SEE NO EVIL 2 (2014)

 

(Directors: Jen and Sylvia Soska. Screenwriters: Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby.)

Storyline

An uninvited Jacob Goodnight crashes an undertaker’s birthday celebration and does what does well: killing people.

Review

Religious fanatic and serial killer Jacob Goodnight returns in this disappointing sequel to the 2006 slasher SEE NO EVIL. The main problem with the film is its script, penned by Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby─not only does it resurrect, without explanation, Goodnight (whose death was explicitly shown onscreen in the first movie), but EVIL 2 quickly devolves into the usual, mostly uninspired hunt-and-slaughter situations of the genre. (A few of the kills are creative and visually interesting.) It does not help that the characters, as they’re written, don’t have much backstory or chemistry. Despite that, several of the actors in the film─Scream Queens Danielle Harris (HALLOWEEN 4 and 5, 1988 and 1989) and Katharine Isabelle (the GINGER SNAPS trilogy, 2000-2004) rise above the thin-even-for-horror characterizations and breathe as much life as they can into their roles, especially Isabelle, whose character (Tamara) is played with over-the-top zest. Glenn “Kane” Jacobs, once again, plays Goodnight as best he can. Unfortunately, anything fresh he brings to his character is hobbled by bad writing (though Goodnight speaks whole sentences now).

A plus-element in EVIL 2 is Jen and Sylvia Soska, a.k.a. the Soska Sisters, who do what they can to salvage this lackluster follow-up. It’s well-shot and they inject some visual humor here and there─e.g., in the opening credits, when their directorial billing is shown, the sisters are onscreen as two corpses on metal rolling carts.  I liked how Goodnight is dispatched (again) into the netherworld near the end, but the final shots─which should’ve come earlier in the film, answering any questions about his not being dead─are belatedly inserted, coming off as cheap-cheat finish.

You can skip EVIL 2, unless you’re a Soska Sisters/Harris/Isabelle/Kane completist.