The Gallows Act II — The Gallows Act II(Blu Ray/ DVD)
The Gallows Act II was made at the tail end of last year, and sadly didn’t get a cinema release anywhere going straight to DVD in both the UK & US, because as modern horror go this isn’t half bad, and a lot better than a lot of the horror dross I saw at the cinema in 2019. The film returns the writing/ directing team of Travis Cluff & Chris Lofing – so clearly you get continuity and passion for the project, which many sequels don’t have.
The first Gallons film from 2015 was met with decidedly mixed reviews- some said it was clichéd & predictable found footage, while others like myself enjoyed the films creepy & supernatural killer, and it's nighttime high school setting. The first film told of a school that had decided to perform the play The Gallows, for the first time in twenty years- when it was last performed one of the actors Charlie Grimille, who played the hangman, was accidental hanged. The night before the premier of the play a group of teens sneak into the school, and they start seeing the hangman figure.
The new film moves a few years after the first film- and presents us with bubbly 'n' bright teenage vlogger and aspiring actress Auna Rue(Ema Horvath), who has just moved to a new high school that has a respected thespian department. She starts getting messages from someone about the curse of the hangman, and how to summon him up- so in a way to increases the number of hits to her youtube channel. The first post does well, so she gets more & more fascinated with the case- picking up the play from her local library. And fairly soon the Hangman starts appearing at first in her room, then elsewhere- the appearances are often done in a creepy & subtle unsettling manner, sure we have the expected jump scares but these are not overdone, and more often than not we get a great feeling of unease instead of loads of jumps. We also have a few nooses like killings, & growing neck bruisers by those haunted by the hangman.
The acting goes from passable-to-good with the lead of Ms. Horvath managing to shift believable from happy-go-lucky, to troubled/ creeped-out, to near breakdown- so again a lot better than you’ll normally expect from a modern teen horror film. The film nicely builds up tension moving towards it's downbeat ending- on the whole, The Gallows Act II managers to offer up the perfect sequel, increasing the body count, and delving father into the mythos & legend.
On the extras side, we get a commentary from writer/ director/ producer team Travis Cluff & Chris Lofing- this sees the pair discussing the film's actors & they selected them, locations, and how the project grew/ developed- on the whole, it’s an informative track, that for the most part remains fairly grounded, honest, and never too ego polishing. Next, we get an over half-an-hour making-of doc, this brings together on-screen interviews with Cluff & Lofing, several of the actors, and crew- again it’s a nicely balanced & worthy doc. Lastly, we get around thirty minutes of deleted scenes.
One is always cautious when a sequel to a film you enjoyed pops-up. Is it going to be a bland retread?, pale imitation?, go off in another tangent?, or be a worthy & balanced sequel that nicely expands/ grows on the first film?- and I’m happy to report for the most part The Gallows Act II largely fits into the last category. I look forward to seeing what Cluff & Lofing do next, and this certainly is one of the better modern horror films I’ve seen a while.