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.

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.

First off, the first thing that came to my mind after I finished this film last night was "Why the title of 8MM 2?", because I saw the first one obviously, and what did this have to do with the first movie's plot? The only thing that was similar was the fact that the couple had to go into the porno industry and that wasn't even needed in the plot, because after you see the ending that I will not spoil, it just didn't make any sense.

A diplomat and his fiancée are in Hungary and notice a woman who is swimming naked in the pool area, she's very attractive, so when they see her at a club, they decide to have a little fun and have a steamy threesome. But things get extremely intense when the diplomat is mailed pictures of them all having the affair, fearing that it might go public and jeopardize his career, they pay off the guy who sent the pictures, the diplomat freaks out and "kills" the guy, leading into a murder case. He and his fiacee decide to find the girl they had the affair with, but things just get deeper and darker as they go further into what they got themselves into.

What could have been an alright thriller, turned into an unexplained and not well thought out movie, which was sad. Like I said, the title really has nothing to do with the first one, so don't fall for it. It's just a sexual thriller that makes no sense, but it's good for those nights alone, because quite frankly this is one of those films where it's so close to porn that it might as well be labeled as soft core.

4/10

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!

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.