Director: Jean de Segonzac
Year: 2001
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Working as a school teacher, a survivor of the original bug attack in New York finds that the creatures have returned and are now taking out potential prey in the city, forcing her to race to stop the creatures again before they can spread out even further.
Review:
While not out-and-out terrible, this one has enough going for it that it remains watchable at the very least. One of the better elements here is the film's rather intriguing manner of building up the early appearance of the cockroaches, which has some really good times. By keeping the insects off-screen despite engaging in several attacks, including the opening one where it attacks through the driving rain that keeps it hidden, while also managing to include the stalking of the different men she encounters around her house or work, all make for a rather fine start here. The bugs' attacks are well-done, often- times sneaking up behind unsuspecting victims with their insectoid shadows playing across the background or using their surroundings to trap potential exits and allowing for extremely suspenseful sequences to come out of them, from the scent-recognition scene through to the later hallway encounters.
They also have some fun tactics to get away from the creatures, including one of the most insanely-useful suspense-building tactics of using a Polaroid Camera to photograph the hallways, and the wait to develop is just top-notch suspense and really clever as well. The action that comes from the actual encounters with them are just top-notch as well, with a fine encounter at the end where they race to escape the tented-and-fogged building before the creatures get them, and it's a fine conclusion that really works well and even works so superbly in setting up the true finale's fantastic moments that it feels unique, new and original and just plain fun, while the scattering swarm from the suitcase is really chilling. Outside of that, the only other area that manages to work well is the gore, which isn't bad at all.
These are the film's good points, while there were a couple of minor flaws that managed to hold it down. One of the biggest problems with this one is that there's just not enough time to really get into this one since the film moves by at such a blur that it could've used a little time to slow down and not make it seem like it was just whizzing by. This is a time when a film could've used a little more time to explain everything, since here, we get very few explanations for everything that's going on. There's no explanation given as to how the science teacher has access to the bug's information, even in passing how they come to know the bug's tendencies.
An absolutely-perfect time would've been the phone call for help, as the name-dropping of the experiment to get their attention doesn't raise any ounce of questioning from those around her, and even after initial encounters with them, does anyone come up with any explanations? Also missing an explanation is the bug's attraction to her, which is the whole basis for the film in the first place. Once it's discovered that the suitors are being killed off, it would've been the perfect opportunity to announce the intentions of the creature, yet the only thing offered is for the incubation, nothing at all to do with the intent, since why she was chosen for it in the first place. These are what hold this one back.
Overview: ***/5
A fun but flawed killer bug sequel, this one comes off intriguing enough for what it is, but is a decidedly lowered version of the original, which leaves it a watchable if unimportant entry in the series. Give this a watch if you’re a fan of the style and approach to cheesy genre fare, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
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