kannibalcorpsegrinder

Supposedly thinking the killer is stopped, the townsfolk are shocked to learn the Skull Mask killer has survived the destruction of his carnival attraction lair and sets out to seek revenge on the rest of the town forcing a teenage couple and the surviving police to stop his rampage.

This was a generally fun and effective follow-up. Among the better elements found here is the strong central setup that provides quite a lot to enjoy within this one. There's some great work here about the return of the killer to the town as the initial setup offering a fire destroying the attraction layout he hid out in, and then going around town on his rampage, knocking off citizens in the outskirts before targeting the main couple that we've been following throughout here, makes everything come together quite nicely. This relationship is another solid point here with the couple being a genuinely fun duo that we follow and feel genuinely for throughout the film, making the killer targeting them feel far more impactful. That brings about some far better than expected stalking scenes here, bringing the killer into the community and taking out victims. The initial scenes out in the countryside, taking out the traveler by the side of the road or the farmer in the farmhouse looking for the source of a strange noise, come off incredibly well with the film nicely employing far more traditional stalking scenes of the killer being in the area and looking for a chance to strike out at others, generating some solid suspense. This carries over into later attacks including the stellar rampage through the police station where he wades through several officers in brisk fashion leading to some great kills as well all leading into the strong finale where the action nicely matches what the storyline motivations of everything, giving this a lot to like. There isn't much to dislike here, but it does have some slight issues. The main detriment is the somewhat underwhelming and lacking pacing that tends to be far more structured on life in the town than anything. It takes up a lot of time here detailing the low-key lifestyle featured here that has some intriguing work on getting to know who the characters are yet that does come off with a slow-tempo that keeps things quite slack while doing this. That comes about as well due to its other issue, where its low-budget origins are pretty front and center with the limited scale and lack of scope that highlights the kind of guerilla production it so obviously is, more of a personal preference issue than anything. These are what end up being a few issues here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

Trying to recharge her batteries, a stressed writer arrives in a small town and starts to look around an abandoned swamp-tour attraction only to fall victim to a serial killer from town haunting the area, and when her father comes looking for her is forced to team with the local sheriff to find her.

Overall, this was a far better indie slasher than expected. Among the better elements here come from the concerted and quite intriguing means of offering characterisations throughout. The whole setup of her needing a break from work for her mental health status and requiring a trip to help refresh and refuel is a nice way to introduce her to the action, as this goes a long way to introduce her through the work as well as home struggles. As well, the different storylines involving the residents of town, either going about their lives or the various inter-office workings that take place at the police station, as we get an in-depth build-up of characters here in a measured, methodical tempo, all create this fun setup as a starting point. On top of that, there's also quite a lot to like here as the film becomes far more of a slasher effort in the finale. As the investigation into the missing daughter causes them to head out and investigate the abandoned attraction where she was last seen, it allows the strong series of ambush sequences of the killer appearing to strike the victims around the attraction, resulting in some fine confrontations and some decent if unspectacular gore. Starting with the initial abduction of the writer in the abandoned attraction that has some immensely impressive suspense scenes that are incredibly enjoyable here to go alongside the opening of the first victim getting brutally sliced and stabbed, there's a nice balance of stalking suspense and brutal action. With a fantastic conclusion that's quite unexpected and pulled off quite well, these are the big aspects of this one here even though there are some minor issues to bring it down. The main factor is more likely to be a personal preference feature, which is the aforementioned methodical pacing here. That this one takes its time getting to know the characters or focusing on suspenseful stalking means that a lot of the film doesn't have a lot of slashing action, as the majority of that is kept for the final twenty minutes or so. On top of that, there's some confusing means of keeping the big brawl at the end that has a highly underwhelming sense of action with the way it's filmed in low-light filtered to neon lighting that makes it hard to see and gives it all a low-budget tone and feel. That also carries on through the rest of the film overall, as this is pretty obvious and doesn't really hide it, making for the overall drawbacks to this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

Returning home from college, a student spending time catching up with her family is roped into babysitting for a friend at a local sheriff's house for his kid on Halloween night, but when she finds herself harassed by a killer, she must find the motivation to stop him.

This was an okay enough slasher throwback, although it had some issues. Among the better factors involved here is the fun enough and likeable setup that provides this one with some intriguing enough storylines. The main storyline about the woman coming home and trying to make up for lost time with the rest of her family, only to get brought into the babysitting gig that brings her out to the remote house where the rest of the film takes place, offering the kind of setup where it could've been somewhat fun. The constant notices of the stranger in the area wanting to target her but the series of different interactions found there offer up the kind of suspense that really should've made this far more tense when it gets to the realization that the killer is stalking her in his house following up on the police investigation taking place alongside all this, providing this with some likable enough factors. Outside of this, there are some big issues present that keep this one down. The main drawback present is the sluggish and draining tempo of what's going on in the secondary storylines that aren't that interesting or provide a reasonable enough series of interactions that keep the film moving along. With the majority of this focusing on the murder tapes revealing a gruesome accident in town from years earlier that the sheriff is deadset on solving which instead seems to paint the most obvious suspects of the crime, it feels quite apparent what's going on here as there's little about this that's deviated from the expected, nor is any of it all that interesting. The connection between the stories is trying to make the connections happen when it all just ends up eating into the running time before it all comes back around in a predictable manner at the end. The other factor holding this one down is the series of nonsensical and generally confusing revelations that come about from the killer's final unraveling and motivation. This is the kind of wholly mixed-up series of plot points that would require so much contrivance to play out to come together that there are some unnecessary steps to set everything in motion, which are pulled together more so that it'll be a surprise rather than a genuine factor of this one if it were to come off in a logical sense. That goes as well for the strange resolution that has some bizarre choices here with regards to how the survivors come together and letting everything play out as it feels to go against the rational parts of the storyline for coming up with a shocking ending that doesn't make sense, all of which come together poorly to hold this down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.