Thursday 16 January 2014

Killjoy 2 (2002)




Both wikipedia and IMDB list the budget of Killjoy 2 at $30,000. That ought to give you some idea of what end of the movie-making pool we're wading in, here (hint: it's the end where the little kids have been peeing).

The movie kicks off with two cops arresting a guy. It seems he refused to give them some info they wanted, so they frame him on a drugs charge. Will these cops ever appear again in the film, or the false nature of the accusations play a part in the narrative? Of course they won't. That would require competence, something we won't be seeing in this film's script.

After that scene, we join two different cops, who are preparing for a 90 day community service project with young offenders. Said offenders include the guy from the opening, as well as four others. They head off into the 'wilderness' for their project - repairs and restorations of a state facility - but wouldn't you know it, the van breaks down en route and they are forced to go in search of a telephone (there being no cell phone reception where they are). The first house they find is home to a shotgun-wielding nutter, who seriously injures one of the young people. The second house they find has a voodoo priestess in it (... of course it does). She doesn't have a phone or a car, but she does attempt to assist the injured boy with her magic, which prompts one of the other characters to relate her own knowledge of the occult: i.e. recap the plot of the first movie.

For ... reasons ... two of the kids then decide to summon Killjoy to heal their injured friend. Because 'murderous demon-clown' is what you think of when you need the world's biggest band-aid, I guess.  It turns out Killjoy is more interested in doing harm than healing it. Shocking, I know.  He whittles the group down one by one, never showing an ounce of vulnerability (nor, despite the script's many stabs at it, an ounce of humour). And then one of the characters throws holy water in his face, and he dies, and the movie stops (I refuse to dignify that by calling it an 'ending').

So yeah, it's pretty much dreadful on every front, though it did alert me to Debbie Rochon. Ms Rochon plays one of the cops, and has an IMDB listing of over 200 roles, all of which appear to be for projects of this sort of quality. I admire that kind of dedication to a career.

No comments:

Post a Comment