Dolby Digital 5.1 (Portugese)

There are so many sub-genres of horror these days. There is the ever-popular teen slasher flick, there is Japanese horror, gore, zombie, thrillers and even the recent popularity of the 70's throwback. This one falls into the dramatic slow-burn category. The plot here sounds like something out of one of the better Steven King short stories. Someone in the federal government discovers that the population of little Rockford Falls seems to have remained steady for over a hundred years. An official is sent to investigate this anomaly, and what he finds is a mixture of small-town life, strong religious beliefs and some eerily strange goings-on.

This is actually not a bad little film. From the cover, I was expecting yet-another week low-budget horror film full of bad jump scares and overly-predictable plot developments. Well, there are some pretty lame jump scares here, and the plot is about as transparent as a sliding glass door, but the film has a certain charm nonetheless. Plus, you get Fred Durst in a surprisingly effective role as the town Sheriff. This may not be a film that is ready for the multiplex, but it is most definitely worth a rental.

8MM 2 is a sequel to Schumacher’s 8MM in name only. It tells the story of an aspiring politician and his loving fiancée on a mission of sexual experimentation in Budapest, which quickly turns into a trust-no one game of seduction, blackmail, and murder. The crux of the story is a steamy threesome between the two lovers and a strange dark-haired beauty. The only eight millimeter tie-in is from the film which is shot during the escapade – unbeknownst to the lovers – which is then used to string the politi...ian along in the unknown blackmailer’s deadly game.

As a sequel, this story completely fails to work. Gone is the creepiness of the first’s horrific plot. Now it’s just about sleaze and blackmail, neither of which are executed in very interesting fashion. Lori Heuring and Johnathon Schaech are good-looking enough, but their presence seems better suited to a made-for-Lifetime movie. Their looks are too clean and simply fall short of the sleaze level the film hopes to obtain. While production values are slick, director J.S. Cardone’s ego is dripping from every frame. I’m glad he takes his work so seriously, but when that work is as cheap and trashy as 8MM 2, such behavior is more obnoxious than endearing.