Director: Chase Martins
Year: 2023
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Arriving at a secluded campsite, a woman integrates herself with a group of women living in the area who are renowned for their sexual favors, and when she realizes that the entire group is controlled by a half-serpent/half-human leader trying to keep them in line must decide whether to join or fight back.
Review:
This was a decent enough if somewhat flawed follow-up to the original. One of the better features here is the rather fun setup that provides a rather strong connection between the group who are portrayed as a true bonded sisterhood. As the main setup is centered around the newcomer arriving at the camp and trying to integrate herself into their ranks and the difficulty that emerges doing that since they’re all so close to each other makes this stick out even more for a rather solid starting point. With the opening piece here involving the agreement to stay there and having to deal with the rules and regulations everyone has there that makes it a bit of a struggle to get going, this is a wholly fun time here that goes nicely alongside the other secondary storyline where her burgeoning relationship with the straggler looking for his friend that needs to be kept a secret allows for a decent enough starting point.
With the setup established, this is all enhanced with the series of encounters where the snake-like powers are brought to the forefront. With the opening attack on the couple of frat guys who are being unnecessarily aggressive to them which provides hints of what they’re capable of with the graphic brutality dished out, the idea of what they do to those who break the confines of the setup makes the later scenes rather fun with the idea of the metamorphosis taking place following the transformation ritual and resulting hallucinations. As this goes along with the body-horror aspects of the change and what it represents to her and the rest of the group, there’s a great setup at play in the finale where the focus of the ritual is a far darker and more gruesome outcome than expected as it turns into a far different type of effort than expected involving the full changeover and the outcome that comes from that. These factors all make for a lot to like.
There are some factors to be had here that bring this down. The main drawback to the film is a somewhat sluggish pace that prioritizes interpersonal drama rather than overly grandiose genre scares. Focusing far more on her trying to not upset the dynamic between everyone while she tries to get acclimated to how it works and the rules in place for everyone, this leaves the film feeling far more like a drama about what goes on in a prostitution ring that operates in the middle of the woods for privacy than a genuine genre effort. This leads to a lot of time spent with the others warning her about stepping out of line and trying to pull her weight which doesn’t leave much for the other genre fare to get featured. Even when it does, this is the other issue here as those few scenes don’t have any overt genre attributes as the gore doesn’t stand out and the lack of nudity for a film about women in this line of work is a bit distressing, making for an odd time here and the film’s few detriments.
Overview: ***/5
A bit of a disappointing follow-up but still has some merit, there’s enough to like here with its setup and the few attempts at genre thrills even though its drawbacks do become quite major detriments. Those who appreciate this kind of indie effort, are fans of the first one or the creative crew will have the most to like here while most others should heed caution with this one.
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