“The Barn Part II” Movie Review

 

“The Barn Part II”

Movie Review

 

'The Barn Part 2,' written and directed by Justin M. Seaman, stars Diana Prince, Linnea Quigley, Julie Anne Prescott, Doug Bradley, and Lloyd Kaufman. And the plot of the film is as follows: Troop Leader Plums and his scouts sitting around the campfire explain the basic plot of the original as well as a few things we'll need to know for the sequel, before discovering the hard way that the stories were all true.

Michelle, the sole survivor of the first film, is now in college and a member of the Gamma Tau Psi sorority. Because of an incident involving lap dances at last year's haunted house, said sorority has been barred from holding their fall fundraiser on campus. And, with the mayor about to lift the Halloween ban, the timing seems ideal for an off-campus haunt.

While lifting the Halloween ban pleases Dr. Rock, it irritates local church lady Sarah Barnhart, setting up an on-air clash between the two. Meanwhile, Michelle and Heather, whose brother went missing that fateful night, have found a barn in which to hold the fundraiser.

Seaman nicely sets up The Barn Part II, writing and directing once more, and finding a plausible way around the original structure's destruction in the first film. He also has Doug Bradley give us some backstory for the creatures, in addition to filling in the events of the first film.

Speaking of creatures, we not only get the three from the first film, The Boogeyman, Hallowed Jack, and the Candy Corn Scarecrow, but they also bring two new friends, Swine and Screecher.

Whereas The Barn had a small cast and a low body count, the sequel is a veritable bloodbath with a large cast and a large number of victims. The Barn Part II features more celebrities and genre regulars than the first installment. Aside from those mentioned, John Bloom and Diana Prince aka Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Girl, Julie Anne Prescott, Kaylee Williams, and several others show their faces and other body parts throughout the film; after all, this is an 80s-style horror film.

The effects this time include some CGI, but it's mostly limited to the flames behind Hallowed Jack's eyes and some disintegrations. Joe Castro provides the creature costumes, and there is plenty of gore. Hearts are ripped out, heads and faces are severed, a nipple is bitten off as a tribute to Nightmare City, nailguns, spiked baseball bats, and, of course, a chainsaw is all used. The Barn Part II has so much gore it's as if someone went back in time and gave Fulci a Hollywood budget.

The Barn Part II not only matches the original, but outperforms it, and can stand alongside Wolf Hollow and Teddy Told Me Too as excellent retro horror films. It's full of beasts, blood, and boobs, and Joe Bob would recommend it even if he wasn't in it.

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