jpmellow

I revisited the original Terrortory tonight. Since my first viewing, I've fallen deeper into the rabbit hole that is microbudget indie filmmaking, specifically of the horror variety.

I "get it" now, and I'm a fan. You can't come into this expecting a polished film with seasoned actors (although a few are quite good). What you can expect is a fun, well-written script, some legitimately weird, scary monsters with their own memorable trademarks (DID YOU BRING ME MEAT?), some nice camerawork, a pretty terrific score, and a palpable love for the genre.

Even if there's a segment in this anthology you're not super impressed by - for me, it's 'The Prowler,' - a new one starts up before you know it.

For me, it's the writing in 'Smiling Jack' and the nightmarish weirdness of 'Gotz' that make this one of my new favorites. Support these for-the-love-of-moviemaking filmmakers! There's a lot here to admire.

This is a fantastic follow-up to Terrortory. Tons of credit to writer and director Kevin Kangas for expanding on the first movie's mythology, crafting a single narrative with compelling characters, and showcasing a wide variety of creeps and monsters, each given their own unique sequence, for horror fans like myself. Clearly, the filmmaker loves the genre.

My biggest issue, which carries over from the first one, is a lot of the acting comes across as stilted and challenged me to stay invested in the story 100%. I'd love to see this improve as I plan on following Kangas' future work.