Picking up immediately after the events of the first, I was surprised at how well established and interconnected these films where. Even if only briefly, it was a very smart decision to have the remaining surviving members set up the story for this next chapter. I was expecting all three parts of the trilogy to be stand alone entries with a small sub-plot inclusion at the end of the third film, tying all three together. If this can continue on into the closing chapter, I think this might possibly be one of the stronger over arcing stories from a horror series I've come across. Being filmed as a trilogy from the start is something that is working extremely well for these films. Being a big 80's rock music fan, this score seemed to resonate with me much more than the 90's soundtrack in the first film. As much as I loved the score from the first this felt much more in keeping with my musical tastes, featuring heavy hitters such as David Bowie, Buzzcocks, Kansas and The Blue Öyster Cult. I must admit though, I didn’t personally like the use of the 70's/80's style movie score. I understand that this was deliberately done to be in keeping with the era but, the dramatic nature of it felt very dated and strangely almost out of place here. There is certainly some extremely graphic and violent kills in this entry, all of which look outstanding and from what I could tell, look mostly practical. One of my favorites is the decapitation of Gary (who is played by Drew Scheild from 'Halloween 2018' fame), his death was so sharp and unexpected in that moment. I did like that this film had the bravery to kill kids, granted these are all done off screen (and rightly so). This is just something I was very surprised to see happen but it also felt like a wasted opportunity. Having a slightly older cast would have made for much more on screen carnage and violence. This is an era of slasher films that was renowned for the creativity of its kills, something I think this film slightly missed the mark on. The casting here is flawless. Sadie Sink who plays Ziggy is an incredibly talented actress who I strongly believe is going to go on to do great things in the genre. I can't help but feel like she is slightly under utilised in the first half of this film and I think I would have preferred her to have a much more prominent role throughout. I found Emily Rudd who plays Ziggys older sister Cindy to be another of the stand out, along with McCabe Slye as Tommy (who would go on to become the Camp Nightwing Slasher). These and many others all seemed to naturally fall into place within the chosen era, providing a much needed sense of authenticity. In my review for part one, I said how the Camp Nightwing Slasher was my favourite of the group and how I would like him to have a much bigger role in the sequels. Well that is definitely the case here, however, it wasn't explored exactly how I imagined. I found his reveal to be fairly predictable and underwhelming and the absence of his mask throughout majority of the run time to be something that really bothered me. He didn't feel half as intimidating as he did in part one and I think the demystification of his character is likely to be the cause of that. Revealing too much about him too early on was a mistake, in my opinion. I know that this is widely popularised as the strongest of the trilogy, but for me, I couldn't help but find it slightly weaker in comparison to part one. That's not to say this is a bad film in any way, it was a very enjoyable 80's throwback camp slasher. I just think the humour was stronger in the first and the killers overall seemed to hold much more impact. The sole focus being on one antagonist here for the majority of the run time was disappointing to say the least. With such strong character development with various slasher villains previously, I think I was just expecting slightly more from this entry than what we ultimately got.
💀💀💀1/2
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