Death Nurse 2

For the second half of the 1900's, there have been few cinematic advancements that would qualify as great sequels. Among these selections, one would include: The Godfather II, DGITW 2, Empire Strikes Back, and of course, Death Nurse II. Steve Millard, aka Phillip Miller, aka Nick Philips, aka Nick Phillips delivers a tour-de- force of modern day filmmaking as he ignores the conventions and restraints involved with 35mm and takes the experimental route. Unlike many directors who dwell on shot selection, controlled lighting, and mise-en-scene, Millard-Phillips developed his own style and used video as his format. Current autuers who have disregarded film in order to shoot digital have Millard-Phillips to thank, for he was doing it years before the digital revolution. Not only did he have the courage to take the slasher genre to a new level, he was able to create an absolute masterpiece with, of course, the help of a star-studded cast. Pricilla Alden shines with an unforgettable performance as the cruel, yet lovable Edith Mortley R.N. and the return of Hope, aka Faith, aka Charity was sure not to leave a dry eye in the theater. So when one thinks of the great maverick filmmakers of the last century, be sure to include Steve or Nick Millard-Phillips along with the usual list of Cassavetes, Godard, and Bergman.

Again, another film where we have to see the same footage from Criminally Insane. I liked "Criminally Insane" but stop it, just stop it! This isn't Crazy Fat Ethel 4! It's not even a sequel either! This is just a 56 minute mess. I couldn't bare to watch anymore of it. Why does this still exist? Seriously, I have been asking this for years now! The actresses return as different characters, only because Nick has no life or friends that he can hire, but I bet they can make a better movie than Death Nurse.

This could have the worst quality I've seen in a while. It could have the worst camera too. I mean, in one scene, everything was just so noisy I thought that was just the sound of fart noises mixed with rare VHS audio. Least this sequel doesn't have the hole digging scenes from the first film.

Nurse Mortley is back. This time, Social Services is placing homeless people in Shady Palms Clinic.

Death Nurse 2 is just as good as the first film. It was filmed on a camcorder, just like the original, and the shenanigans and dialogue are just as John Watersesque. We even get some social commentary within this sequel. One person who finds himself unfortunate enough to be a new resident loves to rant and rave, 'especially crazy stuff like 'socialism is the way forward'' as stated by the official from Social Services when he performs the handover. This film can be added to the list of films that may prompt arguments about which is better- the original or its sequel. But I bet it won't.

The ending is left open, which prompts the question- will there someday be a Part 3? I hope so.

Not 'so bad, it's good' but more 'so good, it's great'.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Nick Millard's "Death Nurse" had a really open ending (it didn't as much end as it just stopped), so here's some more fodder for that all-important "is this even an actual movie?"-demographic. Usually watching a sequel without having seen the first one is a bad thing, but when it comes to this movie I really think it's actually less confusing that way. Two "actors" that got killed in the original return here as different characters, once and for all confirming the notion that Nick Millard doesn't have more than four or five friends. It's not just the actors that are familiar though: the hideous shot-on-video look, the hilariously unconvincing death scenes and even the complete non-ending also make their triumphant returns. And yet...dare I say this is actually a bit better than "Death Nurse 1"? The improvements are almost unnoticeable, but they're there. We get two new actors that do manage to breath some life into this mess, though don't expect either of them to be Ben Kingsley or something. We also get more outdoors footage, most of it is just a supermarket parking lot where you can't even hear what they're saying, but I'll take it. And lastly, rather than people with TB and whatnot this movie chooses to kill of mentally ill patients, who at least give us some good throwaway lines here and there. That's all I've got though: it's still pretty damn terrible.

Death Nurse 2 (1988)

BOMB (out of 4)

Sequel to the 1987 hit DEATH NURSE (I'm kidding on the hit part) has Priscilla Alden returning to the role of the nurse who takes in patients to her home where she's supposed to be taking care of them but instead she's slaughtering them and feeding them to the rats in the garage.

Director Nick Millard's sequel is pretty much the same as the previous movie and it goes a step further in regards to its ultra low-budget. The original 1987 film lifted a lot of footage from the director's 1975 film CRIMINALLY INSANE but this sequel goes a step further and borrows footage from not only it but the 1987 original as well! Many people consider the two CRIMINALLY INSANE and DEATH NURSE movies as the same series since it does feature so much footage as well as the same star and director.

It really doesn't matter how you look at it because this film is pretty darn bad. If a gun was held to my head and I had to say which one was worse I'd probably give the vote to this one here since there's so much footage borrowed from not just one but two movies. As with DEATH NURSE, this sequel features awful acting, bad special effects and laughable editing that appears to have been done between two VHS recorders.

As I said in my review to the first film, I admire any filmmaker no matter how bad the film in question is. It's certainly better to make a movie than just review one but it's hard to defend anything in DEATH NURSE 2.