Director: Steve Lawson
Year: 2017
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: Nocturnal Activity 2
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After a series of gruesome murders, a woman joins a detective on the case looking into the deaths of several prostitutes murdered over a month, and after finding a connection involving his targets and a strange woman from a previous case of his he sets out to stop the rampage.
Review:
This was a fairly solid and enjoyable feature. One of the better elements here is the rather solid setup involving quite a few solid concepts brought together into a solid mystery. The starting point offering a murder case with a similar set of targets taking place within a restrictive time frame in a specific section of the city creates an intriguing setup, much like the subsequent investigation that has connections to the previous case forms a fine feature here. With the supernatural implications tying together some of their work on the case with the resident inside the sanitarium who starts them in on following the facts of the case, the overall status of the case featured here is pretty solid and enjoyable.
Due to this setup, the implications of the case come off quite well offering a decent series of clues to figure out the case. With the murders seemingly pointing to the detective but which are soon given to a much more sinister figure as time goes on, this sort of paranormal-themed murder mystery case offers some charmingly solid investigations where the clues are revealed to fall into place quite nicely. Providing some solid gore along the way with the few kill scenes here taking on a fun mixture of gruesome giallo-inspired ferocity alongside more over-the-top sequences which provide some cheesy sequences as well as some fantastic atmospheric touches that include the lighting and mist swirling around the scenery for a chilling Gothic atmosphere, these manage to give off a lot to like here.
There isn’t much to dislike here but it does have a few minor flaws. The biggest issue is the film’s somewhat sluggish and slower tempo than expected, as the focus on investigating the deaths rather than dealing with them on screen. Given that it’s been a point of contention to have multiple bodies in the rampage already taken out before the start of the film and several more are taken out during the course of the investigation, not getting as many opportunities to revel in them since the police procedural is more of the primary focus here leading to a lot of overly-long dialogue-heavy segments throughout here. The other drawback here is the somewhat cheesy visual effects with some cheesy CGI and silly effects in the finale to present the twist it brings up that are understandable due to the particular twist attempted, all of which bring this one down overall.
Overview: ***.5/5
A generally fun feature with a lot to like about it, there’s plenty of positives to be had with this one although it’s got a few issues that pop up to hold this one back from what it could’ve been. Viewers who enjoy this particular style or even enjoyed the first film will have plenty to enjoy here while others who aren’t fans of this style will have to heed caution here.
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