Stevieboy666

"Get hooked again" says the movie trailer, unfortunately this follow up to the fairly good 1997 original may leave you not wanting more. The beautiful Jennifer Love Hewitt is back as Final Girl Julie James, along with her on/off boyfriend Ray (Freddie Prince jr.) and the hook handed killer The Fisherman. The plot movies to a small tropical island in The Caribbean, just as storm season is about to get underway, and a hotel managed by Jeffrey Combs. Combs appeared in several classic horror movies such as "Re-Animator" and is pretty funny here - unlike Jack Black. Black has an uncredited (why?) role playing a "comical" dread-locked, pot bellied dope smoking groundsman. Not in the slightest bit funny and he couldn't get killed off soon enough in my opinion. To be truthful I couldn't care for most of the cast. There are huge plot holes and to say that it is far fetched and ridiculous would be an understatement. I think that there are more kills here than in the original and they are a bit more graphic but as slasher movies go it is still pretty tame. Then there is the ending, which I will not reveal, but I will just call it groan inducing. I saw this at the cinema back in 1998 and have now just watched it at home on Blu-ray. As a basic slasher movie it is OK but it doesn't live up to the original, which itself was no classic.

Monster sequel. King Kong is taken from his jungle home on Skull Island, chained to a large ship and exposed to the elements, he is not a happy giant ape! Around the 40 minute mark Godzilla rises from the ocean and the two giants have an epic CGI rumble at sea. The main plot is some utter nonsense about a place called Hollow Earth, I didn't even try to understand it. Utter drivel! The two collide again before the end, thankfully the robotic Mechagodzilla joins in and is a much needed addition to the action. This is a CGI packed movie, not just the monsters but many of the boats, aircraft, scenery and buildings are computer generated too i.e. Fake. Not my cup of tea. Australia doubles unconvincingly as Miami. I couldn't care for any of the cast either. Kong has learnt sign language and his facial expressions are far too human. It goes without saying that this movie would look and sound far better on the big screen instead of my modest 32" TV, however I wouldn't pay good money to go and see this junk. I'm sure that this was made with the intention of making the audience feel good when the end credits rolled, I just shook my head in disbelief.

"According to the media the "Video Nasties" are a new low in sick entertainment!" And so screamed the tabloid press in Margaret Thatcher's Britain back in the 1980's, a country hit by strikes, mass unemployment, race riots and war. A scapegoat was needed and it was found in the form of horror movies on video cassette. I discovered (classic) horror at an early age, then from my mid-teens I was visiting my local video shops weekly, I can remember seeing some of the "Nasties" looking down at me from the shelves. Over the years I built up a sizeable collection of horror movies on VHS, including quite a few Nasties. They are still highly sought after, I have now sold most of my collection, including several to the director of this documentary, but have hung on to a few of my favourites. I can remember the so called moral crusaders who campaigned against violent movies. Mary Whitehouse, who admitted to never actually having sat down and watched a Video Nasty, was a household name. Then in the early 1990's MP David Alton wanted to pretty much ban all violent films on VHS, he was a member of the Liberal Party but his attitude was anything but liberal. And of course the most famous British film censor of all, James Ferman, gets plenty of screen time. Despite his love of cutting movies it is maybe a little ironic that he prevented Alton's bill from becoming law (thanks goodness!). This film is very well made. For video collectors, horror fans or people with an interest in British media history this is a fascinating watch, though many of us will already know much of the content. I have just watched it 20 years after its release, I enjoyed it very much but thankfully since 2005 a lot more progress has been made on the relaxation of censorship in the UK, many of the films have since been passed by the BBFC uncut. This does date the movie somewhat, a revised edition would be nice.