The Barn: Part II

I've never see the original,. So I don't have anything with which to compare this. You get enough of the backstory to know what's going on, though, so you can watch this as a standalone flick and still be good.

This isn't winning any awards, but in current year, that's a positive. No agenda. No message. Just plain, good, clean fun. Well, not clean - there's a bit of nudity thrown in - so still fun :)

Everybody looks way too old to be in college, but for the most part, they're decent enough actresses. The plot is about what you would expect from a B movie, and there is the required amount of "wrongness." One such example is when the pumpkin head guy - who has a flame going in his head - gets lighter fluid squirted on him and, predictably, it ignites. Later, though, that same guy gets sprayed with some flammable liquid and yet, even though he's still flaming, now the script requires a lighter to be thrown at him to get the liquid ignited. ¯\_(* *)_/¯

Anyway, it's a fun movie that you can watch without having to endure preaching or browbeating. Pop some popcorn, turn down the lights, sit back and just enjoy.

I don't remember a lot about my 2016 viewing of the original "The Barn" in terms of content, but I do vividly recall having a good time and admiring what writer/director Justin M. Seaman accomplished without much of a budget but with plenty of enthusiasm & dedication for the splatter genre!

Seven years later, the sequel still looks (deliberately?) cheap and amateurish, while the tongue-in-cheek laughs and crazy make-up effects even got more extreme. Moreover, and this is always a good sign, famous names from the B-movie industry are apparently standing in line to play a small role or make a cameo appearance. Not many young and aspiring horror directors are able to say their film stars Doug Bradley, Linnea Quigley, Lloyd Kaufman, and Joe Bob Briggs. Like its predecessor, "The Barn part II" is a pleasantly deranged and outrageously gore. The ideal "Halloween" treat.

The year is 1992, and Halloween celebrations are still banned in the small town of Helen's Valley, following the bloody massacre three years earlier. The local girls' sorority Gamma Tau Psi organizes a secret Halloween event as a fundraiser, though, and can you guess where? In the exact same barn where bloodthirsty demons and creatures crawled out of the old mining well in 1989 already!

There isn't much else to write about "The Barn Part II", except that it's a deliciously entertaining throwback to old-fashioned low-budgeted splatter horror from the 1980s. It's a non-stop spitfire of extreme (but fantastic) handmade DIY gore effects, tasteless humor, and gratuitous nudity provided by girls that are way too old to be in a sorority! The Boogeyman miner, Hallowed Jack-o-Lantern and Candycorn Scarecrow make their glorious comeback, and this time there are also an admirably grim Black Crow monster and a man-sized squealing pig. The mayhem and slaughter they unleash together is unspeakable. Horror icon Linnea Quigley stars as an old hag who hates Halloween, Doug Bradley gets to say stuff like "Raise some Hell" with an evil grin on his face, and Diana Prince still plays a seductive sorority girl even though she's a 45-year-old retired porn actress. If you have a heart for horror, you cannot dislike this film; - it's as simple as that.

While I can't claim that the 2016 movie "The Barn" was a movie that overly impressed or entertained me, then I still opted to sit down and watch the 2022 sequel "The Barn Part II", on the off chance that this movie might be a step in the right direction.

I can't say that I harbored much of any high hopes for this movie from writer and director Justin M. Seaman, as it had the likes of Lloyd Kaufman, John Bloom and Ari Lehman on the cast list. But I figured, I would still give it a chance, when it also had Doug Bradley and Jason Brooks on the cast list.

While the "The Barn Part II" was definitely a step up from the 2016 predecessor, then it was by no means a grand horror experience. The storyline was pretty vague, if not actually downright weak. It felt erratic and as if there was no real continuation to a scene once someone had been killed.

Visually, then "The Barn Part II" was a step up from the predecessor as well. There were some fair enough effects in the movie, though you will not be bedazzled or blown away.

"The Barn Part II" is a movie that is semi-suitable for a single viewing, but that is about it.

My rating of "The Barn Part II" lands on a four out of ten stars.

This movie was EXACTLY what I wanted it to be

A fun horror movie with a fun story, likable characters, and creative kills, all set to an awesome retro Halloween vibe with a matching aesthetic and plenty of practical effects

As big fan of the original film, The Barn, I was incredibly excited to see the follow up The Barn II and had a premiere night with some friends

Once the Blu-Ray arrived, we cleared our calendars, bought some pumpkin ales and candy, all to add to the Halloween atmosphere

I'm not going to get into spoiler territory but let's just say there's a few welcome surprises in store :)

At first I was like, "what in the low budget attempt at horror" is this?! But as I got deeper into the movie, I was like "no, scratch that. THIS IS AWESOME!!!". It's just so, I don't know, nostalgic. It's brings back way too many good feels, it made me giddy with happiness, I didn't even care much about the "horror", I just honestly enjoyed it.

It's like Are You Afraid of the Dark x Goosebumps x Night of the Crazies x Trick r Treat x Return of the Living Dead. It's just so freakin' fun! I didn't even have to watch the prequel to enjoy the movie. It pretty much can stand on its own. I am, however, gonna watch it now.

This belongs to every Halloween Movie Marathon list. I can't believe it's a movie from 2022. Glad to know there are creators out there who could still produce great material.