House 2 – Das Unerwartete (1987)

House 2 – Das Unerwartete: Directed by Ethan Wiley. With Arye Gross, Jonathan Stark, Royal Dano, Bill Maher. The new owner of a sinister house gets involved with reanimated corpses and demons searching for an ancient Aztec skull with magic powers.

“The enjoyable parts prevent this from being a truly bad film, but only just. The original u0026quot;Houseu0026quot; probably never made anyoneu0026#39;s list of top horror movies, but itu0026#39;s entertaining in its own, modest way. I canu0026#39;t say the same for u0026quot;House II.u0026quot; Nor can I honestly say itu0026#39;s a sequel. It doesnu0026#39;t feature any of the characters from the original. Itu0026#39;s also a completely different house. The house in u0026quot;Houseu0026quot; was built on a weak spot between our world and the world of the dead, while the house in u0026quot;House IIu0026quot; was built at the crossroads of time and space. This is, I believe, an important distinction. There doesnu0026#39;t seem to be any reason for calling this u0026quot;House II,u0026quot; except to justify the clever subtitle.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut thatu0026#39;s not the only problem. The filmmakers clearly didnu0026#39;t know what kind of film they wanted to make, and the result is a jumbled mess. It starts off promising, and is shaping up to be a good haunted-house horror film when it suddenly and inexplicably becomes a fantasy-adventure comedy, during which time the ghost that the movie once seemed to be centered around is never seen and hardly mentioned. Then, after the viewer has adjusted to the new premise, the ghost comes back, and none of the threads brought up during the middle part are properly resolved. Itu0026#39;s all pushed aside for a dramatic dénouement, followed by a final scene that raises further questions rather than answering any of the many existing ones.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI should also add that this movie contains several insults to the vieweru0026#39;s intelligence, which I wouldnu0026#39;t excuse even if it were an out-and-out comedy. In one scene, our hero falls hundreds of feet, but falls into a portal that lets him out right above the floor in his own house. The problem is that his momentum shouldnu0026#39;t change, so he should still be dead. In another scene, a zombie is strangled until he loses consciousness. Just think about that one for a moment.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo why did I give this an average review? Because there are good points. Itu0026#39;s original, for starters. It may be hugely disjointed with little internal logic, but at least it isnu0026#39;t just retreading old clichés. It features characters who you care about, because theyu0026#39;re fairly believable and interesting. It boasts special effects that are well above par for 1987, and some visually intriguing scenes and designs. The humor, as misplaced as it may be at times, is often quite funny. And, above all, there is John Ratzenberger as u0026quot;Bill Towner, electrician and adventurer.u0026quot; The part with him is just great, not just because of his performance, but the way his character is written, and the sequenceu0026#39;s juxtaposition of the banal and the otherworldly. Sadly, heu0026#39;s only in that one scene. If the movie had begun and ended with him, it could have been an u0026#39;80s fantasy comedy classic (but still wouldnu0026#39;t really be a sequel to u0026quot;Houseu0026quot;). Actually, there are at least three different movies in here, all of which could have been good if they hadnu0026#39;t been thrown together to form a single, unfocused movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;House IIu0026quot; isnu0026#39;t a winner, nor is it a complete waste of time. Watch it if the things Iu0026#39;ve described have piqued your curiosity, but donu0026#39;t expect it to be too entertaining overall.”