Director: Joe D’Amato (as Peter Newton)
Year: 1981
Country: Italy
Alternate Titles: Rosso sangue; Horrible; Monster Hunter; Grim Reaper 2; Zombie 6: Monster Hunter
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After being severely wounded, a man is taken to a local hospital for surgery only to find that he’s able to regenerate his wounds at a superhuman rate and escape the facility to embark on a crazed killing spree in a nearby town forcing a priest and a detective to try to stop him.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly fun and enjoyable follow-up. The main feature of this one is the film’s use of tying together the various storylines in place that get brought up here. The initial means of bringing the guy to the hospital after finding him with his guts literally hanging out and then being able to heal himself while the operation to save him is ongoing makes for a fine continuation of what was initially brought up in the first film. That continues on throughout here as the eventual escape and rampage in the small town brings about a series of encounters that paint a fine picture of the regenerative properties that he’s blessed with and gets corroborated by the different conditions that help to give this a medically-based context.
The secondary storylines here aren’t that bad either and help to paint a solid picture of the crew racing to stop him or the lives of the everyday people in the middle of his rampage. The interactions with the priest who knows better and the detective trying to figure out how the whole thing takes place with his seemingly-invincible regenerative powers or the adults who are more concerned with a championshi[p football game than anything else help to fill in other fun storylines throughout here. The idea of the police being a step or two behind and following the trail of carnage he leaves behind trying to solve where he’s going and how to stop him keeps this one rumbling along nicely while also getting some fun moments thrown around.
That leads nicely into the other big factor here with the film’s series of brutal and graphic slasher-style setpieces showing the killer going on the rampage. Utilizing a solid mix of brutal hand-held weapons and his bare hands to emphasize his massive size and strength advantage over most normal people, the more involved and protracted sequences win out nicely here featuring the confrontation with the nurse, a battle with a meat butcher, and the stalking around the family house that plays nicely with several suspense tactics and storyline beats o be quite enjoyable. The shorter ambush scenes are based on more straightforward shock tactics with some decent gore gags all leading to the surprisingly fun cat-and-mouse stalking that plays out with the numerous participants being a lot to like here.
There isn’t much bringing this down but there are some slight drawbacks to be had with it. The main issue here is the fact that it’s such an obvious and unrestricted ripoff of other films that it never truly feels all that original. The basic setup is a formulaic retelling of the same scenario from several other genre fare involving the outsider who knows everything and the hapless local law enforcement that can’t stop him, the small-town rampage leading to the confrontation with the babysitter staying with the child, and a survivor forced to overcome physical limitations by a medical condition to overcome the killer. It’s all immensely familiar and builds to a formulaic outcome so everything comes off like a genuine ripoff of other genre fare, and with the low-budget limitations at work are what hold it back.
Overview: ****/5
A generally fun and enjoyable slasher effort, there’s a lot to like here when looking for a no-frills brutal slasher which is let down by a few minor drawbacks that might not be as detrimental as others. Those who have an appreciation for this kind of genre fare, are general Eurohorror fans, or enjoy the creative crew will enjoy this one a lot while most others out there should heed caution with it.
Comments
Post a Comment