I Netflixed Ancient Evil 2 the other day, and after reading some of the posts here on IMDb I feel this movie deserves an honest review.First; the story: Predictable. Formulaic. Pretty standard by all accounts. But then, the movie doesn't strive to be something groundbreaking. Maybe it does try too hard to be another Evil Dead. But since that's why I rented it, clearly the film makers know their audience. We can all complain about the seemingly endless supply of low budget Raimi-esquire horror-comedy movies out there. But we watch them because we want to find a movie that we can enjoy just as much as we did Evil Dead with our friends back in high school.You can't fault this movie for trying to be another Evil Dead, because a lot of people out there want exactly that, another Evil Dead. Ancient Evil 2 even comes pretty close. But where it misses the mark, it misses big time.The Acting: I don't know if the cast was comprised of local high school students, members of the regional acting troupe, or just friends of the crew. Some of the characters distract with hammy performances and seem to stumble over lines, while others seem to truly be right for the role. The hero of the film, Paul, does a great job. He's not as stilted or obnoxious as the two friends (whatever their names were). The actress who played Jen performed well also. There were a few moments where these two did seem a bit lost, but I think that may be more a matter of the dialogue, than their skills as actors.For the most part the minor characters encountered in the woods during the last half of the film all did very well. None of their performances were Oscar worthy by any means, but each fit nicely into the movie. The hobo was a bit cartoon-ish, but it worked very well and he stands out as a memorable and quotable character. The two hunters were cliché, but their antics were what you wanted at that point in the story.The stilted acting of the two young friends and the overacting of the Oncilla were so irritating that when they finally get what's coming to them you breathe a sigh of relief with "now I can start enjoying the movie". Perhaps Oncilla was supposed to be hamming it up, in a tongue and cheek sort of way, even so, it was just obnoxious. The Dialogue: Like the acting, the dialogue has moments where it seems natural and pulls you in, and then instantly switches gears and pushes you away. I think the worst of the acting and the weaknesses in the dialogue complimented each other so as to make certain scenes look worse than they were. There definitely were some funny lines, lines that failed simply because the cast couldn't deliver them right. And there were some lines that, no matter how great an actor you were, no one could speak convincingly.But all that aside, the one glaring problem with the dialogue was just that there was too much exposition, especially from Oncilla. I felt like every time she spoke, she had pages of dialogue to recite while everyone else just stood there listening awkwardly. All those lines over and over again, maybe that's why she overacted? She had to do something to keep herself entertained, because no one else was.The Directing: Now, I liked this movie. I hope I haven't given an impression otherwise. I feel there is a great deal of potential in a film like this. The movie set out from beginning to end to be exactly what it was, and it did that well. You never found yourself scratching your head or whistling for the movie to come back to you, "Movie! Movie! Over here boy. Where are you going you silly little thing?" None of that.For all the novice actors and the overly expository dialogue the movie flowed well. The film is about 90 minutes long and feels about right. When it ends you don't say "that went on way too long". The movie feels right for what it is.Everyone involved did the best with what they had to work with (the sign of a good low budget horror movie). They all seemed to have had fun and that translates as a good time for the viewing audience. The soundtrack was very good and fit the movie excellently. The creature looked great.I've always felt that a good director picks a mood that matches the story and carries that mood through to the end of the film. The mood fit and was maintained. And at the end, I had to acknowledge that I enjoyed the experience. Over all this isn't a revolutionary film set to redefine a genre. Nor is it a Hollywood blockbuster that, face it, if you're reading this review you hate those movies as much as I do. This is just a fun schlocky horror-comedy that also happens to show great potential amongst the cast and director. But why isn't it another Evil Dead? Well, I think the big difference is that Ancient Evil 2 may have been a little too ambitious. I always felt that Evil Dead played out as it did to minimize some of the weaknesses of the cast and crew that stemmed from perhaps their own inexperience. Here too much story, too much explanation, was crammed into a 90 minute monster in the woods film, and the cast seemed unable to fit it all together properly. I recommend this film to anyone who likes mindless low budget horror films with a sense of humor. Just remember this movie is what it is, and what it is isn't perfect. And, provided you're not looking for perfection, it is fun.

Goth chick calls up Anubis. Deaths follow.I had read an article on the making of the movie and was curious to see the end result so I rented it. Beneath a pretty cool DVD cover lies this movie and it's, unfortunately, not very good. While I can give props to the monster make up and some of the shots of the moon, the rest of it is uniformly amateurish. Everything from the acting to the writing, camera-work and directing is atrocious. Whole sections of dialog are delivered by characters who should be running for their lives instead of standing, yes standing, and arguing for long minutes at a time. My guess is that a running time had to be filled, but more likely it's because characters have to say things in situations like this, no matter how obvious or inane. The weird thing, though, is that as I was watching the over the top acting (Goth chick I'm talking to you especially), I couldn't help but think this would've worked had the director just thought out of the box a bit and conceived the whole thing as a silent film. Yes, a silent film. Of course distribution would have been a problem, but at least it may have worked as a film.Unless your a film student there is no reason to rent this.But if you are a future filmmaker then rent it with an eye on how not to make a horror film. Scorcese once said something to the effect of watching bad movies in order to learn how to make good ones. This would be one of them.

How many ways can you spell b-a-d? Just watch this movie. It was like watching a very bad high school play where they couldn't round anybody up to play the parts. Acting = Bad. Script = Bad. The whole problem, I believe, was people who watch the great cult classic "The Evil Dead" and think they can duplicate it on a shoestring budget. Unfortunately, they get a piece of drek like Ancient Evil 2. Sorry, I don't mean to knock anybody but this was a really bad piece of film work. Save your money folks. I am giving it the lowest possible rating to warn away others. I believe they even mention "The Book Of The Dead" which was a title that Sam Raimie and Bruce Campbell originally thought to name the Evil Dead. But they were talked out of it.

I saw this film at its premiere and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Being present at the premiere I was privy to the film's extremely low budget (No, even lower than that. Nope, keep going). People have become so "Hollywoodized" when it comes to blockbusters that when they see a movie with a micro-minuscule budget they automatically think it's crap. These people aren't giving director D.W. Kann the credit he very much deserves. In fact, they are doing him a great disservice. This is one director who was able to pull off a damn funny, well executed, horror movie. I laughed out loud, as did the entire audience, as well as jumped out of my seat. That seems quite a feat to me. "Ancient Evil 2" (not a sequel and originally titled "Anubis: Rising"-blame the distributors)is quite literally low-budget genius. The story is simple but what it lacks in a serpentine plot, it makes up with heart and gumption. The two leads are a pleasure to watch. New-comers Christopher Kann (Paul) and Victoria Campbell (Jen), while a bit green around the gills, worked wonderfully together. Paul had dead-on comedic timing and his facial expressions were beyond hysterical. He's one to pay attention to. Jen may want to make you spoon your eyes out at first but she grows on you. The creature was well done and you actually forget that you are watching some dude shoe-horned into a suit. There is some minor incongruity between the dialogue (who needs profanity with lines like, "Who you calling 'hick,' slapnuts?") and the killings which definitely are not cut away from but it's endearing opposed to distracting. The music is catchy, the editing is creative and clever, and the acting is above par. This is a campy movie, and anyone who doesn't get that needs to have their head examined. But most importantly, director D.W Kann never took himself or the film too seriously and there-in lies the genius of it.