Video Nasty #8
Revenge Of The Bogey Man
1983
HE'S BACK
MIRROR, MIRROR, ON THE WALL...WHO'S THE DEADEST OF THEM ALL?
Original American Title: Boogeyman 2
NTSC Running time: 79:57 (plus or minus a few seconds due to the VHS counter)
Directed by Bruce Starr (some sources cite Ulli Lommel as an uncredited director.)
Written by Suzanna Love, Ulli Lommel and Bruce Starr
Produced by Ulli Lommel
Starring: Suzanna Love, Ulli Lommel, Shannah Hall, Shoto von Douglas
Body Count: 15: 6 in footage from The Boogeyman, 9 in Boogeyman 2 proper.
Availability: Original version is VHS only and out of print. My copy is a budget release from Gemstone Entertainment, the kind of thing you'd get for five bucks at a K-Mart (it doesn't even have an FBI warning!), and I have seen reference to a release from VCII (who also released Mardi Gras Massacre). A "Redux" version entitled Ulli Lommel's Boogeyman 2 Director's Cut omits a lot of the new footage and is an entirely different film. It is available on Region 1 DVD from Image Entertainment.
BBFC Status
Why it's a Nasty: Scenes from the first film were included, making it a Nasty by default.
What was cut: Nothing. The original Video Nasty version (titled Revenge Of The Bogey Man) was never given a BBFC certificate.
Current BBFC status: The re-edited version, titled Bogeyman 2 - Redux was awarded an 18 certificate on September 22, 2003.
Availability: Redux version available on Region 2 DVD from Hollywood DVD Ltd.
Revenge Of The Bogey Man was seized, but escaped prosecution.
I think I liked this one better than the first. Has anyone ever said that before?
Every review I've read of Boogeyman 2 categorizes it as a waste of time, advising viewers to watch the first and forget about it. And I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why.
Yes, it's loaded with flashbacks to the first film. Yes, it's low-budget...or cheap, depending on your point of view. Yes, the setup is totally cheeseball and the action ridiculous.
But I think that was the point.
Suzanna Love returns to the role of Lacey, now terrorized and traumatized...and what better way to relax than take a vacation to sunny Hollywood! Her friend Bonnie Lombard (Shannah Hall) and her husband, film director Mickey Lombard (Ulli Lommel), are happy to have her, and listen to her story (enter the flashbacks!) with growing awe and disbelief. Bonnie thinks it's fantastic and wants to write a screenplay of Lacey's story. Mickey, who is in the middle of begrudgingly adding some nudity to his art film at the behest of slimy producer Bernie (Bob Rosenfarb), is hesitant and the only character in the entire film who:
A) believes Lacey's story, and
B) doesn't want to exploit her.
(Lommel and Love were married in real life at the time, and their playing the only likable characters is one of the film's many in-jokes.)
Bonnie throws a party filled with sleazy Hollywood bottom-feeders, anxious to get Lacey's story made into a film. But Lacey doesn't want a film made of her story...and now the last piece of the cursed mirror (that she carries with her everywhere for some unfathomable reason) has gone missing! The Boogeyman is at large in Tinseltown!
The deaths come fast and furious, with the first half acting as a "highlight reel" from the first film (showing all but two of the deaths, notably skipping the deaths of Lacey's aunt and uncle that happened in the barn...even after the idiots at the party exhort Lacey, "Tell us about the barn!"), and the second half quickly dispatching nine Hollywood douchebags. My favorite was the handlebar-mustachioed greaseball who is done away with by a disembodied electric toothbrush!
Boogeyman 2 is a satire of the film business, produced, written by and starring Ulli Lommel, who was inundated by requests for a sequel after the success of The Boogeyman...so he made a film where amalgams of everyone who wanted the sequel are killed by The Boogeyman! The humor is bitter and scathing, and I thought it was great fun. At just under 80 minutes, it drags only because of the flashbacks, which up the body count, but don't do much else if you've seen the original. The deaths are filmed in extreme closeup and shrouded in darkness, which shows the limited budget...but it's got style...style that seems to be there just to thumb its' nose at those who would have given the film a bigger budget: "Don't need your money, and we don't need you!"
