COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - 10/31 PART II (SCREAMTEAM RELEASING BLU RAY)
It’s a safe bet that Halloween is every horror fan's favorite holiday. The macabre decorations, the sugar-filled fun-size candy bars, and most importantly the horror movies make the holiday and the month of October special to many of those who love the genre. When it comes to Halloween-theme horror movies, there is an abundance ranging from iconic to irredeemable. Of all the Halloween-theme horror films out there, few attempt to set their sites on the anthology film format. The most well-known would be 2007’s TRICK ‘R TREAT, which has become a holiday horror classic in the short 15 years since its initial release. Aside from that, you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a couple more horror anthology films that take advantage of the Halloween spirit. 10 years after TRICK ‘R TREAT an indie horror anthology called 10/31 would come around to join the latter in its celebration of horror’s hallowed holiday. 10/31 was a valiant effort in delivering some delightfully deadly tales, and this Halloween its sequel 10/31 PART II is coming back with another round of indie-horror stories aimed at decorating our minds with tales of terror. Is this sequel more trick than treat?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Creatures of the night awaken for this year's Halloween Monster Marathon hosted by Malvolia: The Queen of Screams. Strap in for more freaky flicks with a new batch of indie directors. Spooky tales such as a Halloween celebration turned deadly in 'A Samhain Liturgy', something unholy in the basement desires a nun in 'Sister Mary', otherworldly strangers need fresh meat in 'Dead Lift', explore the difference between hatchets and tomahawks at the best Halloween party ever in 'Apache Hatchet Massacre II' and a serial killer has a big problem in 'Overkill'. Including faux trailers from other indie filmmakers -'Treaters', 'Truck Squatch', 'The Candy Taker' and 'The October Kids'.
HOW IS IT?
As has been written by myself, and I’m sure others, anthologies are hard. At best, you get 1-2 stories that work really well and the rest often vary in degrees of lesser quality. I like to think of anthologies as the buckshot of horror in that you shoot a lot of shots and hope that at least one hits. The original 10/31 was a fun, if uneven entry into the niche Halloween Anthology sub-genre, and the sequel, 10/31 PART II is more or less the same in terms of quality. It’s safe to say that if you enjoyed the first one, you’ll find a lot more to like in this one as well.
Without going into each story individually, there are a total of five (5) stories with four (4) fake trailers. The fake trailers are a new addition this time around, and to be quite honest, I like them a lot. I’m old enough to remember seeing GRINDHOUSE in theaters and enjoyed the double-feature style presentation with fake trailers separating the two films. Here, the trailers are at the start and are all relatively effective. It got me thinking, an entire movie of fake film trailers would be a lot of fun to see. The fake trailers here eat up about the first 15 minutes, and in some cases like TREATERS look good enough to garner interest in feature-length versions. After these, the movie starts with an opening from Malvolia. This attempt at a wrap-around doesn’t land because of how little investment is made in trying to bookend each story with the character. She only appears at the start and the end, and for all intents and purposes is unnecessary.
The best story is the first one, A SAMHAIN LITURGY. This one offers up a slew of surprises in the storytelling as well as has the most interesting premise from the start. It’s effective all the way until the end where things go a bit overboard with the concept, something that happens to a few of the stories in the film. The fifth story, SISTER MARY, is probably the next best after and is nunsploitation at its finest. You don’t see a lot of folks going down that path and it’s admirable that there is an attempt made to diverge from the standard slasher/monster path most anthology stories like to take. That said, both of the aforementioned films never really rise above average and the rest of the three stories drop just slightly below. APACHE HATCHET MASSACRE 2 is one that seems laughably short clocking in at 10 minutes or less, and the other two (OVERKILL and DEAD LIFT) are mostly uninteresting. They are not bad by any stretch, just largely forgettable. Credit where credit is due though, most of these stories offer decent makeup effects, and in spite of what I’m sure were micro-budgets make valiant efforts to present something that is at the very least visually interesting.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
SCREAMTEAM RELEASING is a small label and as such, there isn’t much in the way of A/V upscaling and restoring, nor is it needed considering how new the film is. 10/31 PART II is presented in 16:9 widescreen format and looks crisp and clear in its presentation. Screenshots from the release are used below and throughout the review:
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
Much like the video, the audio here is nothing to write home about. PCM Stereo audio is what we are working with and that’s just fine for a release like this. I do wish, again, that labels of all sizes would include subtitles. It’s a great way to make your film more accessible and in turn, reach a wider audience.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
No special features are included with this release.
LAST RITES
10/31 PART II is a fun and mixed bag of horror stories all taking place on Halloween. If you liked the first one you’re sure to enjoy this one, and if you find yourself a Halloween junkie looking for more holiday-themed flicks to decorate your shelves this would be a worthy addition, or if you’re an anthology junkie.
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you to MVD ENTERTAINMENT for providing a review copy for the crypt, and you can buy 10/31 PART II on blu ray via MVD DIRECT.
You can also watch for free streaming on Tubi, VUDU, and Amazon Prime.
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