See No Evil 2 (2014)

It's not often that you get your hopes up for a horror movie sequel, but that's what happened here. This sequel follows on directly from the events of the first film. Many corpses have been found at a major crime scene, including that of an eyeball-gouging killer named Jacob Goodnight (played, once more, by Glenn Jacobs AKA Kane). The bodies are taken to a city morgue, as expected, but that morgue is actually full of some young revellers all helping young Amy (Danielle Harris) to celebrate her birthday. It's not long until Goodnight manages to get up off the mortuary table, and the death toll starts up again.

Written by first-timers Nathan Brookes and Bobby Lee Darby, the main draw here, apart from certain cast members, was the fact that Jen and Sylvia Soska were hired to direct this film. Having enjoyed both of their previous features, I was hoping they could do something fun and interesting with a thin, tired premise. Unfortunately, the weak script really leaves them little to work with, and the only real fun to be had is during the first 20-30 minutes. Once the killing starts, it all starts to slide downhill.

Kane is still a decent choice for Jacob Goodnight, with his obvious physical presence and ability to break most people in two with minimal effort. Harris is okay in her role, she's been a fan favourite for years and makes up for her standard genre acting range with familiarity and likability. Katharine Isabelle, playing a friend, and reveller, who has a bit of a fetish for psycho killers, is much better, but she's not onscreen for long enough. And then there's Chelan Simmons, who I always tend to enjoy in horror fare, mainly because she often plays characters who add a bit of fun or humour to the proceedings. The men fare far worse, with only Kaj-Erik Eriksen making a good impression, playing a colleague who has a crush on Harris (completely understandable). I'll mention Greyston Holt, Lee Majdoub and Michael Eklund, but I won't waste my time trying to think of anything positive to say about their performances, although they're far from the worst that I've seen acting in the genre.

What really sinks this film is just the disappointing lack of energy. Even the kills aren't very memorable or inventive, something that the original film at least tried to get right. If you have a slasher movie without any impressive death scenes then what's the point? Does it get some stuff right? Yes. The Soska twins are competent enough to put together some polished camerawork and stylish moments, but that's about it.

If you like Kane, Harris and Isabelle then this is worth a watch, but only just. If you dislike any of those performers then I recommend just leaving this one well alone. Because they're the main plus points in a movie that's otherwise insipid and uninspired.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/See-No-Evil-2-Blu-ray/dp/B00M6X9ZI2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412881347&sr=8-1&keywords=see+no+evil+2

Yes, I went for this picture to accompany the review. And I'd do it again, I tells ya.