Director: Ted Nicolaou
Year: 1993
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Arriving in the Transylvanian backwoods, a woman searching for her sister finds that she's run afoul of a vicious vampire looking for a sacred relic she stole while on assignment in the country and must team up with a reluctant official in the area to stop the vampire's evil plans.
Review:
There was a lot to really like here. Among the many notable elements present in this one is the fact that this one really goes overboard in exploiting the Gothic atmosphere present in the situation. Taking place directly after the first one means that the continuation of those events, namely the resurrection of the main villain and his subsequent destruction of the other vampire followed by the chase through the castle ruins to retrieve the missing relic gives this a strong sense of action within the confines of the castle. Taking those ancient-looking ruins and places makes for a highly enjoyable time here as it mixes the older-style look of the castle and the surrounding city while taking place in the modern setting which makes it easier to accept the Gothic concepts of the rest of the film. Seeing the idea of the vampire along the rotting and decomposing mummy he calls his mother, seeing the elaborate antiquities inside the museum where she sleeps or the travelogue footage of the castle passing the skeletons and and all the decomposed ruins from the previous film help this along rather nicely with the additional work done to enhance the Gothic leanings featured here.
This leads nicely into the vampire action within here, which is handled rather well with some solid suspenseful moments. The scenes of her out in the city hunting have a nice eerie feel due to the inevitability of what's going to happens as she stalks her victim into the rock club, while the later scenes of her being tormented by not keeping the blood of her victims down as she fights her humanity leaves this with some rather enjoyable vampire action. Once he gets involved with the action, including the abduction at the park where they sleep away the day in the cemetery ruins or engaging the two in battle deep in his crypt which manages to feature some solid action of the demonic figures getting involved and tormenting the human victim. Using that to generate the fun of the vampire attacking her masters in a slew of violent antics and Gothic trappings generates all sorts of glorious fun within these ambushes and attacks that play up the Gothic atmosphere while also generating the gory fun associated here.
The cast here is quite fun and has a lot to like as well. Once again, Anders Hove is impressive as the evil vampire Radu whenever he's on-screen. That sunken melancholy makeup, the raspy voice and general demeanor, he again steals the show and given more screentime is a good thing which gives more time to marvel at him. Denice Duff takes over the role of Michelle Morgan from Laura Tate and gives a nice overall performance here. They look close enough that it's not a distracting casting switch, and she does a much more believable job in the role even though she tends to shift sides quite often. It's not her real fault, though, and does rather well with what she has as she tends to have an Eastern European look that makes it far easier to accept her. Her sister Rebecca played by Melanie Shatner is a little blander which mostly comes from the idea of her being just running around looking for the girl for the most part. While that doesn't make her all that interesting a character, the nature of her plight to reconnect with her troubled sister is a strong storyline which still helps us side with her for the most part. The other big guest here is Kevin Spirtas as Mel, the embassy agent who takes on her case. Initially a lot less proactive than someone like him should be, he comes around once the threat is revealed which manages to make for quite a nice leading duo. Given all the fine makeup and gore also included here, these manage to hold this one up over it's few minor issues.
About the only real flaw to this one is the fact that there's just not a whole lot of point to the vampires' plans. He really spends the vast majority of the time throughout here doing anything but going after the one who has his believed rightful possession, regardless of whether it truly is or not and he should be doing that. It seems to be going about his motivations all wrong, and it makes him seem all the more troubling about what bringing him back really was supposed to accomplish. Likewise, the whole resurrection sequence itself is problematic in that, no matter how impressive the effect actually was, there's no point to resurrect it in that manner and it goes against the whole mythology of the genre established with this one. As well, there's also the low-budget look and feel that runs rampant throughout here no matter how Gothic and glorious it really is, and tends to undermine some aspects of this one. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot to dislike with this one.
Overview: *** 1/2/5
Detailing quite a lot of positive elements to like here with the few negatives popping up holding it down somewhat, this is an engaging if somewhat flawed effort that keeps the series going nicely. Give it a shot if you're into these kinds of genre films or were a fan of the original, while those that don't really care for this style of vampire effort should heed caution.
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