After one David DeCoteau Film, I guess I might as well suffer another. The fact that they are both on the same Disc- as this is a 'Special Edition Double Feature'- is a key factor. What's special is that it has Audio Commentary.
Do I need to listen to David explain his Films? Probably not.
This Sequel- of sorts- is about people at a different School and, as you guessed, about Warlocks. I guess its a Series in the sense that guys get shirtless and face off with some sort of evil. It's as connected as the Xtro Series, I suppose!
The Plot involves a young Warlock coming to the School and corrupting our Heroes. Instead of 1 guy being converted into a group of Vampires, you have 3 guys being converted to join 1 guy in a Coven. That's a slight inversion, admittedly.
Is this more of the same 'magic' or something better? To find out, read on...
We get EXCESSIVE Narration here as the Film goes hard into 'Tell, Don't Show' territory. I never expected to compare a 1950's Cult Classic to...well, this, but there you go.
The short version- our Hero and his friends are outcasts of a sort at a Private School.
They attend a Class talking about Warlocks, which, like the Teacher, won't matter until the end. Chekhov's Lecture?
Our Hero asks out the girl of his dreams and she says 'yes.'
Meanwhile, a blond stranger looks on.
One of his friends meets up with Jock Bad guy and things seem to going fine. They go in to take a Shower, since David DeCoteau.
After cutting around actual nudity, we see that it was all a trick and they are going to write on the guy's body with permanent marker!
The blond stranger returns- also implied to be naked, because reasons- and overpowers Jock Bad Guy, holding him 'hostage with...the sharpie.
Um...sure, why not?
Did they think that Sharpies were, you know, actually sharp?!?
Said stranger gets the guy to invite his friends to hang out with him.
Instead of playing cards by themselves, they...strip down and drink in the Pool?!?
He eventually recruits him into their Coven, telling them that they must break all 10 Commandments for him.
Cue the montage of them doing stuff like Not Honoring their Mother and Father by...tossing a picture of them out of a window.
They also do this while wearing sunglasses, which is the sign of evil in the DeCoteau Cinematic Universe.
He asks more from them, which leads to a bit where he has our Hero agree to make a 'study date' with the friend of his girlfriend (of all of ONE SCENE).
The group all show up and they act like something is happening...but they mostly just grind on her in a prolonged sequence.
FYI the Actress playing this part was- and I think still is- doing Porn at the time. So, naturally, there's no Nudity in this Direct-to-Video Film. Confusing, no?
The guys are told to kill someone to prove their loyalty and all do, save our Hero. We see this, which is important to note later.
He takes the Girlfriend-in, what, her third Scene of the Film- hostage and our Hero goes to that Teacher.
Plot Twist: she's a White Witch sent to find the Warlock.
Double Plot Twist: she's instantly knocked out and does nothing. Weird.
Our Hero acts like he's under the Warlock's sway due to the supposed murder he committed and...stabs the Warlock. What a non-surprise.
He falls into his circle and the Teacher reappears to, well, disappear with him.
The friends, I guess, get their souls back and they all agree to go to Public School. The End.
It sure is...a Movie. I mean, can I say a whole lot more about this? It's not good. It's not 'so bad it is good' either.
The Plot is pretty bare-bones and affected so much by the overuse of Narration. Characters aren't organically-introduced- our Lead just says 'This is so and so'- and events don't play out naturally- he'll say 'And then we did this.'
It's a Movie, not a Book, David! It's not even a good Book...I mean, Film. Look what you started!
Scenes are prolonged at times and just cut off at others. Despite having more Writers- we get 2 Writers and 3 for Story-, this one is in need of another pass over to make it good. Cut down on the narration and don't SPOIL your ending by showing that our Lead isn't bad. Cut before the murder set-up and don't have him tell us that he didn't do it. Make that moment at the end feel the least bit suspenseful.
Of course, as always in these Films, put some damn clothes on once in a while. I mean, it's a Witches/Warlocks Circle, not an Underwear Catalog!
Next up, some hopefully better fare involving evil and witchcraft of some sort. Which one? Stay tuned...
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