As is stated with the review of season 1, the acting bounced from very well done to very terrible, reserved and restrained to unhinged and over the top, from high caliber to hammy. The credit lies in who is in the individual episodes. For instance, Jonathon Schaech did a fantastic job as the patriarch of a family being haunted by what may or may not be a cult surrounded about the hidden truths of George Washington in “the Washingtonians”, whereas Jeffrey Combs was maniacally over the top in some scenes and suitably restrained in others for “the Black Cat”. The worst acting in the season may actually go to “the V Word”, with its obviously lack of experience showing despite interesting direction by Ernest Dickerson. Christopher Lloyd is always a welcome presence in a film, and his crazed reservation and calm in “Valerie on the Stairs” deserves praise. Sean Patrick Flannery also deserves kudos for doing what he does best: a tortured soul, in “The Damned thing”. As is in most horror, female characters take second stage. In fact, there may be more nudity and sexual activity than the first season, and the female presence comes off even more objectified and far away. Clare Grant in “Valerie on the Stairs” gets high marks for bravery and for making a humdrum object role her own, however.

The Production vales are terrific still, given the 2 million dollar budget to shoot in vancouver. For instance, the film “Pro-Life” had some amazing ideas, direction, makeup, special effects, and a great cast, making it feel much larger than its miniscule budget (Ron Perlman plays a major role!). Not all of the stories bristle with the same level of utilization of budget, with “The Dream Cruise” coming across as one of the lesser budgeted films despite taking place almost entirely at sea (it was one of the few not fimed in Vancouver, after all) and “The Black Cat” feeling like classic Stuart Gordon in that a minor budget may show, but only adds to the fun of watching. In the tradition of the first season, I have presented individual scores (my own tastes) for review: The Damned Thing-3.5, Family-4.5 and best episode of season 2, Sounds Like-3.5, The V Word-2.5, Pro-Life-4, Pelts-3.5 if your squeamish, 4 if you’re a gorehound, The Screwfly solution-3, Right to Die-3, Valerie on the stairs-4, We All Scream for Ice Cream-3, The Black Cat-3.5, Washingtonians-3.5, Dream Cruise-3. Opinions of what is scary and what is ridiculous vary from person to person of course.

This season may feature more sex and sexual nature, but it definitely features more blood and guts. The Damned Thing features a man bludgeoning himself to death with a hammer, Family features detailed eradication of skin and tissue to preserve a skeleton, Pro-Life shows a man cut open and an abortion assistance device used to kill him (no joke, i squirmed in my seat in one of the hardest to watch scenes of the series), Pelts features a man’s face sliced off in a beartrap, a man cut and pull his skin off, and a woman sew her eyes, mouth, and nose shut. Right to die features a gruesomely burned corpse, psychotic hallucinations from edgar allen poe, the fear of drowning, the theory that george washington is a monster (metaphorically of course), a story about abortion, a story involving genocide, etc. If there is a taboo, season 2 reached for it and in some cases, succeeded beyond imagination.

horror is difficult to explain the realistic qualities and depending upon who you’re speaking to, even more difficult to explain the unrealistic elements to a story. Family comes across as a realistic account of something that could happen, if you boil it down to its essential parts. The fact that it is done in a humorous way is what adds the surreal quality to it and makes it border the absurd in places. the hardest story to swallow may be “We all scream for ice cream”, with its villain being the demonic resurrection of the neighborhood’s old ice cream man (yes, tongue in cheek). Pro-Life thankfully doesn’t stand on either side of the argument but shows legitimate caricatures of both sides of that argument, making it both very real and very unreal at the same time. that seemed to be the underlying theme of season 2: to take realistic ideals and events and base them in a world where it is still feasible, but handled in a way that leaves people frightened in more of a fantastical manner than a shuddering in their sheets, suspicious of the neighbor kind of a way. From that end, perhaps they failed at breaking the ground set with their first season. On the flip side of the coin, they were only attempting at bringing a higher and more engrossing entertainment to a beloved series.