10/31: Part 2

How in the world can you produce a movie that contains references to the holiday of Samhain, then have actors in a scene in that movie pronounce it "sam-hain?" It's pronounced "saw-in." It's like you made a movie that took place in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, and the actors pronounced it as "cater." It takes a lot of incompetence among a large crew of morons for this mistake to actually make it to print.

It's that time of year again, when I willingly subject myself to any Halloween anthology movie no matter the cost, the cost being my time and patience. I had somehow by the grace of God or Satan missed the 10/31 series, but my luck ran out this 2024 season, because Tubi proudly advertised them on a day off work when I was feeling particularly generous.

Ableist slurs, "ancient Indian burial ground" tropes, and mispronouncing Samhain and I'm only halfway through. Just a bunch of stuff that even in 2019 was outdated.

The grindhouse trailers are actually mostly cute and make the film more bearable than the first one. It feels like maybe they were starting to add some personality into the process, but I'd rather watch a full length of the October Kids movie with the terrible acting and bad special effects than watching these adults pretend to act lol

The possession short had some soul in it (pun intended), it makes me really sad it's in this collection which is mostly garbage overacting, cheap special effects, and overdone plots. Basically, think of when you and your friends made movies in middle/high school, and this is about the quality you can expect.

I have actually never seen the 2017 horror anthology "10/31" before I stumbled upon this 2019 sequel. But given my fascination and love for all things horror, of course I opted to sit down and watch "10/31 Part 2", despite of having somewhat of an aversion towards horror anthologies, as many of such tend to be dubious affairs.

Well, the good news is that if you enjoy stereotypical horror anthologies, then you're in for a treat, should you opt to sit down and watch "10/31 Part 2". And with that being said, then it is no secret that I didn't find "10/31 Part 2" to be a particularly outstanding addition to the horror genre.

I only really enjoyed the first segment, and the rest were watchable, for sure, but nothing really noteworthy.

I wasn't familiar with any of the cast members in this anthology.

Visually then "10/31 Part 2" wasn't actually all that bad. It wasn't, however, a grand spectacle of special effects, but there were some fair enough effects in the movie and some fair enough make-up as well.

All in all, then "10/31 Part 2" is something that came and went without leaving a lasting impression on me. There are far better horror anthologies out there, and this is not something I will recommend horror fans to rush out to get to watch. Nor is it something that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "10/31 Part 2" lands on a four out of ten stars.

10/31 Part II is a Halloween themed horror anthology consisting of five terrifying tales hosted by Malvolia: the Queen of Screams.

The film kicks off with about ten minutes or so of mock trailers. Then our hostess gets the five tales going. Tale number one is: A Samhain Liturgy. In this tale, Holly is dropped off to babysit Tommy while his parents away. Tommy likes to sit in his room and make masks. Holly sneaks her boyfriend Cam over to the house. Holly and Cam discover a secret of the family that she is babysitting for.

Dead Lift is our second tale. Jeremy is working on Halloween, while his girlfriend Whitney wants him to come over and party. Jeremy picks up Howard. Howard turns out to be an interesting passenger who will change Jeremy's life.

Apache Hatchet Massacre II is tale number three. It's one of the better ones, but also the shortest. A Halloween party is held at a cabin that is on an ancient Indian Burial Ground.

The best tale is tale number four, Overkill. Overkill is directed by Drew Marvick (Murdercise, XXX-Mas). This is the best and most fun story of the anthology. It literally has everything in it that I love about horror films. There's some eye candy, gore, and good dose of humor in this story.

Sister Mary is the final tale of this anthology. Basically a nun is haunted by her past sins.

10/31 Part II is a decent horror anthology. I really enjoyed a couple of the stories, but there were also a couple that ran on too long. I went ahead and gave it a 7 based on stories number 3 and 4.

I purchased this to upgrade to free shipping from Scream Team. I'm pretty glad I did overall. It's a cool company and I was in a perfect mood for some fun horror shorts. That's exactly what you get, for the most part.

The trailers were OK - nothing great and maybe one chuckle or two.

The first short is the highlight of the movie. "A Samhain Liturgy" is one of the better shorts I have seen in a long time. It's a horror/comedy mix as most of these are, but does it really well. It's a simple, familiar formula done well. What makes it work is the acting. It's well above average for the budget. 8/10

The second short, "Dead Lift," is well-paced and starts off creepy and fun. The climax was a bit corny, but then the ending redeemed it. Again, good acting, but needed some more polishing. 7/10

Unfortunately, the last two dropped off a bit. The third is a pure parody that's relatively funny, but nor particularly special or memorable. It's also the first glimpse into (purposeful) bad acting. The kid was annoying, but not in a good way. 5/10

The last segment, to me, was useless and contended to be serious, I think? It was displaced and pretty hard to watch. 2/10.

I was actually torn between a 6/10 and 7/10. I'm not sure I'll recommend it or watch it again, but it made for a pretty fun night overall and is good, indie horror done right. It's just a shame the last segment was a bit of a throwaway.