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.

See No Evil (2006)

From the opening sequence of See No Evil it's clear that director Gregory Dark and writer Dan Madigan know the basics of slasher movies. Yes, everything kicks off with a traumatic incident that took place a few years in the past. The killer is glimpsed, a potential hero (Steven Vidler) is maimed, and a clear M.O. is shown. As the film plays out, it becomes clear that these men want viewers to have fun without thinking too much about how ridiculous the whole thing becomes. I don't feel too bad about that, many slasher movies throw logic and common sense out of the window as soon as people start to get killed off, but it's a shame that they didn't just make a bit more effort to tidy things up and create something a bit easier to buy into.

Glenn Jacobs is Jacob Goodnight, a killer who likes to pluck out eyes. If you don't know who Glenn Jacobs is then you'll probably know of his wrestling persona, Kane. Yes, this is a movie sold almost purely on the fact that it stars Kane as an eye-plucking psycho. But who would be silly enough to be in the vicinity of such an unfriendly fellow? Well, it's a bunch of young offenders, given the chance to earn some time off their sentence by cleaning up an old hotel. Unbeknownst to them, Goodnight is in that hotel and the years haven't mellowed him.

Fans of Rachael Taylor may enjoy the fact that she's one of the young offenders in this movie. She gets a decent bit of screentime, even if she doesn't particularly impress during any of her scenes. Vidler is much better, but he's also given a more interesting character to play - a cop with an injury to permanently remind him of his encounter with Goodnight. From the group of youngsters assembled to play the other killer fodder/young offenders, Christina Vidal, Penny McNamee, and Luke Pegler do enough to stand out, ever so slightly, from the group. Kane is great though, and his lumbering, vicious killer makes this worth a watch. Admittedly, he doesn't have to do much besides appear behind people and then cause them to die suddenly, but he has a talent for it.

People start to disappear quite quickly, with nobody realising that they're gone for far too long, so just bear in mind that it's THAT kind of slasher movie. The deaths are a mixed bag, as is the CGI that often accompanies them. The computer work may be overdone, and practical effects would have been better to give this more of a fun, old school feel, but it's hard to hate it when it's being used to help make moments of nastiness even nastier.

Horror is a huge umbrella, which means that we fans often take a LOT of bad with the good. This will never be a favourite of mine, and I'm unlikely to revisit it, but I'm sure there are others who will get a lot more pleasure from it. It's perfectly fine for what it sets out to be, a horror vehicle for Kane. For anyone not wanting to watch a WWE slasher flick . . . . . . well, there are literally thousands of other movies for you to choose from.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/See-No-Evil-Blu-ray-Kane/dp/B0027VTMAO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412713744&sr=8-1&keywords=see+no+evil+blu+ray