I watched this one before the first film. I was pleasantly surprised after initially thinking within the first 15mins of it, it was going to be a pile of crap. some bits are a bit far-fetched but aren't a lot of modern horrors? But as the film and story continued, i found myself getting more into it. There's plenty of blood and gore, very over the top to be honest, but good. I was really impressed with a certain idea of the film! so not to give to much away about it but the idea of how they kept the story surrounding the location is cool and was humorous at one stage when a character uncovers a secret and then the horror comes more a light and you start thinking holy-crap, can you imagine that. The acting ability of the cast was also good, not sub-standard like some horror sequels of late. I didn't see the plot come together until the very end, i was surprised and found it quite unpredictable until i watched it again and pieced it together. so it's clever as i didn't see that coming. i would recommend it if you get the chance to see it.

The first film was your good usual twist and turn psycho killer horror thriller, and this straight to DVD sequel is just as good, if not a tiny bit better. The film opens with the origins of how the Reeker came to be, there used to be a man, or the Salesman (Michael Robert Brandon) in the 1970s known as the Death Valley Drifter, and there is a part when he gets caught and chops his own hand off. He was caught by Sheriff McAllister (David Stanbra) in his shack filled with heads, limbs and body parts (kind of like Leatherface or the real life Ed Gein), and he was put to death in the gas chamber, but his spirit managed to get out. Then it moves to present day, where Sheriff McAllister (Robert Pine) will be retiring and having his son Deputy Harris McAllister (Michael Muhney) replace him. Then three thieves show up, one is dying but Binky (Desmond Askew) is looking forward to getting his hands on the money they stole from a casino, and Alex (Stephen Martines) wants to see his ex-girlfriend, waitress Maya (Mircea Monroe). Soon they realise that they are in danger from a mysterious ripply serial killer with a hook for a hand wearing a gas mask, the Reeker, a ghost working for Death. Each victim is warned almost by a horrible smell coming from the killer, hence the name Reeker, and when each die you see their pasts flashing before you. It is apparent though that all that did die were meant to, seeing how also they are trapped by an invisible wall, you see the logical way they are killed off in the end, and there is no Reeker at all. Also starring Lyne Odums as Psychiatrist, Valerie Cruz as Allison, Lew Temple as Hitchhiker and Ben Gunther as Reeker. I can't remember there being much humour in the predecessor, but this one has some good moments of humour in amongst the good gore and rough death scenes, and a creepy killer to go with it, not bad at all. Worth watching!

No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker is set on a lonely strip of desert road in the middle of nowhere at a dusty diner & motel, on the day of his retirement Sheriff McAllister (Robert Pine) is about to hand the reins over to his son Deputy Harris McAllister (Michael Muhney) & are discussing things in the diner when a situation breaks out. There casino robbers on the run from the law arrive, one looking for his (very hot) ex-friend Maya (Mircea Monroe) who is a waitress at the diner. All hell breaks loose, a shoot-out between cops & robbers ensues & they all end up stranded there, cut off from the outside world by an invisible barrier & terrorised by a smelly ghostly killer but that's just the start of their nightmare...Like the original Reeker (2005) this was written, produced & directed by Dave Payne who also composed the musical score on both films & is basically more or less a straight remake as opposed to a sequel & I think it's telling that the number 2 doesn't actually appear in the title anywhere. I think that those who have not seen the original Reeker will enjoy No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker more than those who have since all the twist's & turns are exactly the same in both films especially the ending. Those who have seen the original Reeker will know exactly how this will end which obviously takes a lot away from the film, the original wasn't even anything that different anyway since the twist had already been done before & in a much better capacity in the excellent Dead End (2003) a couple of years previously so there's definitely a strong sense of déjà vu here with No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker (God I hate that title). Forgetting about the original & the not very original twist ending on which the whole film hangs No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker taken on it's own merits is fairly enjoyable with a nice pace, some good action, a plot that entertains, some humorous moments & dialogue, some spunky character's that are quite likable & one blonde bird who is drop dead gorgeous (call me weird but even when she is heard talking about someone taking a stinky sh*t in a grease pan she still came across as hot to me), some nice gore effects & one or two nice sequences that add up a better than average horror film & as I have said those not familiar with the original & therefore not expecting or know about the twist ending will find an enjoyable little twist filled horror film that delivers on several counts. Unfortunately those who have seen or know about the original can't help but know exactly where the film is going within the first fifteen minutes which is not good. So there you have it really, whether you like No Man's Land: Rise Reeker & how effective it's twist's & turns are will depend if you can guess or already know about it's ending & that's basically what it boils down to in a nutshell. Also one has to say that writer & director Payne has tried to expand on some of the ideas & themes of his original almost as if he was trying to explain away some of the ambiguities & mystery of the original, for instance he gives the Reeker more of a specific purpose, he gives it & his potential victims more boundaries & rules in which they function & operate & he even gives the Reeker an origin, birth & back-story which I am not sure was needed but Reeker is beginning to smell (pun intended) of a cheap endless sequel driven franchise based around some sort of monster or gimmick & I think Payne sets the roots for a possible series up here.It's quite interesting to note that although film is a very visual & audio based medium how many times the makers base scenes around bad smells which is something by it's very nature the media of film just cannot accurately convey in any way whatsoever. There's some decent gore on show here like decapitated heads & severed body limbs including a sawn off hand in a sneeky nod to the infamous sawn off foot sequence in Saw (2005), a drill through someones head, a pole stuck through someones body, someones chest is sliced open & some cool CGI computer effects to render half a guy's head & face missing while he is still moving around. The demonic Reeker itself is alright but it's scenes are always filmed with an annoying blurriness & wobbly straight line effect which lessened the impact & distorted the image too much for me.With a supposed budget of about $2,000,000 this was shot in California, Los Angeles for the interiors & Lancaster for the exteriors. It has a pretty slick look to it & feels more polished than the original, the special effects are good & it certainly looks better than most recent low budget horror fare. The cast are alright but no-one I have heard of or seen before although I will just say again that Mircea Monroe is hot in this.No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker is a better than average horror flick with good gore, good CGI effects, some humour & horror & at only just over 80 odd minutes it's fast paced with some good twist's & turns. The only problem is anyone familiar with the original will have already seen & therefore know about those twist's or turns which on the one hand is one of the films biggest plus points but by a bizarre sort of logic at the same time are one of it's biggest minus points as well.

This film first appeared to be a straightforward cops and robbers movie. Three guys rob a casino and manage to land at the same gas station/cafe as a father (Robert Pine) and son (Michael Muhney), one a retiring sheriff, and the other the new man in town, were eating.Then things got weird, as one man gets his head practically torn of, but was still able to walk and talk, another man, who was burning a car, is also walking around, and, I kid you not, some legs without a body were running. Are we in the Twilight Zone or something? But, just when things couldn't get any stranger, we come to the ending where there appears to be a logical explanation to everything we saw. So what were we watching for the last hour? A soul-catcher reborn or someones imagination run amok. It was an interesting film with just the right amount of gore, a lot of laughs, and enough to keep you interested. Well, not totally. Mircea Monroe and Valerie Cruz were nice eye candy, but they could have made it more interesting.