Review: See No Evil 2

Genre: Horror
Directed by: Jen and Sylvia Soska
Starring: Glenn Jacobs, Danielle Harris, Katherine Isabelle
Written by: Nathan Brookes, Bobby Lee Darby

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Synopsis: A group of friends pays a late-night visit to the city morgue to surprise Amy (Harris) on her birthday. But the surprise is on them when the one-eyed corpse of brutal psychopath Jacob Goodnight (Jacobs) unexpectedly rises from a cold sub-basement slab. Their wild party quickly turns into a terrifying slay-fest as the sadistic mass-murderer resumes his savage rampage complete with hooks, surgical knives and power saws. (c) Lionsgate

After an 8 year hiatus Jacob Goodnight is back, right in time for Halloween. See No Evil 2 currently out on DVD. BluRay, and On Demand brings back the evil eye collector to terrorize another group of attractive young adults. This time the story takes place in a morgue of all places. Seems fitting. Amy (Harris) works at a morgue where Jacob Goodnight’s body is about to be put away into the freezer. Of course before that happens Amy’s friend decide decide to throw her a surprise birthday party..at the morgue! Unknown to them is that Goodnight isn’t dead and the party is about to get an unwelcome visitor.

That’s the film in a nutshell, what follows next is a bunch of slash, dash, and screams. Typical horror formula. The movie doesn’t seem to have much of a plot. Aside from the initial setting of a surprise birthday party at a morgue. The morgue being the only location the film takes place adds a nice touch of creepiness to the film. Unlike the original See No Evil, which was a smart, intriguing, and original story this one falls flat. There is no character development. The back-story was emphasized in the first film. You got to see why Jacob Goodnight is as twisted as he appears. See No Evil 2 doesn’t emphasize or care to expand of what we learned in the first film. It’s a lazy and boring attempt and throwing blood and guts on-screen.

It’s a monster bash

Glenn Jacobs is solid once again in the role of Goodnight. He has an intimidating look without makeup and costume. They made him look more grotesque in this film by adding a clear Jason-like hockey mask and emphasizing his disfigured face that’s now missing an eye. I’m not sure that was even a wise choice. The look he had in the first film was imposing enough. Jacobs does have a lot of potential to continue his horror movie career once his WWE days are behind him. There aren’t many muscular 7-footers in Hollywood. Danielle Harris who plays Amy is a veteran of the B-movie horror genre. She’s familiar with the genre and does a commendable job. The rest of the cast fails to stand out.

It’s fairly evident the Soska sisters were trying to stray away from the first See No Evil. Blood and gore are the main plot line for this film. It’s unfortunate because the Jacob Goodnight character has a lot of potential with the story that was established in See No Evil. Clearly this was a forced release straight to DVD, with the hopes people will check it out during Halloween season. If you were a fan of the original with the hopes of this one being as entertaining then you will be disappointed. If you are just looking for a slasher horror that focuses on the kills and has no plot then this might be worth renting. Aside from the location being the morgue, which I found intriguing, I actually found the end ending of the film to be the least disappointing part of it. Most horror films end in a predictable fashion, this one had a bit of a surprise. The ending saved the film from being a disaster. I just hope they don’t decide to hold the third See No Evil till 2020.