Still traumatized by the previous rampage, a survivor of a crazed killer is talked into going on a train ride commemorating the original massacre and get over the incident, but when it starts happening again finds herself forced to take action to save her friends and stop the mysterious killer.
This one turned into a generally fun if slightly problematic effort. One of the better features here is the fine work spent on integrating the events of the two films to feel like a genuine sequel. The main gist here involving her life coming apart dealing with her trauma affecting her surgical aspirations and turning into a paranoid psycho that can't be anything in the train without being reminded of the previous encounters is all incredibly fair and realistic. That carries over into the other setups involved here, with the exploits of the other survivors ranging quite reasonably from those still dealing but getting over the issue to using the experience to become a faux celebrity in an online community devoted to the incident. There's a lot to like here with these conflicting setups coming into play. As this is set up quite nicely, that turns the film into a stellar mystery about the nature of the killer committing the murders. Abandoning the concept of having the killer stalk anyone by going for the shocking ambush of the victim not believing the costumed person will hurt them before the killing blow, this one becomes a solid series of discussions and realizations about the killer's identity and purpose. This adds a layer of intrigue and suspense as the inability to really nail down a real definitive red herring which makes the stalking and ambushes here come off quite nicely. In addition to this, there's a lot to like here with the kills on display which are a bit more brutal than expected and have a fun component to them also being usually livestreamed to a disbelieving audience online, which all combine together for a lot to enjoy here. There are some drawbacks to be had with this one. One of the biggest issues holding this one back is the superficially obnoxious characters due solely to the specific setup featured here. Playing into the idea of the same train as before is already in bad taste, then to have the characters focus on trying to enhance their social media standings is even more by downplaying genuine emotional damage and distress. That people, supposedly being friends with each other are going through the issues they, to ignore this in favor of what they do here is incredibly shortsighted. Of course, there's also the whole issue of why anyone would want to partake in this setup to begin with considering the circumstances surrounding the whole incident that needs to be addressed, but otherwise, it's not so bad.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
