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.

SEE NO EVIL (2006)

 

(Director: Gregory Dark. Screenwriter: Dan Madigan.)

Storyline

In a falling-apart hotel, a psychopath (Jacob Goodnight) hunts a group of teenagers.

 

Review

EVIL is a solid slasher film. The acting, its setting, its pacing, and writing (for the most part) are entertaining in a smart-minded way. Jacob Goodnight is a chilling killer with a well-explained backstory─it helps that Glenn Jacobs, a.k.a. WWF/E wrestler Kane, plays him with brutal efficiency and surprising nuance when Goodnight’s emotional side comes to the fore (the guy’s got chops!). According to IMDb, the role was written specifically for the 6’7” wrestler, whose character’s name was not uttered in the film. The rest of the actors do their jobs well, and the stinking, corpse-strewn Blackwell Hotel (with its falling-apart secret passages and two-way mirrors) is a great, atmospheric terror site.

There are few surprises story-wise, instances of crude humor, and several scenes where characters─who have briefly knocked Goodnight out of action─fail to follow through in killing him because they flee or don’t help their friends when it matters most. This last flaw, a staple in the horror genre, is not egregious here like it is in other films because most of the other elements and execution of EVIL are top-notch. It’s not going to win anybody an Oscar, but in a genre littered with so many crappy flicks, a high-budget horror film that delivers continuous, smart-minded frights like this does stands out. If you’re a fan of crude humor, make sure to watch the end-credits. Followed by SEE NO EVIL 2 (2014, directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska, a.k.a. The Soska Sisters).