"Stephen King's Sometimes They Come Back...Again" isn't that bad, but really isn't terrible either.
**SPOILERS**
Arriving for a funeral, Jon Porter, (Michael Gross) and his daughter Michelle, (Hilary Swank) move in and try to put things in order. She soon meets up with locals Jules Martin, (Jennifer Elise Cox) and Maria Moore, (Jennifer Aspen) and they decide to go out and explore the town. Together, they meet the mysterious Tony Reno, (Alexis Arquette) and they immediately begin to fall for his charms. He is not that impressed, and after consulting Father Archer Roberts, (William Morgan Sheppard) about this, he begins to realize that he knows him from somewhere in the past and orders them to stay away from him. Not taking this too kindly, he begins to go on a rampage and kills all that he can in town to resurrect an army for him to control. Finally understanding the hints from the past, he races to stop him before he targets his daughter for his nefarious plans.
The Good News: This here does manage to get some really good stuff in it. The fact that this one decides to pretty much up the gore factor considerably. This one has a lot more blood than would be expected for something like this, and that is greatly appreciated. This is nicely produced through it's rather impressive deaths, as there's a severing of both ears, having a heart ripped out the chest, being sliced over virtually everywhere by tarot playing cards, stabbed and being left to bleed, and the single most creative one, being dragged into the ground by possessed weeds and left in position to have the head run over by a lawnmower. It's a lot more violent than would be expected, as there's the aftermath visible and it goes over everything. It's a great site and really leaves some great aftertaste. There's even more in the discovery of the kitchen, where it covers the floor and walls in preparation for a ceremonial ritual that is never shown, but is good enough to get some more blood and gore into the film. There's even some nice action scenes to be had from all the confrontations to be had in the film. The early 50's flashback scenes do this nicely, especially the one from the beginning where the victim is taken into the cave. That is a really great one, which also throws in some suspense as well. That is also apparent of the ending, which is the big confrontation and really does set up a grand sense of scale and importance. The setting also doesn't hurt, as being in the cave manages to get some atmosphere out of it as well. There's one last big positive, and that would be it's sardonic humor. The villain's one-liners are so jaw-dropping bad that they actually become pretty funny, like the mention of a classic joke after a complete dismemberment and several other rather nice jokes. These here are all great reasons as to why this film is rather good.
The Bad News: This here wasn't that bad, but it did have a few flaws. One of the most persistent one is that it doesn't offer up anything new. This plays out exactly like the first one did, with the exact same set-up, the same kind of villain and the exact same resources used to get to the same resolution. This can get tiring really quickly, since the beyond a few minor changes there's nothing of real interest here. The big problem here is that it virtually makes this a sequel that is practically a remake, which is not what a film needs to be, especially the first sequel to the original film. By going on the main route it does, there's little it can do for repetition and instead relies on the film's new points to prove it's watchability. The fact that the villain is campy doesn't exactly inspire a lot of threat at times, as the jokes take away a lot of whatever fear they could've had by not doing so, and the jokes can wear thin at times. The last flaw is that it can really be quite inactive at times. There's little here that really does what the ending does, provide some solid action parts to the film. This does take a while to get going, and the set-up is the same as the one before, which is quite confusing and really could've been sped up slightly. It isn't completely terrible, but these do lower the film slightly.
The Final Verdict: Really not that impressive, but it's still not as bad as it may seem to be, which in the end gives this a watchable-but-unspectacular tag. See this one for fans of the first one or are in the mood for some harmless fun, while those not really interested should seek caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and animal after-effect violence
**SPOILERS**
Arriving for a funeral, Jon Porter, (Michael Gross) and his daughter Michelle, (Hilary Swank) move in and try to put things in order. She soon meets up with locals Jules Martin, (Jennifer Elise Cox) and Maria Moore, (Jennifer Aspen) and they decide to go out and explore the town. Together, they meet the mysterious Tony Reno, (Alexis Arquette) and they immediately begin to fall for his charms. He is not that impressed, and after consulting Father Archer Roberts, (William Morgan Sheppard) about this, he begins to realize that he knows him from somewhere in the past and orders them to stay away from him. Not taking this too kindly, he begins to go on a rampage and kills all that he can in town to resurrect an army for him to control. Finally understanding the hints from the past, he races to stop him before he targets his daughter for his nefarious plans.
The Good News: This here does manage to get some really good stuff in it. The fact that this one decides to pretty much up the gore factor considerably. This one has a lot more blood than would be expected for something like this, and that is greatly appreciated. This is nicely produced through it's rather impressive deaths, as there's a severing of both ears, having a heart ripped out the chest, being sliced over virtually everywhere by tarot playing cards, stabbed and being left to bleed, and the single most creative one, being dragged into the ground by possessed weeds and left in position to have the head run over by a lawnmower. It's a lot more violent than would be expected, as there's the aftermath visible and it goes over everything. It's a great site and really leaves some great aftertaste. There's even more in the discovery of the kitchen, where it covers the floor and walls in preparation for a ceremonial ritual that is never shown, but is good enough to get some more blood and gore into the film. There's even some nice action scenes to be had from all the confrontations to be had in the film. The early 50's flashback scenes do this nicely, especially the one from the beginning where the victim is taken into the cave. That is a really great one, which also throws in some suspense as well. That is also apparent of the ending, which is the big confrontation and really does set up a grand sense of scale and importance. The setting also doesn't hurt, as being in the cave manages to get some atmosphere out of it as well. There's one last big positive, and that would be it's sardonic humor. The villain's one-liners are so jaw-dropping bad that they actually become pretty funny, like the mention of a classic joke after a complete dismemberment and several other rather nice jokes. These here are all great reasons as to why this film is rather good.
The Bad News: This here wasn't that bad, but it did have a few flaws. One of the most persistent one is that it doesn't offer up anything new. This plays out exactly like the first one did, with the exact same set-up, the same kind of villain and the exact same resources used to get to the same resolution. This can get tiring really quickly, since the beyond a few minor changes there's nothing of real interest here. The big problem here is that it virtually makes this a sequel that is practically a remake, which is not what a film needs to be, especially the first sequel to the original film. By going on the main route it does, there's little it can do for repetition and instead relies on the film's new points to prove it's watchability. The fact that the villain is campy doesn't exactly inspire a lot of threat at times, as the jokes take away a lot of whatever fear they could've had by not doing so, and the jokes can wear thin at times. The last flaw is that it can really be quite inactive at times. There's little here that really does what the ending does, provide some solid action parts to the film. This does take a while to get going, and the set-up is the same as the one before, which is quite confusing and really could've been sped up slightly. It isn't completely terrible, but these do lower the film slightly.
The Final Verdict: Really not that impressive, but it's still not as bad as it may seem to be, which in the end gives this a watchable-but-unspectacular tag. See this one for fans of the first one or are in the mood for some harmless fun, while those not really interested should seek caution.
Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity and animal after-effect violence