Review of Wild Things 2 (2004) by Bryan G — 06 Feb 2012

All too often you'll hear people say about a film "It's so bad, that it's actually good!", and all too often is turns out that the film isn't so bad that it's actually good, it's just bad. Until now, because Wild Things 2 really is so bad, that it's actually good.

The original Wild Things was a sleazy but smart thriller which featured a semi-talented and very recognisable cast. It was packed with a number of excellent twists which surprised and thrilled in equal measure. Any fan of the original ought to have alarm bells ringing when faced with a sequel to Wild Things in that only three of the notable characters from the first movie survived, so what exactly could there be left for Wild Things 2. Turns out that the makers of this sequel decided not to trouble themselves with such trivial matters and decided to make the same film again, just with a bunch of actors that no one has ever heard of. It's more like another episode of an anthology type TV show than a movie sequel.

Susan Ward plays Denise Richardson, who schemes with her version of Neve Campbell and Matt Dillon to steal a lot of money and have threesomes before the best laid plans of high schoolers go awry. Ironically none of the cast look like they've been in high school for quite some time but their acting skills clearly didn't graduate with them. At least the original cast did have decent acting chops between them. This lot probably had to be told which end of the camera to look at.

So far, so exactly the same as it's predecessor even down to borrowing exact scenes and dialogue. Then Wild Things 2 does something different. The plot does seem to get a life of its own and all of sudden, it's got it's hooks into the viewer. You know that what you're watching is awful but some how you can't bring yourself to turn it off. The acting doesn't ever get any better but the twists begin to come thick and fast, so quickly that it almost begins to make your head spin. It's soap opera style guff but that doesn't stop Wild Things 2 from suddenly becoming rather enjoyable.

Don't get this reviewer wrong, Wild Things 2 is a terribly made movie but manages to turn itself into that rarest of beasts, a movie which is despite it's outward appallingness will make you sit through it and find you thinking it wasn't that bad at all. Late night, guilty pleasure viewing was made for films exactly like this.