Dark Rising 2: Summer Strikes Back!

I really couldn't give this movie more then a 5.

The writing is stilted, the characters two-dimensional (if that) and the lead actress's primary qualities are...well... her primary qualities. She looks fantastic standing still with her mouth shut. Unfortunately her acting is awful and her stage fighting looks like a 10 year old playing "batman."

The makeup is amateurish, but the animation is okay and the CG frankly is surprisingly good, mostly demonstrating just how cheap and easy basic CG has become.

Over all it plays like a film written by high-school students, acted by first year college students and a porn star, with sfx done by mildly talented upper class college students. Despite all that, or maybe because of it, it has a genuine charm and appeal on the pure camp level. Sort of like the 60s Batman TV show.

If you enjoy camp, then go for it. But otherwise give it a wide miss.

Dark Rising (2007) was a dumb but fun fantasy comedy with ridiculous monsters and lots of PG T&A. With an unknown cast and WWE wrestler Christian it exceeded my expectations even though it still wasn't all that great.

I never expected a movie like that to get a sequel but here we are and it isn't half bad. Following on from the events of the previous film including most of the surviving cast we have more silly dumb fun but with a slightly higher calibre of comedy.

The sfx are still poor and it's hardly a well made effort but it makes up for it where it matters.

Shockingly Dark Rising didn't just spawn 2 movies but also 2 television series which I'm looking forward to diving into.

If you enjoyed the first movie I recommend this, otherwise it may be a bit niche.

The Good:

Great comedy character

The Bad:

No Christian, I mean yes he did die in the first movie but still

Aftereffects level sfx

Brigitte Kingsley is an unconvincing action heroine

Yes, it's a comedy. Yes, it does not strive for credibility. But it's not funny, it's rather annoying. Plus, it's an impossibly insincere film - the heroine's almost only value is visual and you won't be shown more than some bare cleavage and thighs ... What is it then - an erotic heroic comedy for under-10s? Bad acting, bad special effects, non-existent script - and so probably under-10s have done it. And probably everyone who has given it a score higher than 3 is also (at least in terms of spiritual development) under 10s.

The previous reviews for this movie seem out of place. This isn't a blockbuster action movie trying to maintain any sense of realism. In fact it's making fun of them a bit.

It's an obvious over-the-top play on science fiction action movies. From the lead character being some type of advanced humanoid species (See Alice from Resident Evil) with rather large assets to the criminals who couldn't hurt a thing if their life depended on it.

The actors know how far-fetched and insane the film is and seem to have had a lot of fun making it. No, they aren't great actors – their "ok" acting ability is what adds to this "b" movies character.

It's not meant to be taken seriously. It's absolutely ridiculous and that's what makes it fun. Remember that and you'll enjoy it for what it is.

This show raises many questions and the first question would be how on Earth do these people get to keep making these movies when they are this awful?

The acting and writing are both garbage. I don't know where they are finding the actors for these movies but I can only assume they are putting an ad in the local Podunk, Ontario newspaper asking anyone with free time to just show up and bring whatever props and Halloween costumes they own.

Same thing for the writing. Is there a script at all? Is there a script that was written as a joke on toilet paper while the writer was taking a huge dump.

Was this movie produced as a joke or because someone lost a bet and had to? Is the fat comic relief guy supposed to be so annoying I want to punch my screen?

How in the world did they get actual famous people to make appearances in this?

The first movie was bad and this one is at least a million times worse. Please stop making these! How can they possibly be making any money?