Okay, after what happened when I tried this last year, I want to make sure I get it right this time. So let’s take it from the top.
The latest release from mediocre action director McG wouldn’t even cause a blip on my radar usually. After 2017’s The Babysitter, a surprisingly fun slice of splatstick horror, I’m willing to give the man another chance. Or, rather, yet another one, since when I tried out Rim Of The World in good faith, I found myself questioning why I ever bothered to give him the benefit of the doubt in the first place. The Babysitter is still an amazing flick, and rewatching it in prep for this follow-up has proven (for me, at least) that it holds up to repeat scrutiny, but maybe it was just a fluke and the only truly great thing McG has ever directed. But now that the sequel is in my hands, I really, really hope it holds up.
Well, for a start, all the visceral shit that made the first film so much fun is still here in abundance. The acting, both from the returning faces as well as a few newcomers, are as chockfull of personality as ever, and while it’s not absolutely consistent (it really could’ve done without the cutaway gags with Cole’s dad), it maintains that sense of glee that so gravitated me towards the original. The gore may show a slight dip in quality as far as the computer effects on display, but the creativity is still there where it counts and McG still shows an aptitude for splatstick. And the soundtrack, both the needle drops and the compositions from modern king of horror scores Bear McCreary, works really damn well, and even outdoes the original in places.
Then there’s the plethora of genre-savvy quips and developments, which took on an almost-plunderphonics approach in just how much of the original’s dialogue was made up of movie references. Brian Duffield is sitting this one out, with American Vandal co-creator Dan Lagana stepping in along with the feature debuts for Brad Morris, Jimmy Warden, and (in an initially worrying development) McG himself.
And man, does it feel in-step with the original’s grab-bag fan worship, as there’s arguably even more in-your-face metatext going on here. This could’ve potentially rubbed even myself the wrong way, but because that metatext includes the returning hilarious use of character archetypes, it manages to work for the same reason as it did the first time around: It knows the difference between poking fun at tropes, and thinking that just acknowledging them excuses their re-use.
But the main thing that genuinely impresses this time around is the story. More specifically, the continuing character arc for Cole, and how the events of the first film have affected him in the interim. Rather than go Peak Sequel and reset his character development, the film instead shows him going through some classic horror-protagonist gaslighting, with everyone insisting that what he went through didn’t even happen, mixed with some pretty gripping survivor’s guilt. The first act admittedly drags a bit in places, but when the crux of the film kicks in and we see Cole’s reality get confirmed in the most confronting way possible, it turns into a pretty cool addition to his character, especially when paired with Jenna Ortega as Phoebe.
From there, it builds on one of the subtler aspects of the original film in how it frames the horror elements of the story and how it exudes from the characters, serving as a bulking-up of how the macabre and grotesque played in Cole’s coming-of-age story. Continuing on the depiction of the blood cultists as the bad guys who help get rid of other bad guys (or, as the original film put it, the spiders who get rid of the other bugs), it also injects some social media commentary into the proceedings, showing the cult as basically the logical conclusion of the narcissism engendered by influencers.
That on its own is a nice touch, but as it progresses towards its conclusion, it makes for a pretty rousing depiction of why the horror community loves this genre so much: Because it provides a form of self-affirmation and uplift using ideas and themes that ‘normies’ would consider distasteful or unnecessary, but truly resonates with those on the same wavelength. Kind of like how, depending on who you ask, the ending of Midsommar is either tragic or something worth smiling about.
While this isn’t as good as the original, and I didn’t fall quite as head-over-heels for what’s being presented this time around, the step-back is so slight that it’s basically a non-issue. It’s an incredibly fun, gory and even moving serving of splatstick, and now that McG has proven without a doubt that there is something he can do well repeatedly, I can only hope that this isn’t the last we’ll see of the Channing Tatum of murder.
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