1.85:1, respecting the original 35mm presentation filmed by cin- ematographer Jordan Cronenweth (ALTERED STATES, CUTTER’S WAY, BLADE RUNNER). The source material is mostly free of artifacts, but, as often is the case with less-photo-sensitive color film of this generation, heavy grain engulfs dark interiors (no fault of the transfer). DTS-HD Master Audio mono sound is offered. The supplementary feature (21m 49s) divulges Schrader’s dis- satisfaction with changes to his original treatment by re-writer Heywood Gould, who was brought in to add character depth and a more flattering characterization of US soldiers. The gun battle in Ciudad Juárez originally devised by Schrader was altered signifi- cantly in terms of outcome. Other supplements were culled from the original theatrical promotion, in- cluding a theatrical trailer (2m 31s), a TV spot (32s), four radio spots, and a photo gallery. The packaging understates the runtime by nearly 5m.
SEE NO EVIL 2
2014, Lionsgate, 90m 12s, $19.99 DVD-1, $24.99 BD-A
THE ABCs OF DEATH 2 2014, Magnet, 122m 18s, $26.98, DVD-1 By Tim Lucas
I’ll say it straight up: I think the Soska sisters—Jen and Sylvia, the Twisted Twins—are the most positive and energizing creative force the horror and exploitation genres have seen in some time. Their two previous features, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK (2009) and AMERICAN MARY (2012), reviewed VW 175:35, respectively represent a victory over budget and a triumph over expectation that left any number of possible roads open to them. The latter— a wickedly comic, feminist fable
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that, among other things, uses the genre to describe how contempo- rary society has made criminality too profitable for many to refuse— warrants recognition as one of the best horror films of the last de- cade, and significantly more than that if we narrow the playing field to North America. In addition to being talented filmmakers who have already forged a voice of their own within the genre, they have also proven themselves to be self-promoters with few peers. With their matching hairstyles, distinct complementary personali- ties and energetic charisma, they are the Beatles of Blood. The Soskas have been keep- ing busy since completing AMERI- CAN MARY, making two features almost back-to-back for WWE Stu- dios, as well as a segment for the anthology film THE ABCs OF DEATH 2. The second of the WWE films, a prison-set action film called VENDETTA, will be re- leased by Lionsgate this summer, but their return to active duty be- gan with SEE NO EVIL 2, a be- lated though direct sequel to a 2006 film that introduced wres- tling star Glenn “Kane” Jacobs as Jacob Goodnight—a seven-foot- tall, 400-pound, overbearingly mothered mountain of muscle dedicated to collecting the eye- balls of all those who have sinned in his (or Mother’s) eyes. The original SEE NO EVIL
wasn’t much to write home about. Directed by Gregory Dark—aka Gregory Brown, Gre- gory Hippolyte, Alexander Gregory Hippolyte, or Jon Valentine, de- pending on whether the format was music video, softcore or hard- core porn—from a script by Dan Madigan, it followed the misfor- tunes of a group of arrogant teen- age coed delinquents bussed to the burned-out Blackwell Hotel, where they have been promised that some months will be knocked off their sentences if they help to
spruce the place up. Unknown to them and their prison supervisors, the hotel is being used as an elaborate spider web of sorts for the lumbering Jacob and his di- minutive, nattering, Bible-crazed mother (Nancy Bell). The only re- markable thing about SEE NO EVIL—a film covered in grime and slime and generally awash in mis- ery—is not its evident misogyny but rather its misanthropy; it shows an absolute non-partisan
loathing for all humanity. The most likeable characters suffer the most and the worst, while the most loathsome character ulti- mately leads the final exodus to safety. When you watch the film, you can see the germ of an idea that might have worked—wherein the derelict hotel becomes an on- screen variety of Halloween haunted house—but the camera is on permanent throttle and it is not an enjoyable ride.
It’s no surprise that this op- pressive, unpleasant franchise bid didn’t spawn any immediate re- turn trips—eight years passed between its two chapters, which is virtually the distance between HALLOWEEN and HALLOWEEN IV (which, by coincidence, intro- duced Danielle Harris, the star of
SEE NO EVIL 2). What is surpris- ing is that the WWE approached the Soska Sisters to helm a se- quel, and that they accepted—it seems they are wrestling fans and, making no secret of their disap- pointment with the earlier picture, were eager to demonstrate what they could achieve with a fixer- upper. It seems they could do quite a bit.
In its skill and cleverness, in its playfulness and bawdiness, SEE NO EVIL 2 is quite reminis- cent of John Carpenter’s HAL- LOWEEN, though it is set in a hospital environment closer to that of Rick Rosenthal’s HALLOWEEN 2—a perpetuation, perhaps, of the Soskas’ evident misgivings about
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