Plot
It’s July 4th, in Southport, and four friends (Ava, Danica, Milo and Teddy) who are celebrating the engagement of Teddy and Danica, head up the hill to watch the fireworks. they invite an old friend Stevie, who they have not spoken to in years after her father left and she spiraled slightly.
While watching the fireworks, they inadvertently cause a car to go off a cliff, and one year later they are seemingly stalked by someone with a connection to the person who died.
With the body count rising, they turn to the people who know a thing or two about surviving a massacre in Southport… Julie James, and Ray Bronson – who is also Stevie’s boss.
Direction
Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, it is by far the darkest and most violent of the franchise to date.
Cast/Characters
As this is seen as a legacy sequel, we have both returning cast, and new cast.
The new cast consist of Madelyn Cline as Danica, Chase Sui Wonders as Ava, Jonah Hauer-King as Milo, Tyriq Withers as Teddy and Sarah Pidgeon as Stevie.
Legacy cast returning are Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr as Julie and Ray – who are now (very bitterly) divorced, to the point neither can stand the others name without nearly dry retching.
There are some fun cameos by Sarah Michelle Geller (Prinze Jr’s real life wife) and Brandi – who reprise their roles as Helen Shivers and Karla Wilson (sorry, Wilson comma Karla).
90s heartthrob Billy Campbell has an important role within Southport’s community – and father to Teddy.
Breakdown
Taking no time to get to the point, with meeting the “new core” characters – consisting of ex’s Ava and Milo, as well as newly engaged Teddy (who’s dad has rebuilt Southport into the hot-spot filled with multi million dollar properties, including his own) and Danica.
The meet up with old friend Stevie, who was on the outs with them because her dad left her broke and now she has to work a blue collar job (with legacy character Ray as her boss!)
The “incident” that occurs is that one of the characters is playing in the road, when a car speeds past, almost hits them, and goes off the side of the road… a completely normal accident that one year later causes a hooked, cloaked killer to go on a massive kill spree! This isn’t the sinister incident that the core four did in the first film (that they… kinda had it coming?)
The one year later also sees Danica now engaged to another guy (who I had to go back at one stage and see who she was with at the start because they all seemed so interchangeable). Maybe I’m getting old because all these kids look the same to me.
The kills feel unnecessarily cruel in this film, and once again disposable characters who weren’t even there are on the chopping block. What the first film took time with (the set up to the accident, the accident and discussions of their implications with the law, who the victim actually was etc) are rushed, and revelations of who the victim was (and who he was dating at the time of his death?) are not shown to the audience… or those in the film until the big reveal… so the motive… is somewhat redundant since the killer was there too!!! Dumb.
There are a handful of scenes that feel repetitive of the first film (the dumbwaiter scene, the moment where all the dummies are covered in plastic), and the chase sequences don’t feel new. The blood-lust is amped way up though, with the deaths quite graphic and visceral.
The return of Julie and Ray – who are now bitterly divorced is fun, but I wanted to know why they hated each other so much (27 years is a long time between drinks, so it would have been good to know). The *** spoiler *** seriously stop reading if you haven’t seen this *** reveal that Ray is the second killer was a brave creative choice, and subverted expectations in a big way.
There are also a handful of small scenes where both the killers are discussing ‘staying safe’ with all that is going on… which… is also just stupid… because they are the killers!
It was also great the Sarah Michelle Geller AND Brandy come back (with the former not sharing the screen with Hewitt). They didn’t even appear at the the premier together, which bodes badly for any real life friendship.
There is also another poor use of the c word. America. Stop using that word. It’s not your word!
Overall
This felt inevitable with so many recent requel, sequel, legacy sequels (especially with the Scream saga). New characters are ‘somewhat’ interesting, but instantly forgettable (and even interchangeable throughout the film).
The return of Hewitt, Prinze, Geller and Brandi is fun – and the film subverts expectations in the best of ways with who one of the killers were (apparently he was meant to be one way back in the first film).
Sets up a sequel that at the point of writing this has not been announced.
Passable. Just.
2.5/5
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Ryan's Movie Reviews 