See No Evil 2

I had watched and reviewed Aliens earlier today and commented on how a proper sequel can be done.  It seems to me that certain franchises can deliver solid follow-ups, while some movies don't actually end up with more than one movie.  Some movies are solid enough on their own and don't need extra movies.  This is especially true in the horror genre.  Did we need 6 or 7 sequels for Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th?  Not particularly, but they did well enough that someone green-lit a follow-up.  Nightmare and Friday actually ended up with a few decent sequels.  Movies like Wrong Turn, only had 1 decent follow-up and the rest were garbage.  Nobody was expecting a sequel to See No Evil, the first film starring WWE Superstar Glen Jacobs, otherwise known as Kane.  It was a decent enough time, with enough grue and grime to satisfy, but it was nothing groundbreaking, except for Kane.  This guy was built for the genre.  He's extremely imposing at nearly 7 feet tall.  His character, Jacob Goodnight, wasn't particularly original,  but it was Kane's presence and ability to instill fear in people that drove the movie.  However, the film ended with Jacob's rather spectacular, CGI-infused death.  Yet, 8 years later, we get a sequel to See No Evil.

This movie picks up right where the first one left off, with bodies being taken to a local morgue, including that of Jacob Goodnight(Kane).  Amy(Danielle Harris) is about to take the night off to celebrate her impending birthday with her friends, when they get the call that they are getting nine corpses that night.  Amy decides to stay and help out with her "boyfriend," Seth(Kaj-Erik Erikson).  Her friends and brother decide to surprise her.  Two of them slip away when they find out that the body of Jacob Goodnight is being held downstairs.  The two that decide to slip away, find his corpse and decide to get all creepy with it, unbeknownst to them that Jacob isn't really dead(?).  First off, this movie takes place as soon as the first one ended.  Eight years ago.  If you're going to make a sequel like this, you may actually want to do it in a reasonable time frame.  To be honest, the first movie really didn't set the box-office on fire, and wasn't particularly well-received by fans and critics.  It just came and went.  The only thing that stood out about the movie was Kane.  So I have to ask: Why?  Goodnight's death in the first movie would've killed anybody that wasn't Freddy or Jason or Pinhead.  Goodnight was nothing more than abused human being.  Where does he get the special ability to come back to life?  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first movie, it was a decent romp, but this screams of desperation.  Secondly, if you're going to make a slasher movie, make the kills spectacular.

That's one of the more depressing things about this movie actually.  I was expecting more blood than I got.  Not even a dismemberment.  Seriously?  Goodnight's got an arsenal of medical equipment to bludgeon and dismember with and nobody loses an arm or a head?  Now, don't me wrong: I have no problems with horror movies showing restraint.  I've seen plenty that really, REALLY went overboard(I'm looking at you, Cannibal Holocaust.).  See No Evil 2 doesn't go far enough.  It doesn't even try.  Aside from one or two kills that are somewhat interesting, like watching somebody being embalmed.  Alive.  That's unique, I hadn't seen that one before.  But that's about as brutal as it gets.  As far as the characters go: Unlikable.  There's not one person here that screamed at me,"They should survive."  Everyone gets what's coming to them.  I realize that this is a slasher movie, so dumb people get killed.  But wouldn't it have taken a little more effort to make the characters a little more personable?  Katherine Issabelle's character is a borderline necrophiliac with an unhealthy obsession with serial killers, and she's irritating to boot.  There seem to be a lot of decisions behind the camera which lead to this movie being not so very good.  The directors were not particularly a good choice, I felt.  Jen and Sylvia Soska are twins and they seem to enjoy horror movies, but they don't seem to grasp the idea that for a movie like this, it needs to have a serious edge.  It can push the envelope, but it doesn't need to shred it.  You can see that they held back.

Are there good things about See No Evil 2?  Yes, there are.  One, the stunts are actually pretty decent.  Most of the blood is practical, which is always a plus.  The embalming death was actually pretty cool.  Kane is simply a presence.  By giving him a mask, that allows Kane to really become monstrous.  Considering that Kane wore a mask throughout most of his WWE career, Kane really got into it and was very threatening and intense.  Danielle Harris is drop-dead gorgeous.  It's too bad that she ends up picking some really bad movies to be in.  This girl's got talent, but it's absolutely wasted here.  She was great in the last two Hatchet movies, but aside from Rob Zombie's Halloween(the first one), she really hasn't had a decent flick.  Everybody else?  I don't care.  The first film was pretty generic, but it had some decent visuals and felt really grimy.  See No Evil 2?  Just plain.....plain.  Aside from Glen Jacobs, there's nothing particularly memorable about this movie.  I haven't seen any other movies directed by the Soska Sisters, but if this movie is any indication, I don't want to.  It's not dreadful; I have seen worse.  But it does NOTHING to stand out from the rest. 6/10 is all this one's getting.  I guess somebody needs to tell the WWE that some sequels just don't need to be made.