Tags - CALL IF YOU DARE...THIS TIME SATAN RETURNS THE CALL!
If you've seen 976 EVIL 1 then the plot needs no introduction however if you have not suffered ROBERT ENGLUND's (Freddy Krueger) directorial debut I'll be brief.
A telephone horrorscope phone line targets vulnerable people causing then to sell their souls to satan in return for their darkest desires. It is truly Faustian in that respect dwelling in the hinterlands of frustrated desire and unfulfilled wishes.
The opening sequence filmed in an empty school swimming pool / locker room is gratuitous boob flashing, the only nudity in the film, and ends with the coed being offed on the stage set of FAUST. This must be the biggest school stage on the planet and the theatre large enough for broadway.
RENE ASSA plays the school principle Mr Gruebeck, who has sold his soul to satan. His murder of the coed is witnessed by the drunken janitor (George Buck Flower) who has passed out in the stalls.
Queue loads of mullet headed cops hauling Gruebeck off to the town jail and awaiting the sexy woman from the DA's office to start the prosecution.
Gruebeck appeals to Satan and is told he will be given the tools to complete the job - in this case the ability to astral project. This is useful as he can touch without being touched, kill without being killed, and can jump around the plot with abandon. Useful stuff indeed however the downside is his projection bears the ugliness of his soul and rather like A PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY gets worse as the film unfolds.
Our heroes in this are the sometimes mustachio'd* biker Spike (Patrick O'Bryan - the only cast member to have survived 976:EVIL 1) and the suitably sexy psychiatrists daughter Robin (Debbie James, a one time miss USA finalist who appeared in a BON JOVI video for her sins).
The rest of the film is basically Spike and Robin trying to stop Gruebeck while the body count racks up.
One wonderful sequence in the film involves Robin and her best friend Paula (Leslie Ryan - NIGHT OF THE CREEPS), arguing over which film to watch whilst lying scantly claid on the sofa. The films within the film are NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD & ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE. In a scene that makes me think of SHOCKER Paula finds herself transported into the film itself turing up at the end of its a wonderful life which then morphs into Night of the living dead. Wonderful stuff as she bites the dust in real life as well as on the screen.
The DA lady dies after her car is hijacked by the invisible Gruebeck in a scene that turns up fully in GHOULIES IV by the same director.
The ending is a bit of a let down where a near death Spike astral projects in order to kick Gruebecks ass while Robin kills his sleeping body.
Highlights: Night of the Living Dead vs Its A Wonderful Life,
The pointless cameo featuring Brigitte Nielsen as Satanic bookshop owner (film quote Bridgette to Spike "walk this way" to which Spike replies "It must have taken you years to learn how to walk that way")
The car chase scene that has a victim who car goes out of control down a highway
* Spike and his amazing facial hair magic trick - in 5 seconds he goes from being clean shaven to having a full moustache, that then in the next shot promptly disappears!
All in all a rather fime late 80's / early 90's cheap horror romp which for pure cheese equates to a three cheese piza with extra cheese.
The best scene from the movie:
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