I used to adore slasher flicks. I fell in love with Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and other like-minded 80's slasher clones. My bread and butter...my true horror love was John Carpenter's Halloween series. Horror has not been the same for a very, very, very long time. I've almost given up hope on slasher flicks and then comes something that catches me totally off guard. The first See No Evil was a surprise for me. It represented itself far too much as a "WWE" film rather than just a well made slasher flick but it was good old fashion, gory, in your face, run upstairs instead of out of the door slasher. Why it took them so long to do a second I have no idea!! Is it as good as the first? No. But it is a worthy successor. The very best thing about See No Evil 2 is that it feels exactly like a terrific 80's slasher film and actually has a distinctive Halloween vibe and I'm not sure I've ever said that about a slasher flick. That's a great compliment!! The whole time I was watching the movie I was thinking what a great starting script this would have made for an original Halloween instalment (not the Rob Zombie abomination that ruined it.) The biggest problem with See No Evil 2 is that it doesn't add anything to the Jacob Goodnight lore. Its rehashing the same information we learnt in the first. He's on another killing spree with no rhyme or reason and they need to build the legend that is Jacob Goodnight. Still they make it work and it works pretty darn well.
The cast is what they should be. They aren't amazing by any means and no stand out performances but they are a group of mostly no-name B-Movie actors whose purpose is to party and then die screaming. The cast is led by Danielle Harris. Now I admit, I have a ridiculous soft spot for this girl. I've had a crush on her since I was 11 and the first time I saw Halloween 4/5. She is a scream queen in her own right and sadly usually ends up in TERRIBLE D-Horror movies. This is actually pretty good for her. She makes the scene look appropriately intense and makes a solid heroine. I think I would have liked to have seen her fight back more, have some sort of connection to Jacob Goodnight and maybe get a little more of a backbone but she serves her purpose. Kaj-Erik Eriksen is also very good as our guy hero. He's a soft spoken mortician in love with Harris' character. He ends up being a solid bad-ass good guy who takes a beating and keeps on running. He's very down to earth and the chemistry with Harris is good enough without being great. Glenn Jacobs returns as our killer Jacob Goodnight. I literally ache to see them build on this character. They have the basics but nobody seems to want to expand that at all. Jacobs is massive (7 feet tall) and he's an imposing force and insanely fun to watch as a horror villain. But I want more from him and the character!! The rest of the cast are literally fodder for Goodnight and no one stands out really at all. Katherine Isabelle (who is a well known Canadian actress for horror classic Ginger Snaps) is excruciatingly irritating as twisted Tamara and the rest of the cast really have no development at all. They try to create this sub-story of sibling rivalry between Harris and Greyston Holt but that falls flat.
See No Evil 2 is about one thing...a rampaging monster. It could have been more but they left it at this and it was very entertaining. I am absolutely certain that Halloween 1/2 (against the John Carpenter ones not the Zombie ones) were inspirations for this. There were actually some very cleverly shot horror scenes in this and I give directors Jen and Sylvia Soskas kudos because they pay homage to a long forgotten form of horror film that I sincerely missed. Even scenes that I felt were carbon copied from earlier slasher films were still fun to watch. The scene with Isabelle and Lee Majdoub in the dark cooler with nothing but a match was very predictable and yet still downright creepy and well done. I'm not suggesting this is a classic or brilliant. I'm simply saying that I went in with mediocre expectations and had a great time watching it. It made me nostalgic for Halloween and bravo to them for that. I think they need to stop advertising this as a WWE film and Glen "Kane" Jacobs (you don't have as many fans as you think you do WWE and you're driving a wedge in a big demographic) get working on part 3 and bring on a really great writer who can kick-start a terrific background, legend, lore and tie it all together. I'm anxiously awaiting future instalments but enjoyed this one!! 7.5/10
The cast is what they should be. They aren't amazing by any means and no stand out performances but they are a group of mostly no-name B-Movie actors whose purpose is to party and then die screaming. The cast is led by Danielle Harris. Now I admit, I have a ridiculous soft spot for this girl. I've had a crush on her since I was 11 and the first time I saw Halloween 4/5. She is a scream queen in her own right and sadly usually ends up in TERRIBLE D-Horror movies. This is actually pretty good for her. She makes the scene look appropriately intense and makes a solid heroine. I think I would have liked to have seen her fight back more, have some sort of connection to Jacob Goodnight and maybe get a little more of a backbone but she serves her purpose. Kaj-Erik Eriksen is also very good as our guy hero. He's a soft spoken mortician in love with Harris' character. He ends up being a solid bad-ass good guy who takes a beating and keeps on running. He's very down to earth and the chemistry with Harris is good enough without being great. Glenn Jacobs returns as our killer Jacob Goodnight. I literally ache to see them build on this character. They have the basics but nobody seems to want to expand that at all. Jacobs is massive (7 feet tall) and he's an imposing force and insanely fun to watch as a horror villain. But I want more from him and the character!! The rest of the cast are literally fodder for Goodnight and no one stands out really at all. Katherine Isabelle (who is a well known Canadian actress for horror classic Ginger Snaps) is excruciatingly irritating as twisted Tamara and the rest of the cast really have no development at all. They try to create this sub-story of sibling rivalry between Harris and Greyston Holt but that falls flat.
See No Evil 2 is about one thing...a rampaging monster. It could have been more but they left it at this and it was very entertaining. I am absolutely certain that Halloween 1/2 (against the John Carpenter ones not the Zombie ones) were inspirations for this. There were actually some very cleverly shot horror scenes in this and I give directors Jen and Sylvia Soskas kudos because they pay homage to a long forgotten form of horror film that I sincerely missed. Even scenes that I felt were carbon copied from earlier slasher films were still fun to watch. The scene with Isabelle and Lee Majdoub in the dark cooler with nothing but a match was very predictable and yet still downright creepy and well done. I'm not suggesting this is a classic or brilliant. I'm simply saying that I went in with mediocre expectations and had a great time watching it. It made me nostalgic for Halloween and bravo to them for that. I think they need to stop advertising this as a WWE film and Glen "Kane" Jacobs (you don't have as many fans as you think you do WWE and you're driving a wedge in a big demographic) get working on part 3 and bring on a really great writer who can kick-start a terrific background, legend, lore and tie it all together. I'm anxiously awaiting future instalments but enjoyed this one!! 7.5/10