Billed by some as the sequel nobody wanted, See No Evil 2 picks up immediately after the events of the first film (despite the 8 year time gap in real-life) as the bodies of Jacob Goodnight and his victims arrive at the local morgue just as a group of sassy twentysomethings show up for a surprise birthday party for staff member Amy (Danielle Harris). Amy’s best friend Tamara (Katharine Isabelle) likes to get her kink on, so when she discovers that the now infamous serial killer’s body is downstairs she heads off with her boyfriend to get her freak on. Jacob Goodnight doesn’t take too kindly to her straddling his corpse and then shagging her boyfriend however, and he miraculously returns from the dead – which is when things get interesting.
I wasn’t too fond of the original film but I recently became infatuated with the Soska Sisters after seeing the excellent American Mary, so I was interested to see what they would do with their first studio film. Thankfully, they’ve been allowed to put their own spin on the material and the film is an enjoyable and at times surprising return to the stalk and slash horror of the 90s. The characters are smart and culturally aware; they just can’t get the best of the 7 foot tall hulking killer.
The cast are superb here with fan favourites Harris and Isabelle using their respective Scream Queen statuses to great effect. The excellent Michael Eklund (who played the villain in WWE’s previous film The Call) and Chelan Simmons (of Final Destination 3 fame) were also welcome additions. Kaj-Erik Eriksen was a new actor to me, but he gives life to probably one of the most likeable characters ever in horror and Kane was an imposing villain once again. I liked his look in this one and felt it was worked in to the script in a realistic way.
The film is well directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska (who also make cameos as corpses in the credits sequence), the morgue is a fantastic location and most of the action/kill scenes are well handled. There are a few moments where the characters do dumb things and the running around begins to get a tad tiresome, but the film doesn’t outstay its welcome.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The past few years at Halloween, I’ve been more excited to check out the VOD, DVD and Blu-Ray scene than I have to head to the cinema (I mean last year’s big release in the UK was The Haunting in Connecticut 2). In 2013, we had the excellent Curse of Chucky and this year See No Evil 2 has been my top recommendation so far. With Annabelle and Ouija receiving largely negative reviews, why not buy this? It’s cheaper than a cinema ticket and it’s never anything other than entertaining.
