See No Evil 2 (2014)

“I’m more of a cake and cadavers kind of girl...”

This may be a by-the-numbers modern slasher sequel, it may have no stars and it may be a bit obscure. But it’s a perfectly decent film and far better than any Friday the 13th I’ve seen so far.

It’s a direct follow-on from the first film, set in the morgue to which the dead are taken, including Jacob, who of course is not actually dead for reasons that solid genre convention allows to go cheerfully unexplained. Working here are Amy, Seth and Holden plus a bunch of interestingly flawed individuals invited for an unorthodox birthday party. It’s a solid basis for a slasher.

The film is, of course, like all the best of its ilk, winking at us with regards to the cliches. Hence the couple who have sex next to Jacob Goodnight’s apparent corpse are doomed. Hence Amy signs her death warrant by offering to stay and help with the nine incoming bodies rather than take her chance to leave for her birthday piss-up. And there are, of course, no survivors, with Seth seeming to get away until the last moment where Jacob gouges out his eyes- we need to have some kind of nod to the title, after all.

This is a classic, well-constructed, traditional but delightfully self-aware base under siege slasher that benefits from a strong setting and good characterisation. I rather liked it.

See No Evil (2006)

“The eyes are the windows of the soul...”

This is a somewhat obscure little horror film, somewhat gory, starring a wrestler as the baddies and with no stars; the most famous member of the cast is arguably character actress Rachael Taylor. But the direction is superb and suspenseful, and this short little claustrophobic thriller doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.

There are superficial similarities to Psycho- the action takes place in a hotel and the baddie is under the strong influence of his creepy and deeply abusive mother. But the more direct influence is perhaps Friday the 13th, although this is a far superior slasher to anything I’ve seen so far in that wretched franchise.

A bunch of convicts are barely introduced (although I like the captions of what they’re in for) before they start being picked off, but surprisingly the character development is pretty good in spite of this. The camera is constantly teasing us, and the levels of gore are just about right, and exist alongside the suspense and not instead of it.

The main distinguishing feature of this film, of course, is that Jacob the baddie has a thing for gouging people’s eyes out with his thumbs and keeping them in jars. Lovely. There’s also a fair bit of dragging women by their hair and using a carrier bear trap to inflict graphic injuries that remind me of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Perhaps best of all are the dogs who gleefully eat the wounds of the injured and provide the film with an amusing coda. I knew there was a good reason I’m a cat person.

A pretty good thriller, then, and a much better watch than many which are more well-known.