Decadent Evil 2 — Decadent Evil 2 ( Blu Ray)
Appearing two years after the first film, Decadent Evil 2 is another slice of vamps ‘n’ pole dancer-focused horror from Charles Band. It sees the return of Marvin, the randy Homunculus. Trying to be a good vamp, Sugar, and her DJ boyfriend Dex- hunting down a king vampire. Once again, it’s a fleshy/ bloody affair- though the latter is calmed down somewhat, with a more mystery/ who is the king vamp vibe going on. Here from Full Moon Features is a Blu-ray release of the film.
Decadent Evil 2 is from the year 2007. And it sees the return of two cast members from the first film- Jill Mitchell, playing not-that-keen-on-being-a-vamp pole dancer Sugar, and Daniel Lenox- as her DJ boyfriend.
The film opens with a short voice-over flashback to the first film. Before opening at a nighttime motel in Little Rock, where the stripper, the DJ, and Homunculus have just checked in. They are on the hunt for a King vampire, managing to find its location via a vamp-like compass. And you guessed it, it’s another pole dancing club- with the main plot of the film being the pair trying to figure out who the king is, as when he’s bloodsucking, he shapeshifts into a bat-eared & snot-nosed vamp.
The film once again features little person vamp hunter Ivan- though this time he’s played by Ricardo Gil ( Epic Movie, Mabou Mines Dollhouse), not Phil Fondacaro (Troll, Ghoulies II, Willow), who originally played the character.
We get a good selection of possible Vamp King suspects- likes the dark & shade warring British club manager Janos(Jon-Paul Gates). ageing, constantly being belittled by the place's staff, Jantor Boris(Mike Muscat). grey-haired/intimidating bouncer Burke( James C. Burns). Sassy/no-nonsense lead pole dancer Lena (Jessica Morris), or maybe someone else?.
It’s great to see both Mitchell & Lenox returning; the former comes across much better than the first film, and the chemistry between the pair is good. It’s also great to see the Marvin puppet- who looks a bit sophisticated, with more movement- though sadly, aside from a brief wander around the pole dance club- he’s mainly in his cage, though we do get a neat throwback to the end of the first film. Ricardo Gil was fine as Ivan- but he didn’t have quite the same presence as Phil Fondacaro.
On the whole, I’d say the gore has been toned down from the first film, as has the nudity- but there is a bit of both. The main focus here is the mystery of who King Vamp is, and that is delivered in a good, entertaining manner. All in all, Decadent Evil II, if you enjoy the characters from the first film, you’ll enjoy what's on offer here…though it’s a pity the gore and flesh were not upped, which you’d normally expect with a sequel. Though one thing they do better with this second film is that we do get (brief) shots of dying vamps, with fair, neat skull-faced effects.
On the extras side, we have the following: Behind The Scenes (15.39), which features a good selection of interviews with Mr Band, a few of the actors like Jill Mitchell and Mike Muscat, and local Little Rock folks who helped out. We find out how the film came about, get some amusing onset stories, etc. Battle Of The Bands ( 42.43). This opens with an introduction from Mr Brand, who relates an amusing tale from around the promotion of the first Ghoulies film. Before we get to what the title relates to. Auditions ( 8.33), and trailers.
Decadent Evil 2 is a decent enough follow-up to the first film, and if you liked that, I’m sure you'll enjoy this, though a bit more flesh/ gore could have made things better.