Director: Don Coscarelli
Year: 1998
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Fleeing through the countryside, the group of friends battling the Tall Man finds the spirit of his trapped brother is leading them closer to the secret of who The Tall Man really is and forcing him to unleash the full force of his demons in an effort to stop them fry ruining his plans.
Review:
This here was one of the more impressive entries in the series. One of the best things it has going for it is the really big and grandiose action scenes that are largely familiar scenes of the series. Following on the majority of the series' efforts of continuing with the previous one left off, the opening escape from the mausoleum into the desert is rather nicely handled in starting the action as there are a spectacular car flip and rescue, two exploding vehicles, some aggressive jumping dwarfs and a silver-sphere attack which occurs after the equally inevitable girl picked up en-route as well as the initial encounter with the phantom patrolman which proves to be genuinely creepy or the silver sphere attack in the abandoned motel.
Equally effective are the flashbacks and alternate reality visions and memories, presenting absolutely unique scenes that are quite imaginative and really intriguing. The longest one, a night-time chase through a forest will get plenty of atmospheric scenes in, including the sequence where the hanging Tall Man ushers a big remark offering peace in exchange for his freedom or the sight of The Tall Man appearing as a regular human sitting on his porch offering a glass of homemade lemonade is pretty impressive as well. Another cool thing about this one is the atmosphere and suspense here, not only from the regular antics featured within but also the flashbacks that tie in all the events from the past into one rather cohesive whole. The other big plus here is the fine finale as there are some big moments in the initial battle with the dwarfs in the desert, the autopsy scene that reveals a big surprise for one of the victims, and an attack from the spheres late in the film, leading to many of its true gore set-pieces as they cling to major body parts is something to behold. All in all, this is a very worthy sequel.
There weren't many flaws here they were somewhat important. The main point in this one is the fact that it follows the conventions of the series closely. This one has so many of the clichés and plot points that the other ones have, and it can lead to correctly predicting what will come next which can lead to many problems throughout the film. That is mainly because none of them are changed around or inverted this time around, which is where the problem lies. Nothing has changed from the expectations of the series as a whole, and that is something that can be used against it. There's also the fact that the film doesn't really move as fast as the others out there, which can be somewhat irritating. A lot of time is spent wandering around in the desert, which offers good scenery but nothing else, and by utilizing the clichés at hand, a long time is spent on other scenes that have nothing to offer in terms of action, and at times this can be somewhat dull. However, the main problem with this one is that there are no explanations for anything in the film, much less the series. This one probably should've done something to answer the questions the others have to offer, and it would've been a great time to do it. That is the biggest flaw, and it keeps it down the most.
Overview: **/5
It won't match up to the classics early on in the series, but it's still highly entertaining for the series and wraps it on a high note. Highly recommended for the fans of the series or those just plain interested, but those who haven't followed the series won't find much in here that will appeal to them.
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