House 2 : The Second Story

House 2 : The Second Story title

Tag Line : Frightening strikes twice!

House 2 : The Second Story New house, new story. The plot this time round revolves around a young lad named Jesse McClaughlin (Ayre Gross), who has just inherited his parents old house out in the country. He and his girlfriend Kate (Lar Park Lincoln) decide to move into the property, where they are soon joined by their friends Charlie (Jonathan Stark) and Jana (Amy Yasbeck).

Jesse, who was orphaned many years ago, decides to do a bit of research on his family's history and discovers that his great great grandfather, an outlaw in the old west, was rumoured to have been buried with an ancient Aztec monument. Namely a crystal skull that is said to posses great powers.

So, Jesse and Charlie decide to head on over to the old cemetery and find out if the old stories are true, and having dug up his grave they do indeed find the skull. But also find a very well rested grandpa (Royal Dano), and this is where the fun begins! Gramps (as he likes to be known) explains that the Skull does indeed contain great powers, and that the house is actually a temple built to protect it. Low and behold, as soon as they return home with the skull, all manner of wierd things start happening and forces of evil attempt to make off with it.

Jesse, Charlie and Gramps are then forced to go through a series of weird adventures, aided along the way by a bizarre electrician adventurer named Bill Tanner (John Ratzenberger), as they try to get the skull back. Battling Aztecs and cavemen, including a baby Pterodactyl which proceeds to run amok round the house, before finally coming face to face with Gramps old enemy Slim who's apparently been behind all the ghostly goings on.

As you can probably tell, the sense of humour in this film is far more prevalent than in the previous feature, which was more of a black comedy. Personally speaking, I thought this was the best of the quartet of "House" films, even though the emphasis here is more on humour then horror. If you enjoyed the first movie, or you enjoy comical horror farces you'll undoubtedly love this one.

Overall Marks : 7/10

Other Information.

Alternate tag lines... "It's getting weirder!", "Doom with a View", "A whole new house with all new owners".
The director, Ethan Wiley, had worked on the previous "House" film as a writer. He has also worked on the films "Gremlins" and "Return of the Jedi" as a technician.
Amy Yasbeck also appeared in the Mel Brooks comedies "Robin Hood - Men in Tights" and "Dracula - Dead and Loving It", although she's probably best known for her role with Jim Carey in the 1994 film "The Mask".
Royal Dano would appear to have been aptly cast as Jesse's gun slinging great-great grandpa "Gramps", having starred in numerous 50's western series, such as "Gun Smoke", "Wagon Train", "The Rifleman", "Wanted Dead or Alive" and many others. His acting career spanned some 5 decades, his later movie roles included the other popular horror comedies "Ghoulies 2" and "Killer Klown from Outer Space", His last film was the Steven King/George Romero collaboration "The Dark Half" in 1993. He sadly died of a heart attack in 1994 following a car crash. He was 71 years old.
Lar Park Lincoln who plays Jesse's girlfriend Kate also played the telepathic Tina Sheppard in "Friday the 13th Part 7 : The New Blood".
Look out for the guy in the gorilla suit at the Halloween party, this is actually stunt man Kane Hodder, who is better known for his role as Jason in the later "Friday the 13th" sequels.