Director: Adrian Langley
Year: 2024
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Following a string of strange disappearances, a detective begins looking into a series of claims that revolve around a specific van following each of the victims before their going missing, and realizing that it’s a prolific serial killer targeting a former stripper sets out to stop the rampage.
Review:
This was a decently enjoyable if somewhat problematic entry in the series. Pretty much the main factor to this one is really the series of impressive stalking and kill scenes where everything that happens here involving the killer striking comes off effectively. Effectively portraying a ruthless, opportunistic psychopath who takes chances attacking in open spaces rather than taking them out in more secluded areas, this has some wholly impressive scenes where the ruthless energy brings about rapid-fire kill scenes with plenty of brutality and graphic gore to top it off. With impressive scenes involving him stalking victims in the stripclub, ambushing victims along the side of the road in their car, stalking an escaped victim through his factory hideout, or even featuring a fun car chase along the way, this has some fun moments throughout here which keeps the film moving along nicely with some generally fun moments with the killer. As well as a fun investigation angle looking into what’s going on, these all manage to have a lot to like at points.
There are some problems with the film that bring this one down. One of the biggest issues here is that the main killer in this one acts so over-the-top and outrageous that it’s nearly impossible to believe the authorities haven’t caught him yet. The sheer reckless nature of his antics repeating targets, staying in one location for his crimes, and picking the same pattern for his victims should all be such easy clues to spot the repeating pattern of what he’s doing yet it’s so odd that everything takes a complete coincidence to figure out that it really feels quite hard to rationalize the detective taking as long as she does to figure out. Even though there’s an attempt at throwing them off the trail with the staged discovery scene they find, the fact that so much of the film consists of his outwardly brutal and straightforward action with victims makes for an immensely sloppy killer even on top of the other small factors present including the guy driving around with bodies bleeding through it in plain daylight of others. It’s somewhat distressing to see as it should be quite obvious what’s going on but the way it works out is somewhat hard to figure out.
The other issue with this one is the scattershot storyline that goes all over the place with plenty of useless tangents sticking out for no reason other than to beef up the running time for no real reason. Having a lot of characters in the beginning makes for a tough time trying to figure out who we’re supposed to be following as numerous stories are going along at the stripclub with the various performers getting plenty of time that isn’t necessary, especially with the dancer who gets fired for her attitude which just goes on way too long than it should and a secondary feature involving one of the workers having an under-the-radar drug business that has no purpose for existing other than adding bodies to the mix or making the owner an even more unlikable figure. These all manage to make a film that’s far longer than it really should be with this going over an hour and forty minutes because it has so many excess storylines involved here that don’t need it, which manage to be the big factors holding it down.
Overview: ***.5/5
A solid and likable sequel even with some big drawbacks, there’s plenty to like here with how it takes the material from the others which is enough to lower it just slightly. Give this a shot if you’re a fan of the other features in the series or enjoy the approach taken here while those that aren’t a fan of the style taken here or the other films in the series should heed caution.
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