All Hallows' Eve 2

As a massive fan of Art the clown, from the first film and Terrifier, i was excited to watch this... He's on the picture, but not actually in the film, which is pretty disappointing, and this film lost a few stars from my rating because of it. Otherwise it's a good film, but still prefer the first!

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.

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 ;)

For sure, it could be said this entry lacks that which made the first something more special. Is it using old shorts from YouTube? Maybe. Is it the lack of a proper foreground story? Probably.

But nonetheless, it's a fine combination of horror shorts - obviously some lesser than others but that's a very subjective opinion. None of the shorts are overly gory and the ones which stand out stand out VERY well and it's quite clear why they should be featured in this movie. The cinematography and acting is surprisingly solid throughout all shorts and the effects aren't too shabby either.

All in all, it's not a terrible waste of an hour and thirty minutes of your life - but I wouldn't plan a movie night around it.

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.