All
Hallow's Eve 2 (2015/RLJ Entertainment DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C+
If
you combined Carpenter's Halloween, The Ring,
Creepshow, and Scream then you would have the vibe down
for the opening of All Hallow's Eve 2 - a Halloween-centric
anthology film from RLJ.
A
woman finds a VHS tape on her doorstep, after playing around with a
Ouija board, that shows a series of gruesome tales back to back, but
the true danger is the pumpkin-faced killer that's using the tape to
find his next victim and the fact that he's lurking outside of her
hotel room.
The
short films that consist this omnibus anthology release (with
different directors) are...
Jack
Attack: The art of pumpkin-carving gets vicious in this
interesting and gory short. A little silly at times, but the stop
motion animation at the end is pretty creative.
The
Last Halloween: Following the house-to-house exploits of four
trick-or-treaters on Halloween in a post apocalyptic world who may
not be who they are to be. An interesting visual story that is
surprisingly well shot with decent production design.
The
Offering: A father-son duo who travel to the woods to make a
sacrifice, only to find out that a key component has gone missing.
This segment has some cool snow cinematography at night.
M
Is for Masochist: A super quick glimpse of a sideshow carnival
game that relies on the sadism of men who are torturing some poor
soul strapped to a spinning wheel, all the while being directed by am
evil carny.
Mr.
Tricker's Treat: The local Halloween fanatic has the best
decorations in town.. and the most realistic.
A
Boy's Life: A very imaginative young boy goes to great lengths to
prove to his mom that the creature living under his bed isn't just a
story he's been telling.
Alexia:
A grieving man decides it's time to pull the plug on his infatuation
with his dead girlfriend's social media page - but it won't let him.
Descent:
A woman ends up stuck in an elevator with the escaped killer who
murdered her best friend. Nicely shot and full of suspense.
Presented
in standard definition with a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect
ratio and a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track, the film looks and sounds
fine on DVD but could benefit to a Blu-ray upgrade. No extras, with
the exception of a few trailers that run before the menu screen and a
chapter selection.
All
in all, this is a fun Halloween anthology film with some creative
ideas and decent production design. While easy to other look, I
wouldn't mind watching it again sometime.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
