See No Evil 2 is exactly what it is supposed to be in some regards. It was unlikely that we would have gotten anything much better than what we did with a sequel to 2006’s See No Evil. The first one was reasonably entertaining for what it was, but certainly wasn’t breaking any new ground. It’s not one I’d return to very frequently as I might with its slashser predecessors from twenty years prior.

In fact, I’ve only seen it twice – once after it hit DVD and once more about a month ago as I wanted to refresh my memory with the sequel on the way. I wouldn’t have even cared about the coming sequel if not for the names attached to it, which I suspect is a similar feeling to what a lot of other horror fans had.

See No Evil 2, now out on VOD, is directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska, also known as the Soska Sisters. They really need no introduction at this point. After impressing with 2012’s American Mary, they’ve become genre stars. They also have a segment in ABCs of Death 2 (review here), which is also currently on VOD, and hitting select theaters on Halloween.

Earlier this year, news that the Soska Sisters were taking on a slasher sequel just sounded good. There probably weren’t many sitting around anticipating a See No Evil sequel, but once that announcement was made, we thought back on the first movie, and what the Soskas might bring to the table, and it sounded fun. It also helped that genre favorites Danielle Harris and Katherine Isabelle were attached. Suddenly expectations were high for a movie that probably wouldn’t have otherwise had any expectations whatsoever.

I’m sorry to say that while it may be my own fault for setting those expectations, I was a bit underwhelmed by the movie. I’m glad I saw it once, but like the first one, I don’t see myself returning to it very much down the road. In fact, I’m more likely to return to the first one if either. Then again, who knows? I may change my mind if a third installment pops up with any level of intrigue.

I like the way See No Evil 2 is set up, which is a birthday party at the morgue where villain Jacob Goodnight and some of his victims are taken. The words “morgue party” just beg for slasher movie fun, but nearly the entire film takes place in this setting, and after a while, not entirely unlike Halloween II before it, it just kind of drags a bit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, or Sam Loomis going for it.

If there’s one thing a slasher film should do, it’s deliver fun and/or otherwise memorable kills, and See No Evil 2’s generally didn’t fit those standards for my opinion, save for one pretty good throat gag.

For the Soskas, the movie feels like a step backward from American Mary, but they didn’t write, it, and that might ultimately be the biggest problem. I like to think that if they had written it, it may have turned out better. My experience may have also suffered from just having reached a point in my life where a slasher has to really offer something special for me to care. Unfortunately,that something has been harder to come by since the post-Scream era.

You can still tell they had fun making it, and there are some interesting scenes and shots sprinkled throughout. I certainly wouldn’t put the movie on the lowest end of the slasher spectrum. I’d call it roughly middle of the road. It’s worth a watch, and I still look forward to more of the Soskas’ work including the coming Painkiller Jane project.

Jacob Goodnight does get a mask in the film, and further establishes the chain as his weapon of choice, though he’s certainly not limiting himself. It feels like his identity in the slasher world has been made clearer.

Jacob would be a scary brute to reckon with in real life for sure, but on film, he’s kind of boring as movie killers go – more so this time around. I may be biased toward another murdering brute with mommy issues who has historically had more entertaining people to kill as well as more entertaining kills. Harris has also faced more interesting killers in the past (you know, like Milo in The Last Boy Scout and the Noxema girl in Urban Legend. Oh yeah, and that Mike Myers guy).