Scary Tales 2 takes place shortly after Longfellow (Joel D. Wynkoop - who is excellent here, as has more to do than in the original) has left his job placement center. It seems he's reloctated to a used car lot, which has bums residing on the premisis. Nothing, though, can compare to Longfellow's new partner; replacing the secretary of old is is Wesley King (played deftly - and differently in each segment by George Randol), who is dressed in extremely flashy 'used car dealer' attire. As in Tales 1, we are intoduced to a character who in no way realizes what he's about to encounter at Longfellow's place of business. This man is Don Leifert (Jason Daly - who also directs the segment Charlie's Demons), serial killer on the run. It appears a car he lifted from one of his victims has broken down, and well, he just flat out picked the wrong dealership to try and replace it.

Let's break this puppy down. The three stories consist of Charlie's Demons, a slasher shot entirely in a cabin, which offers the best plot twist of the lot and extremely distrubing gore effects. Dennis Frye VS The Zombies has Bill Cassinelli reprising the title character, and takes place a year before the original, while he was workning a convenience store. This segment is by far the funnest in the film, and features Felissa Rose, star of Sleepaway Camp. 7:23 features Joe Estevez as the desk clerk of one of the oddest hotels known to mankind - where theif on the lamb Frank Draven (Jesse Furman in an excellent performance) has landed. This segment includes some nifty special effects and offers the creepiest tone of the film.

As with the original, the movie is a mixed bag. One concludes this is on purpose, as Hoffman and Daly shift tones between horror and light-hearted humor without warning. There are tons of fun special effects, some good stunts, and funny one liners. As with any good sequel, Tales 2 is loaded with in-jokes to the original. It also seems as if the film quality has improved greatly, as well as the look of the overall production. This film can play with the big boys of the indie scene - Full Moon Studios for example - and come out on top.

A joint ventture between Twisted Illusions, Wet Floor Productions and Mirror Productions, Scary Tales 2 is loaded with about as much fun as your money can get you. It's probably the best intentional-bad movie this critic can remember, and the filmmakers never forget to pile on the cheese. Did we mention Robert Z'Dar (who serves as en associate producer with Estevez and Twisted Illusions exec Tim Ritter) cameos as Officer Cordell (an in-joke to the Maniac Cop films)?

The low point: Probably Longfellow's final scene - we won't want to give anything away. We'll just say - "where's the gold?".

The high point: Joe Estevez as the desk clerk. He's a hoot. Great casting.

This is highly reccomended for anthology lovers and cheesy movie connoisseurs. It runs a fast 89 minutes and is unrated due to sex, violence, gore and language. Much better than the original. This is one sequel which actually improves upon the premise of the first entry. This may be the best low budget horror film series going.