The Sam Raimi team of misfits gathers together in 1989 to add to the growing pile of middling 80’s slasher films, this one surrounding the night crew in a supermarket that is too small for its own good. Sam and Ted Raimi, Martin Sheen’s daughter, and even Bruce Campbell all make appearances, with effects by The Walking Dead goremeister Greg Nicotero.
All you need to know is in the title. We follow the exploits of an “Engineer Hunter” in the madcap and bloody world of the future, where the Tokyo Police are privatized and brutal, hunting mutants who grow weapons from damaged body parts. It’s as crazy as it sounds.
We chose this film to finish up our month of notorious #2’s because Hooper and Co. decided to go a completely different direction with a wacky, gory comedy, instead of the shocking straight horror style of the original (which did, truth be told, have its own darkly comedic moments).
The first appearance of Jason as the killer requires a few leaps in logic and plausibility, but it did set up one of the most iconic movie villains and longest-running horror franchises in the business. It also makes for a charmingly dated and tame summer camp slasher movie, which we only realized upon revisit.
Very different in tone from the original House (which we have previously discussed), we had fond memories of this horror-comedy from our childhoods. Have a listen to see if the film measured up to our recollections.
The history behind this sequel is much more interesting than the film itself. We examine it in all its glory.
