“We’re not quite alive and we’re not quite dead….” Trite dialogue abounds in Dave Payne’s disappointing sequel to his own, modestly effective REEKER. Whereas the original managed to transcend the inherent absurdity of its own unique monster, this sequel, which replays many scenarios and ideas from its predecessor, succeeds in highlighting the silliness of a horror franchise built around repeated variations on characters asking “Did you smell that…?”.
A disarming prologue gets the movie off to a decent start by offering an eerie glimpse of Reeker : The Early Years ; while the title hints at the entire movie being a prequel, this sequence is the only sustained insight into the monster’s origins. In the not too distant past, a creepy, bald salesman serial killer nicknamed the “Death Valley Drifter” gruesomely turns a stranger into road kill : replacing the memorable half-face of the original’s prologue, this film’s opening offers grim glimpses of the victim with one leg hanging on by a thread prior to his tongue being snipped off. The killer is subsequently caught and executed in a gas chamber ; in the present he is the enigmatic (though now less so) “Reeker”.
The first film had the minor gimmick of a central blind character whose heightened sense of smell assisted everyone in the fight against a notably smelly villain. The only fresh angle Payne brings to this film’s ensemble is the prominence of a female character with NO sense of smell. Must have taken a lot of thought that one, eh? Somewhere in the desert, a feisty waitress and a soon-to-retire Sheriff – present for the aforementioned execution – get caught up in the antics of some criminals who have just robbed a casino. Inevitably (but too slowly) they wind up targets for Reeker.
Whereas REEKER was quite a smart and inventive movie, this follow-up (some novel gore aside) gets bogged down in way too many hackneyed tricks, including a numbing array of noisy fake jump scares and old chestnuts such as the “Look behind you!” bathroom mirror “shock”. The first film’s smattering of wit and appealing characters have been replaced by a charmless cast and too much forced quirkiness : the offbeat banter (“I like it when fish fuck!”) just comes off as intrusive.
The Reeker himself is still fairly interesting in his intermittent appearances even though the script keeps undercutting his effectiveness by emphasizing his silliness (“some ghost with a hygiene problem”). Maybe the film’s most grating aspect are the repetitive, dumb stand-offs, with GO’s Desmond Askew proving to be an especially annoying, shouty criminal-on-the-run. When Payne offers a goofy variation on REEKER’s half-face gag – this time with Askew crashing into an invisible wall and emerging alive with the top half of his head missing and brain exposed – the actor proves to be just as irritating as before and the sick humor of the scenario is neutered.
With 80’s splatter gags involving half-bodies running around, Payne strives for a splat-stick approach while still wanting to evoke chills (the ending is actually quite eerie). It might have worked with a less heavy scripting hand and a more likeable bunch of characters.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
