Director: Louisa Warren
Year: 2020
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural Slasher
Plot:
Coerced into attending a special reunion, a man tries to use the opportunity to have a second chance at a childhood crush he couldn't make a move on before, but when a prank to summon a demon goes wrong he finds himself forced to confront a familiar foe to save his friends and his sanity.
Review:
This was a pretty decent follow-up that has some likable elements. Among the better features here is the enjoyable amount of work to connect this to the previous entry. Making the lead one of the survivors who’s now haunted by the events to the point of near-reclusion from his friends who are now focused on work is a fine idea, while the vengeful student seeking to get back at him for what happened is a nice twist. This causes the series of his hallucinations and visions to be quite creepy as it’s unknown if he’s going crazy from the trauma, if it’s all just dreams, or if they’re actually real.
That all makes the film fun when the spirit is confirmed and the attacks start proving real. With an incredibly eerie attack on an unsuspecting family to get this going, the main attacks on the group at the house where it mimics the other members to try to get someone alone is quite creepy due to the obvious possession elements that go unnoticed here. As well, with the one-by-one encounters where they find it in the dizzying corn maze, the series of chases throughout the house and a fun series of interruptions and distractions offer up some action and creepiness to the whole thing, making for plenty of positives to be had here.
There are some issues with the film. One of the major factors featured here is the inherently lame motivation and reasoning for anything happening. This mostly applies to why he wants to release the creature, as the revenge angle makes no sense being the age he was during the attacks to be able to pull it off with any sort of malicious intent. The guy comes off as irrationally spiteful as well as stupid for suggesting it in the first place, the plan to pull it off is unnecessarily elaboration for the unworthwhile information and the entire setup here seems misguided to make him look like a jerk for no reason without the proper motivation.
The other real issue with this one is the obvious scenes trying to hide the film’s low-budget nature. As the deaths offer nothing much more than bloody mouths and gum from unseen tooth removals, the practical effects aren’t too expensive at all while the mask itself looks the same as the original only given much more screentime. There’s also the curious lack of gunshots heard for some moments which stands out quite obviously, and the underwhelming confrontation with the being is a direct result of not having more to do for a finale. It’s not as detrimental as the other factors but lowers it enough.
Overview: ***/5
Featuring enough to like with a decent is-he-or-isn’t-he storyline and a few enjoyable confrontations, as a whole this one is a fine follow-up that comes undone by some nonsensical storylines and the cheapness. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of these independent British horror efforts or a fan of the original, while most others will find it decent at best and should heed caution with it.
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