written by George Johnson, starring James Avery, Dennis Simmons, Hailey Matthews and Delma K. Ramos. It is a sequel to the 1987 film Left 4 Dead and the second installment of the Left 4 Dead film series.

This movie was Matthews' first acting performance since the 1985 film, Hitchhiker Killer.

## Plot

### Characters

Left 4 Dead 2 features a new cast of four human survivors: Coach (played by James Avery), a stocky high school football coach with a bad knee; Nick (played by Dennis Simmons), a pessimistic gambler and con artist; Rochelle (played by Hailey Matthews), a low-level production assistant for a local television station that was reporting on the pandemic; and Ellis (played by Delma K. Ramos), a friendly and talkative redneck mechanic who often talks about his friend Keith and their many misadventures.

### Plot

At the end of the first film, the original survivors—Bill, Francis, Louis, and Zoey—arrive at the portside town of Rayford in Georgia in order to search for a boat that can take them to the Florida Keys. After finding an adequate sailboat, the survivors have to manually start up generators in order to lift a bridge for their boat to pass through. One survivor, Bill, sacrifices themself in order to kick-start a generator once it gives out, so that the others may reach safety. This is the end of Bill's story in the Left 4 Dead film series.

The second movie opens where the four survivors find themselves abandoned on a hotel roof by rescue helicopters. They decide to head for the local mall, where a second CEDA evacuation point is located. After a brief encounter with a gun store owner, Whitaker, the survivors discover that the mall is overrun, with all CEDA agents having become either dead or infected as well. Ellis helps the group use a stock car to break out of the mall and travel towards New Orleans, rumored to be the last standing city in America.

The survivors arrive at the bridge in Rayford, where they meet Francis, Louis, and Zoey. As they need to cross the bridge to proceed, the Survivors need to find another way across to refill the generator with gas. After fighting their way through a wedding reception (complete with a Witch bride), the streets, and a historic under-the-river tour, they meet up again with the original survivors, who help by covering for the group while they fill the generator and lowering the bridge once it's full.

## Cast

* James Avery as Coach
* Dennis Simmons as Nick
* Hailey Matthews as Rochelle
* Delma K. Ramos as Ellis
* Betty Anderson as Witch
* David Wald as Charger
* George Johnson as Francis (archive footage)
* Rebecca Butler as Zoey (archive footage)
* Northern Calloway as Louis (archive footage)
* Richard Knott as Bill
* Emily Matthews as Boomette

## Production

### Development

Two years after Left 4 Dead became a huge hit when it was released in 1987, George Johnson, his older son, Daniel Johnson, and Michael N. Richardson began to have plans to make a sequel to that movie with new survivors, and new infected members like Charger, Jockey, Spitter and a female version of Boomer named Boomette.

### Casting

At the end of summer 1989, casting began. At this time, Johnson's daughter, Hailey Matthews, decided to return to her acting career after the end of 5-year hiatus. She was cast as April O'Neil-inspired news reporter, Rochelle. Dennis Simmons was cast as Nick. Isaac Hayes was considered for the role of Couch, but Johnson felt that Hayes was not fat enough for the part, James Avery was eventually cast for the role. Emily Matthews has always wanted to be an infected character, so her husband, George Johnson chose her to play Boomette (the female version of Boomer). Originally they wanted Michael J. Fox to play the role of Ellis, however since Fox was too busy filming Back to the Future Part III, he was unavailable. Instead, they hired Michael J. Fox look-alike actor Delma K. Ramos to play Ellis.

### Filming

In the fall of 1989, filming began in various areas around Los Angeles, California. While filming the scene where Witch chases after Rochelle, her puffed sleeve yellow reporter jumpsuit almost catches on fire when a Molotov cocktail lands on Witch. For the scene where new survivors meet old survivors minus Bill, George Johnson had to use footage of Francis, Zoey, and Louis talking to new survivors at the bridge, which was filmed after the first Left 4 Dead movie wrapped. In the winter of 1990, the film was wrapped, and the cast and crew were excited, and they couldn't wait until the film came out.

## Release

The film came out on October 23, 1990, and it also became a huge hit.

### Home media

The film was released by Orion Home Video in early 1991, on VHS, Beta, and Laserdisc, which includes a Midnight Ride music video after the feature.

## Gallery

*Main article: Left 4 Dead 2 (1990 film)/Gallery*