All Hallows' Eve 2

Anthology can be a trick medium, you have many short stories told in such limited amount of time and with different direction. This formal is prone to consistency issue throughout, which is what happens to this particular anthology. The quality of each one is also varied, depending on the runtime as well as underlying concept, it can feel jarring and detached, especially on the longer less interesting ones.

This is a string of stories made in one theme, a woman watching a mysterious VHS of many strange occurrences. The similarity is vague, some stories might just end abruptly or simply too bizarre, creating a messy undertone. A couple of them even drag for a bit without too much pay off, this not only creates dull moments, it also hampers the pace for the other tales that follow.

At best it's a varied degree of successful short clips of campfire story. They don't have much depth in terms of narrative as many of them end in five or ten minutes, and the shocking revelations might not be satisfying. Others collection of short stories have presented nifty twists in the same amount of time, and while there is decent use of practical effect here, it's not the same level of dread.

The overall theme and quality displayed are not refined enough for more than average short bursts of thrill.

I liked Art in the first one, but I didn't need him to be in the sequel for it to be good. In fact, I do appreciate that he isn't in it, because I don't want to see him become a cash cow that gets milked whenever someone wants to make a buck.

That said, the reason Art worked in the first one is that he tied the stories together. I felt that, overall, the shorts didn't connect, at least not for me. I didn't mind most of them, but they were too short to make an impact. Just when you start getting into them, they end. I think fewer shorts, each getting more time to develop, would have made this better.

I also didn't feel any connection to the woman watching the films. I liked Katie Maguire in the first one. The woman in this one is forgettable.

Overall, fun, but not great.

In most every way this one was better than the first... except for one big part. The lack of the character Art the clown left this one as much more of a compilation of short films and not so much an anthology. While I'm sure they wanted to do something different with this one, Art was not only a wildly creepy addition but was also the connecting factor and cohesion throughout.

The actual over arching storyline between the shorts took a huge backseat and was very lacking which was unfortunate. Plus the pumpkin man severely paled in comparison to Art, but it didn't seem like they even tried tbh. In general it just felt a bit lazy.

Now, in every OTHER way this one was better than the first. The picture quality, the stories, the acting, the level of engagement and intrigue... all better. Because of this it kind of evens itself out to its predecessor landing pretty middle of the road. 5.5 rounding down to a 5. Would recommend.

Anthology films are few and far between recently. This project uses the structure as a way of showcasing nine often very short vignettes independently created by a different team and shown as a collection of unsavoury tales collected on a videotape. The tape falls into the hands, or rather is left at the door, of a young woman (Andrea Monia). The purpose of the videotape forms the enveloping story-line.

I won't go into details about the instalments, because their originality is very satisfying and it would be a shame to spoil that. Sometimes, instead of any detailed story, they are simply moments, like in a dream, of surreal occurrences which are nevertheless detailed and grounded enough to satisfy on their own merits. There are moments that had me turning away due to the graphic special effects, but this is far from drenched in gore. Rather, each weird tale builds up an ambience that is deliberately uneven and unpredictable.

This is a sequel to the original 'All Hallows' Eve' (2013), which was directed and produced by a different team. According to some reviews, the original was superior to this. This excites me, because I haven't seen it, and for the most part, I found this refreshingly original and generally well made.

My quick rating - 4,7/10. Another horror flick in the anthology format. If you are unfamiliar, these are short stories bundled together into one film, usually bound by an underlying central theme. This one, as the first one was (and also the "VHS" movies) is centered around a mysterious videotape appearing and the contents of it. That plot is nothing more then fodder to bring the stories on. This one had a few good shorts, some average, and the rest garbage. Pretty typical of anthology flicks. Not going to break them all down, that will be up to you but the first "All Hallows Eve" was definitely better and also had a much creepier encompassing story to it. Make sure on this Halloween to save some trick or treat candy for sweet tooth ;)