Director: Louisa Warren
Year: 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: Conjuring the Plastic Surgeon 2
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Taking a job at an old-folks home, a woman is indoctrinated with another new recruit only to realize that the mysterious means through which the new owner of the facility took over control set up the returning demonic surgeon she faced before to continue her rampage and must try to stop her.
Review:
This was a pretty solid sequel effort with a lot to like. Among the better features of this one is the rather fun series of connections here between this and the original. Relying on the characters surviving noticing what's going on by being aware of the similar arrangement once she arrives and begins going through another round of recruitment rituals on the residents while under the guise of refurbishing the house and the others there. Despite all evidence to the contrary that they recognize each other, running through the motions of forgetting what happened and trying out her sinister plans once again makes the first half here fun with all the allusions being made.
That leads to another fine series of tortures and encounters with the returning demonic surgeon. Once again playing with the theme of taking a demented twist on the normal expected procedure that then turns into a distorted version of what they're interested in, this provides some really intriguing and generally fun cheesy setups here. With the incidents here ranging from the botched face-lifts to deadly implants and disfiguring surgeries that may be done on the cheap but are still effective, it's enough to lead into the fun finale that has plenty of nice chases around the compound involving the survivors and the disfigured killers which is enough to hold it up.
There are some slight factors involved here to bring this down. One of the biggest drawbacks to this one is the highly complicated plotline that takes place here as a series of twists and revelations here about how everything goes down bringing everyone together. This is ludicrously cheesy and reliant on so much contrivance to bring them back into her grasp which is only toppled by the underwhelming finale that just ends on a random image as immensely abruptly as it does with no warning or satisfying idea which leaves a very unsatisfactory conclusion. Alongside the aforementioned cheap presentation, these are the issues holding it down.
Overview: ***/5
A generally solid follow-up but has some minor drawbacks, this one manages to be a likable genre effort while featuring some issues that bring it down. Give it a look if you enjoyed the original, like this kind of indie effort, or are fans of the creative crew, while most others out there should heed caution.
This review ran as part of our 2023 Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out the rest of our month-long celebrations including various reviews and interviews:
Comments
Post a Comment