HOUSE 2 (1987)

Another Sequel. But sequels are fun, aren't they?

A lousy movie, but a great poster!

To put it quite frankly, HOUSE 2 makes no logical sense. It's amazing to ponder what may have been going through the minds of the filmmakers. House 2 is most technically a terrible film, with flaws abound. It's so strange how I remember loving this film as a child, only to realize how lousy a film it is all these years later. I had my dad rent this several times from the video store. Wow, the pain he must of gone through enduring House 2 all those times.....

So the story essentially follows Jesse, who in search of a mystical Crystal Skull, ends up digging up his great-great-grandfather, who of course has the skull. Even though his great-great-grandfather has been dead for over seventy years, he has kept alive from the powers of the skull. Throughout the film, they repeatedly lose the skull and must reobtain from a caveman, dinosaurs, Aztec warriors and finally, Grand Dad's old cowboy rival, whom Jesse must defeat in a shootout. After blowing the rival's head off, he is asked by his grand dad: "Did ya blow his head off?". It's ridiculous lines like that which help make the film all the more stupidly entertaining. The film takes a while to get going, but once it does, don't expect too much. Certainly not anything that makes sense....

The House itself is a gateway to another dimension, as in the original. However, it's a gateway to several dimension's and this allows the writers to bring in some cute caterpillar who barks like a puppy. It's just one example from a completley absurd script. The absurdity reaches new heights when they all sit down to dinner, the caterpillar appearing with a bib. On a more creative note, Stop-motion animation is used in a few scenes and that's just cool for a movie as late as 1987 to feature the technique so prominantly. The House set itself is gourgeous so there are some positive things to say about the film.

House 2 is not nearly as nice as the original, and it never attains the creepy nightmare atmosphere of the 1986 classic. However I have a soft spot for it. The movie is pointless, ridiculous, absurd, retarded, badly written, it follows no logic. Anything can and will happen. It's a movie that I can only laugh all the way through. It's hard to believe they stuck with this abysmal material. And guess what? It's still better than the Haunting remake. A SPECIAL KIND OF TWO AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE.