Director: Louisa Warren
Year: 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Following the brutal murder of a friend, a survivor who had escaped the wrath of a tooth-obsessed serial killer decides to get past it by having a party at work upon returning which stirs up the returning killer once again looking to finish the job and forces her to battle the killer once again.
Review:
This here wasn't too bad but still had some worthwhile elements. Among its better ideas is a workable setup that gives off a rather fun means of getting the rampage going. Offering up the trauma of the previous rampage and trying to get over what happened while clearly still affected by it, this is far more emotionally charged than expected which plays into the makeup of their after-school party as a series of ongoing interpersonal storylines are shown to be ongoing during these segments. While still featuring enough about the killer still on the loose through the school playing with the other students and teachers which adds an intriguing psychologically chilling component to these scenes.
That also gives this one some halfway decent and enjoyable confrontations with the killer that once again come about mainly through dental trauma. The first attack on the surviving victim that serves as the extended prologue is a nice callback to the emotional trauma of the past while utilizing some tense confrontations and decent enough gore for this style. The scenes at the school are much better, with the victims going off on their own and being unaware of the killer at the school provoking some solid chases around the campus. These are quite fun leading into the finale which features the survivors forced to battle back against the killer with some fine bloodshed to give this one some likable features.
The film does have some big issues involved. The biggest drawback to this one is the killer herself who's an incredibly underwhelming villain here as the whole idea of their rampage comes across as so inherently lame it's hard to evoke any care in what's going on. The whole point of their misguided mindset being the featured viewpoint makes her come off as too disturbed to have gotten away with everything, and with the clumsy nature of the explanation sequence making everything feel like a waste of time this is genuinely an underwhelming part of the film. It's almost as bad as the low-budget here which is on display quite frequently, from the lake mask to the execution of the attacks and the one-location setup which are the factors that hold this down.
Overview: **.5/5
Better than what it should be but let down by several big factors, this is a slight upturn from the previous entry but still had some big detriments to hold it down. This is really for those who enjoy this kind of genre effort or are fans of the creative crew while only those who don't like this style or are turned off by the franchise's history should need 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:
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