Let’s go to camp and be sad.
Maybe minor spoilers for part one.
In our second entry of the trilogy, we take a trip to the past to learn very little about the curse and what is happening in Shadyside.
This time around, we follow free spirit Ziggy (Sadie Sink) and her uptight sister Cindy (Emily Rudd) as they go to fun summer camp! Did I say fun? I meant to say awful. The trope of summer camps in 1970s horror is well-known, but I’ve never known anyone who actually went to one. It seems like a bizarre 1.0 version of the Stanford Prison Experiment more than a good time.
Anyway, put enough teens together and there’s bound to be a lot of drugs, sex, and the occasional mass murder.
Ends up that Tommy (McCabe Slye) is next in line to be possessed by the witch and go murder happy. He is also Cindy’s boyfriend so… awkward! The kills in this one seem more brutal and fitting to the genre that we are aiming for. It is odd that the film pulls away depending on the age of the victim.
The setting here works better. We have a larger singular area for our characters to run and hide in. The constant changes of venue in the first entry didn’t work as well. Here, we don’t get to question the characters as much as they are trapped in the camp. We also have the camp leaders (I can’t remember their technical term) trying to get as many people out as possible.
About a third of the way into this film things seemed to click. We have the introductions out of the way and we get to enjoy a well put together slasher film that builds into the lore established in the first entry. The weakness of the first entry (being too bloated) allow this one to operate in a cleaner and more familiar way.
This one is a lot of fun, and we get some great moments and quality kills. The trilogy seems to be hitting its groove.
Jay Hates Movies 