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I just watched BR2 for the second time in two days. I've been a fan of the original since my early 20's and given the piss poor reviews this film got I decided not to sully my love of BR with an inferior sequel. But 20 years later I am a different person and BR2 while the same movie plays differently than it would have in the early 00's. While I always heard this film is anti-American I don't believe it's that cut and dry. The film itself plays like a mish-mash of Aliens, Rambo 3 and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. It has the spirit of BVD, loose and experimental, using the original film and book as a springboard to tell a story "ripped from the headlines" just like Dolls. Around this gonzo structure the writer/director tells a story about the perils of blind patriotism, American cultural influence abroad and to a degree how America and their allied nations have influenced and created the devil they seek to destroy TERRORISTS. But it's deeper than just that, the terrorists/children are fighting for justice, which pretty much means something different in each nation, religion or individual. It think this is why the extended cut has the proper subtitle REVENGE. This is a deep movie masquerading as sensationalism. I like it a lot, just as good as the original, just good in a different way.

So what you have heard is correct, this movie is a mess. The final product is about as competent as the shot-on-video films released in the early 2000's when DV filmmaking took off. What makes Verotika stand out is the editing, or lack there of. I have the feeling every bit of video was used just to stretch it out to 90 minutes (even alternate takes of scenes you saw five minutes before). Sometimes this is a bad thing. How many low budget films have you seen that were filled with people walking endlessly, or driving endlessly? But in this case, at least for the first two stories, it ads to the train wreck appeal.

So many bewildering happy accidents that are laugh-out-loud funny. Moments where they didn't get the coverage they needed, but went with it, leading to head scratching edits and bizarro continuity errors. Zooms and shots that go on just a little too long and make you giggle. And the acting, oh the acting. The strangest thing is there are a few performances, little side characters, that are actually passable. But this makes the bad actors that much worse. Sure she has big boobs and collagen filled lips but was she really the best person for the part?

Sadly as the second story starts to wrap up the film starts to become a slog. The third story is the weakest of all, the padding REALLY feels like padding. Not even the couple over the top blood bursts and various silly moments can make it watchable (really THAT'S what you're tying your horse to?)

All-in-all, Verotika is probably best viewed with a rowdy crowd, or drunk/stoned with a bunch of friends and probably only once. "Hey Mystery Girl! Over here!"

Back in The mid 90's I worked at a grocery store as a bagger. Have have been a cineast for my entire life and at that time, as a teen I dreamt of nothing more than making a horrible no-budget movie. It just so happened the produce manager (Chad? Chet? Chip?) had a friend who made a no-budget movie himself: Zombie Ninja. The manager lent my friends and I a VHS copy, from what I remember it was yet to be released, but did have a distributor as he asked the director to add some boobs. So after work one night we all retired to my parents living room to watch Nonja Zombie. I remember nothing about it but there was a zombie (maybe dead ex-cop) and there were boobs (because the distributor wanted them) other than that I only remembered name. Glad to see the produce manager's friend finally got this to be see. By a wider audience. Does it deserve it? Maybe. I figure anyone who took the time to make a movie no matter how bad should have it be seen.