8MM 2 - Inferno di velluto

This was a complete departure on 8MM. There was no Nickolas Cage looking into a snuff film. This was about a couple that were being blackmailed.

Johnathon Schaech (Woundings), who was or still is married to Christina Applegate, stars with Lori Heuring, a Maxim Top 100 hottie. They take a trip to a hotel, are filmed in steamy sex and blackmailed. Of course. Lori's daddy is going to be a Supreme Court Justice and she is worth millions, which she ends up paying a huge sum of and all is rosy. Or is it? I saw this coming a mile away, but it was still good when it happened.

Even if the journey was predictable, it was enjoyable to see the seamy side of Budapest, and to visit a club where the main attraction is lots of full frontal nudity. The film features some ménage à trois, girl-on-girl, and regular sex with more boobies than you can count. Forget the story and just enjoy the soft porn.

This is not at all a bad movie, if you drop the following expectations:

• 8mm sequel?? It has nothing to do with 8mm, the movie with Nicolas Cage.

• Story? The plot is not hugely elaborate, it's a blackmailing story which takes a slight twist at the end.

• Actors? Acting should have been with more heart and more convincing.

Other than that, it's a highly enjoyable movie. It's full of masterfully photographed erotic, film-noir atmosphere, very nice on-location footage from Hungary and an excellent soundtrack.

Although the story has its deficits, it serves well for generating a big deal of suspense. Much of the suspense originates from the psychological interplay between the different "opponents" in the movie. It's not about dull action scenes or car hunts.

Altogether, still worth a 7. Good time watching.

Well, I knew it was not going to be a direct sequel to 8mm, but both movies have no connection, which is explained on the DVD extras that this was a stand alone film until the studio head try to make more money by connecting the movies.

But I saw the movie without this info, but even after understanding this the movie still is not that good.

It's too predictable for me, which made it very cheesy. you can see the ending coming a mile away once the pilot is revealed.

I can't say that the acting was bad because it was the very good acting that allowed me to see the ending coming, but the story was lame and too formulated without enough twist and turns to shake me from knowing exactly what's coming.

I saw it because I herd it was a good soft-core porn film. Wrong! I've seen better, I've seen a lot better, it's a mediocre erotic thriller, but not good enough to over shadow the formulated story.

Skip it!

After seeing the movie in a class of mine and having a talk with the filmmaker, I found out exactly why the film bombed the way it did. The creators of the movie had no intention to call the film "8MM 2." Originally, the film was called "The Velvet Side of Hell" but was changed at the last minute by Sony Pictures to 8MM 2 without letting the filmmakers have any say in the matter. By doing that, it screwed them out of theatrical releases and doomed it to a straight to video release with minimal advertising.

Again, this is from the filmmaker's mouths, not mine, so I really can't say what is truth, and what is hype.

If you look at the film as "Velvet Side of Hell," it isn't THAT bad. It isn't great, but it is not god awful. It would basically just be a B-movie that likes to show boobs. But as a sequel to "8MM," the film fails terribly.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

David (Johnathon Schaech) and Tish (Lori Heuring) are a couple in Budapest, on business commitments and staying at a luxury hotel. One night, they meet an attractive woman at a nightclub and invite her back to their place, where they end up in a threesome. All is well, until David receives some negatives in the mail and he and Tish end up being blackmailed. But when some people involved in the deception are found murdered, things get messy and they are forced to enter the seedy underground world of pornography and hardcore bondage to track down the woman who may hold the key to everything.

Whereas the original film dealt with the concept of snuff films, this straight to DVD sequel deals with the more wholesome (!!!) theme of threesomes and sleazy sex. It plays like a porn film, a cheap piece of titillation with plenty of hot T/A action going on. If this sounds like your idea of a good film, you'll probably like it, but you'd probably be more at home in a porn shop than a video store.

This tries to copy the original film's dark and voyeuristic feel, but while it does a pretty good job of this, it still can't hold up to that of the original's. It has an apathetic story, with a dodgy narrative flow. And compared to Cage, Schaech comes across as interminably wooden.

Better than I thought it'd be, I suppose, and better than your average one of these DVD direct sequels that seem to be coming out a lot these days, but really, haven't we seen enough? **