Oh, woah, is that Andy Richter? The most surprising guest appearance in this series yet! I'm not sure I knew who he was the first time I saw this movie - I haven't followed the Conan O'Brien show that long. Sugar Ray's music plays in the intro too, which much like the Bad Meets Evil music in the outro on the former gives me a great first impression (last time it was a lasting impression)!

Movie references this time? There's Rosemary's Baby, Lord of The Flies and The Exorcist all within the first five minutes, and later on Dude Where's My Car, that basketball commercial from back in the day, Silence of The Lambs, Charlie's Angels, Hollow Man, Mission Impossible, and let's not forget the more notable horrors:

• The Faculty
• The Haunting
• The Amityville Horror
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• The Changeling
• A Nightmare on Elm Street
• Poltergeist
• Pet Sematary
• What Lies Beneath
• Little Shop of Horrors
• The House on Haunted Hill
• Thirteen Ghosts

A bit more than the last one! If I didn't miss too many of them last time. The movie also has a most awesome door knocker, and tons of comedy in style with the first, much of it crude and sexual, though it's more silly than crude, with plenty of harmless jokes to balance it out. Whereas the last one was a parody on a horror movie parody, this one's more of a horror movie parody too. It had some pretty creepy stuff mixed in with the comicals, and grand special effects. All in all a great movie, and as for the plot: it's about a haunted house. Mostly.

It's a direct sequel to the first movie too. The same kind of crazy, with a bit more creative effects. They loop back on certain elements from the first, introducing the story the same way (much like the Scream franchise), with an intro, and the school, and the story, and then back to where it all began. Most of the main characters from the last movie make a re-appearance, and of course there's that one final scene that changes everything. Nicely done.

 rated 3/5: not bad

July, 2023

This was the one with the creepy butler! And the guy in the wheelchair. And the house full of fears and ghouls of varied sorts... and a ballistic door knocker (ballistic, get it?). It's also the one with that basketball commercial parody (it's almost not even a parody) that seem wildly out of place but was pretty cool too, and one awesome little moonwalk, before the big sex scene...

It parodies on maybe mostly The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby this time - at least initially - with Andy Richter on cameo as a piano-playing priest. Don't think I knew who he was the first time I watched this! All the more fun now.

Other references I recognize: Rocky, McGuyver, Silence of The Lambs, Charlie's Angels, Dude Where's My Car... on the soundtrack there's Sugar Ray initially, Nelly in the outro, and a particularly memorable scene with Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up - didn't remember the music being this top-notch and nostalgic either! :D

Maybe it's even how I was first introduced to some of these artists.

Along with the re-occurring characters in the cast (even a few I was pretty certain died last time) there's now Neil Patrick Harris instead of the guy who played Bobby in the first. It's a good cast. Big upgrade. The other girl looks amazing too.

Though it's all good fun - and parody - I still for some reason don't get as great an impression of this one as of the others... maybe because the characters feel distant from the locations you'd typically expect them to be in. They don't break the fourth wall movie-wise anymore but... they're somehow just not where they're supposed to be. It doesn't feel as suitable a location. Maybe there's a bit too much simple poop humor and all too, possibly... also overly exaggerated movement and sped up scenes. Like the characters just can't run anymore. Any of them. The runs are always either sped up or silly and slow.

Even if it is a parody this all detracts from the experience a bit for me.

I don't think they had as much of that in the first movie. Each run that parodied a particular style of running was a new one there. The sexy sprinkler run, the locker room run, Cindy's miniature wailing one... it was all in moderation there. Too much nonsense now. That might be the main detriment.

And I'm just not a fan of the Butler - too much gross-out humor too.

Maybe a little much bashing on Cindy too, and friends just not being good friends or helping one another. Everyone's against Cindy, basically.
Some of others are aight.

Budget and quality-wise though they definitely raised the bar with this one. Stopmotion scenes. Intricate props. Dicks on another level. Ghouls on green screeen....

It's got a lot more, and some real gems; moments. I loved the Exorcism part. Loved the wheelchair end. Loved the exploding windows, the wicked lady with the bag on her head, the crazy pussy... some things were a blast for sure. The blast consistency's just wavy.

You smile at some scenes then frown at others.

Variation's the spice of life but... yeah. You know. Would've preferred a better balance. Would've prefered everything just right all the way. A lot of that's in the timing. The unpredictability. The new.

There's some after-credit behind-the-scenes too if you keep watching.

Good watch, but despite superb quality and effort not one of the stronger segments of the franchise IMO.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all