Summer Screamer Screener: The Dummy 2

Good day to you all. At the request of horror director Dustin Ferguson (Terror at Black Tree Forest, Escape to Black Tree Forest, Doll Killer, Die Sister, Die!, Gloved Murderess, Cheerleader Camp: To the Death and Invitation to Die) I attend a screener of his current works which is a sequel to the 1995 Dante Falconi's The Dummy, in which a newlywed couple decided it was be a kick to get their fortune told, for the hell of it. The gypsy woman goes into her spiel and low and behold the couple act like jerks deciding not to pay her, mock her and off they go. The gypsy woman summons dark forces to imbue into a ventriloquist dummy to slay anyone the couple speak with on their first anniversary.  But that was all just a movie and no way that could ever happen.  This is The Dummy 2.

So that is the director's cut to 2001.  Anyone still awake?

21 years ago, the very dummy that cut a bloody swath across the country is being sold to a couple on E-bay for a tidy but fair sum.. except the part where it is a killer doll and going to maim and murder again. A close zoom pan on said dummy's eyes almost hints to a feeling of betrayal until you realize he is being prepared with dark forces yet again. With a few eerie optical exposure effects, blue lighting and even a little warped incidental music it is a quiet flick allowing your brain to fill in the gaps as you will.

I do love the fact Ferguson took advantage of the existing state fair for shoots. That must have taken very little convincing. The 8 and half minute intro seemed unusually long until I realized Ferguson was recapping the previous film. Yes the metaphysics strike again. Our young foolhardy bunch decide to hold a seance with the creepy doll and see if anything is true about its gruesome origins. But not before some weed, dancing and beer first off. Typical twenty somethings distracted by everything and anything so they prepare for the party/seance in their own time. Wow did I just sound that old?   You damn kids git off my lawn!!!   Fans of Jennii Caroline and Schuylar Craig will be happy to see them both again.

When Craigslist hook ups go horribly wrong.

A few constant niches in Ferguson's films are at least one person smoking, a fair amount of long pan roads to travel down, low level mood lighting and the girls can actually tone down their makeup to the level yes, you can tell they are wearing some but it is not pornographic overboard paint jobs. Little tip Indie Horror directors, find girls like Ferguson has that can act and have the ability to understand how to apply makeup with a series of brushes and not a trowel.

Thought there was quite a few local store visits too many, kinda dragging the story but again this is the screener and he will or won't trim what's going on.

While Velvet Acid Christ did music for Gloved Murderess similar to Goblin in Dario Argento's many films, Hate Dept and Kevorkian Death Cycle put their spin on the film.

While the established notion of The Dummy only being a film, the story arc for its sequel takes its time again and builds up a bit of suspense. The cat in the trench coat was killing me with his leers. You will have some fun watching this as much as it looks like the cast had fun making it.

So that's how you get Schuylar to come over.  Huh.  Well I did wonder.