With its' high body count (the most of any Nasty so far), tongue-in-cheek humor and short running time, Boogeyman 2 is a fun ride, definitely better than many reviewers would lead you to believe. Like most Nasties, you can check your brain at the door and have a gore-soaked laugh or two, especially if you've ever met phony Hollywoodites whose shallow fakery makes you want to vomit. I can't stress enough: Don't expect high-quality filmmaking or effects, this is just for fun. And fun it is (as long as you, like me, love trash cinema).
So if you break a mirror, make sure you pick up all the pieces. And whatever you do, don't let them out of your sight. You never know who might embed a piece of portable evil in their white-gloved hand. An easy precaution to take. I'll keep warning you about what not to do, because my name's Justin. JustinCase.
I think I liked this one better than the first. Has anyone ever said that before?
Every review I've read of Boogeyman 2 categorizes it as a waste of time, advising viewers to watch the first and forget about it. And I, for the life of me, cannot figure out why.
Yes, it's loaded with flashbacks to the first film. Yes, it's low-budget...or cheap, depending on your point of view. Yes, the setup is totally cheeseball and the action ridiculous.
But I think that was the point.
Suzanna Love returns to the role of Lacey, now terrorized and traumatized...and what better way to relax than take a vacation to sunny Hollywood! Her friend Bonnie Lombard (Shannah Hall) and her husband, film director Mickey Lombard (Ulli Lommel), are happy to have her, and listen to her story (enter the flashbacks!) with growing awe and disbelief. Bonnie thinks it's fantastic and wants to write a screenplay of Lacey's story. Mickey, who is in the middle of begrudgingly adding some nudity to his art film at the behest of slimy producer Bernie (Bob Rosenfarb), is hesitant and the only character in the entire film who:
A) believes Lacey's story, and
B) doesn't want to exploit her.
(Lommel and Love were married in real life at the time, and their playing the only likable characters is one of the film's many in-jokes.)
Bonnie throws a party filled with sleazy Hollywood bottom-feeders, anxious to get Lacey's story made into a film. But Lacey doesn't want a film made of her story...and now the last piece of the cursed mirror (that she carries with her everywhere for some unfathomable reason) has gone missing! The Boogeyman is at large in Tinseltown!
The deaths come fast and furious, with the first half acting as a "highlight reel" from the first film (showing all but two of the deaths, notably skipping the deaths of Lacey's aunt and uncle that happened in the barn...even after the idiots at the party exhort Lacey, "Tell us about the barn!"), and the second half quickly dispatching nine Hollywood douchebags. My favorite was the handlebar-mustachioed greaseball who is done away with by a disembodied electric toothbrush!
Boogeyman 2 is a satire of the film business, produced, written by and starring Ulli Lommel, who was inundated by requests for a sequel after the success of The Boogeyman...so he made a film where amalgams of everyone who wanted the sequel are killed by The Boogeyman! The humor is bitter and scathing, and I thought it was great fun. At just under 80 minutes, it drags only because of the flashbacks, which up the body count, but don't do much else if you've seen the original. The deaths are filmed in extreme closeup and shrouded in darkness, which shows the limited budget...but it's got style...style that seems to be there just to thumb its' nose at those who would have given the film a bigger budget: "Don't need your money, and we don't need you!"
With its' high body count (the most of any Nasty so far), tongue-in-cheek humor and short running time, Boogeyman 2 is a fun ride, definitely better than many reviewers would lead you to believe. Like most Nasties, you can check your brain at the door and have a gore-soaked laugh or two, especially if you've ever met phony Hollywoodites whose shallow fakery makes you want to vomit. I can't stress enough: Don't expect high-quality filmmaking or effects, this is just for fun. And fun it is (as long as you, like me, love trash cinema).
So if you break a mirror, make sure you pick up all the pieces. And whatever you do, don't let them out of your sight. You never know who might embed a piece of portable evil in their white-gloved hand. An easy precaution to take. I'll keep warning you about what not to do, because my name's Justin. JustinCase.
No comments:
Post a Comment