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Wednesday, October 26, 2022

10/31 Part II Review


Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A sequel continuing the Halloween-centric anthology series.

Review: Well, part 1 was painful to sit through, but would you believe part 2 is significantly better? Now, don't get me wrong, this is still low-budget schlock, however, the creators are having more fun with the material. I don't think we get into anything that could be considered good, yet, I think entertainment can be found in this entry.

Fake Trailers: Realistically, these were the best part of the whole film for me. The first trailer in particular was an admirable nod to '70s/early '80s aesthetics. This was that fun-factor I was looking for from these low-budget movies, and they succeeded.

Wraparound: They bring back that fake Elvira again even though she's more useless this time than before. I don't understand why the filmmakers did not have her serve as the setup and closing to each segment. This would have helped explain some of the more shenanigan-heavy moments. Oh well, maybe they'll learn by part 3?

A Samhain Liturgy: As the first story proper this is a bit of a mess. Some girl is babysitting a brat and wants her boyfriend to come over. Then we get a slew of nonsensical plot points ripped from countless movies: the kid has a monster in the basement, the parents are part of a cult, the brat is a wannabe Michael Myers: Rob Zombie edition, the babysitter is actually a chosen one, etc. I mean, I guess the crew tried, right?

Dead Lift: I want to like this tale, but two things hold it back. One: the audio is fucking shit! Two: it borders on pretentious. The main guy is a fake Uber or Lyft and picks up an alien seemingly. There is a good buildup, but I don't think we have nearly enough time or setup to tackle the themes at play. Rather than this thought-provoking introspection about life that the crew is going for, things come off incoherent and the ending is corny without much resolution. Nonetheless, I do want to acknowledge I appreciate the effort involved in this particular tale compared to the rest.

Apache Hatchet Massacre II: This was definitely filler material to pad out the run time. In some ways I get the parody-like approach, but it's nowhere near balls to walls like the title would imply. The crazy part is that it's barely longer than some of the fake trailers and nowhere near their level of charm.

Overkill: Now this was closer to the parody level that the last story was striving to become. We start off with a Jason clone killing a couple before moving on to his next victim. However, discount Jason has competition with another serial killer wanting the glory. While they "argue," a clown appears and some grim reaper-ish guy steals the kill. Eh, I wasn't laughing, but the goofy setup did amuse me.

Sister Mary: Oh man, this is not how you close out an anthology, baby. This was both pretentious and dumb as fuck. Some porn star-looking nun lives a normal life when not at the convent or something. She meets some dude, they fall in love, she gets pregnant, and loses her mind. She decides the only way to fix things is to kill her guy and take a stairwell abortion. The other nuns will never know what happened. Makes perfect sense...if you're an idiot. So this lets the devil come for her or something. Whatever, dude. The end.

So, as you can probably tell, this still isn't the kind of movie you're going to write home about. With that said, there was more care to these segments with better effects and presentation. You still have to understand the kind of cornball film you'll get, but it's a leg above part 1.

Notable Moment: I'm going to say the first trailer, "Treaters," was the highlight of the whole experience for me.

Final Rating: 4.5/10

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