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Reviews
Chromeskull: Laid to Rest 2 (2011)
An enormous setback...
First of.. I enjoyed the first film. It were massively flawed in numerous ways, but there was entertainment value and potential to be seen. I am a cinephile and I believe I understand horror films including it's language and history. I would also like to mention that I had no expectations towards this project. I only figured that maybe the director and others involved would have grown since the last film, and maybe would have spotted what didn't work about it. Oh boy, was I wrong.
The most importang thing in horror is the human element/factor. There really needs to be a balance in all the grimness or else it will not have any impact. This goes for slashers as well. If not for anything else, characters can contribute with some humour. There is nothing in that vein to speak of concerning this. It seems to be directed by an angry inept 13 year old, having watched all the horror/slasher remakes of the 2000's. No finesse, No style, No intelligence, No craftsmanship, No suspense, No nothing.
I'll ignore the first entry from here on as this should be judged as a stand alone piece. By this I mean I will reference back to the first film, but I will not judge it by my expectations or as a sequel in any way. The first film was well above many other direct-to-DVD slasher flick. This one simply is beneath anything ever made in the genre. Ever. I am calm and quite relaxed when I write that this is the most bored I've ever been while watching a slasher flick. You know the feeling you get when your actually so bored your heart starts to race and your body is aching? Yeah well...
I won't bother with the plot as there really is no indication there even was a script on set. I would give it more slack if it at least did a well known formula, but there really is no plot whatsoever. Not even an unoriginal one, it simply does not exist in this dojo. Even horror fans in it only for the gore will be disappointed by this wreck of a film. At least the first film had character relations and some humour. This has neither.
Horrible camera work. You haven't experienced shaky-cam before you've seen this. I do passionately hate that obnoxious ''style'' but this is by far the worst I've ever seen. It even ruins the only enjoyable thing about it, the kills. There is not a stable shot to be found. No steadicam, No dolly tracks and No crane shots to be found in the entire running time of this one. They didn't even bother with a 20$ tripod it seems. It looks beyond amateurish, and the CONSTANT effect does not only suggest laziness, but a complete lack of visual style and personality. I can't even imagine this as being an artistic choice. It simply was not prioritised. This looks to have been shot ultra fast (these films usually are and it is no excuse) and with a vastly smaller budget than the first film.
Crap editing (The first one was guilty of this as well). Boring and irritating score. In fact, any filmatic quality is down the drain so I won't bother to list any more. It really does remind me a whole lot of ''Hatchet II''. It starts out with a decent first film and then... You'll be told that this is a great throwback (tho it is in fact modern in every way) and that it's fun and doesn't really need a plot as no one watches this films for that anyway. Ignore this claim.
The gore scenes are great though. And also the only thing the filmmakers (I do use the term lightly) chose to focus on while making this. It's simply not enough. The fantastic gore made me consider giving the film 2 stars, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It really does not deserve any.
A big wasted opportunity. The one thing we learn about the killer is not touched upon at all. It's noisy, excruciatingly boring and incompetent. We're talking later ''Saw'' installments. The focus jumps back and forth between the killer and the police and there is absolutely no involvement to speak of. There is shouting, fast edits and NOTHING else. Nothing actually happens in this dribble of a film. Avoid like the plague. It's not even worth checking out for the gore scenes. It simply lacks the fun of the genre and it takes itself way too serious. Even the idiotic cops isn't played for laughs, it's just dumb. I absolutely hated it.
(And indeed is there a scene after the credits. And it's incredibly uninspired).