Review: Fear PHarm 2

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Fear PHarm 2
Directed by Dante Yore
Make the Movie; Indican Pictures
76 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/Fear-PHarm-2-101714982278980
www.indicanpictures.com

Picking up a sequel before seeing the first one? Hmmm. I had a choice, and decided to watch the first one – er – first, and then report back to you.

In last year’s Fear PHarm (2020), for which the filming of this is piggy-backed, I am assuming due to the overlap of cast, four (annoying) 20-something struggling actors go into a Halloween-themed corn maze at the Cool Patch Farm (a real place in Dixon, California, a half hour west of Sacramento). Oh, note that there will be a couple of spoilers for the first film here, but not the second. They are picked by the owners, the Walker family, to go to a “special maze” where they are hunted down through the maze one-by-one as they are separated early on by the large Sawyer-like family tribe of normal lookers and freaks. Knives, machetes, and chainsaws abound. The body count is low, but gruesome. That’s the basic plot of the first film. But I’m not here to review that one, but rather the sequel.

John Littlefield

The villainous family is quite populated with clowns, “Leatherface” types and big brutes. But there are two worth pointing out. The first is the head of the clan, Hershel (John Littlefield giving an outstanding performance). He really should be right up there with Mick from Wolf Creek (2005). Then there is his intense and brilliant yet sadistic machete- and bow-and-arrow-wielding only daughter, Gemma (Aimee Stolte), who wears next to nothing but embodies Second Wave Feminism, with her anger towards men she meets who she deems inferior (and yes, in this story, some are, especially her brothers, who are dumb as stumps; only Hershel seems to have his shit together). She gets frustrated having to explain everything to everybody.

The “PHarm” pun is actually quite smart. First there is the use of “PH” as an “F” sound followed by “Harm,” and then there is also the “PH” as in “pH,” the measure the level of water’s acidic base level. It is often used in skin care products, such as moisturizer, which is the sideline of the Walker family, who are searching for just the right skin to harvest; this is in every film description, so I’m not “spoiling.”

Tiana Tuttle

The nice thing about filming two stories in a row is that the continuity has a better chance of flowing. In this case, PHarm 2 picks up right where the first left off, with Melanie (very cute Tiana Tuttle, who has an Eliza Dushku feel about her). Like Gemma, she is a strong woman who happens to be trapped in an impossible situation. The Walkers are using her as a source material for skin for their face creams. But strong women when they meet in a genre film is fuel on the fire. And you just know at some point there is going to be a strong woman showdown (I write this near the beginning of the film).

There are a couple of origin stories of how the Walkers came from nutsy mom Florence (Nadine Sentovich) making the violent discoveries, through the family selling the cream at farmers markets and televised infomercials.

Part of the “farm” is the harvesting of skin off a group of youngn’s (mid-20s) in an induced chemical coma. But thanks to some Walker brothers (no, not the guys who sang “The Sun Ain’t Gonna ShineAnymore”), the human “crop” is up and about. But can they get through the family and find their way outta da maze?

Of course, those of us of a certain age are going to make some similarities and connections to Motel Hell (1980), though Fear PHarm 2 is not about cannibalism, per se. In this case, there are a gaggle of skin herdees who escape into the cornfield filled with the Walkers, motion sensors, and some booby-traps. The main thing is, between the large family and the extra number of those on the run, this leads to a much larger body count. The blood and SFX are much stronger in the sequel, helped by the body count and that it is filmed at night, making the darkness of the surroundings mixing well with the black oozing of the blood.

Aimee Stolte

I do like how the director makes both the villains and the victims human. What I mean by that is, for example, the masked killers are not invulnerable, chasing and always catching up. In one case, a chainsaw Walker has to stop to catch his breath. That made me smile. Both the bad guys (mostly) and the good gals (mostly) are fallible, making the cornfield a veritable abattoir for both groups. It feels less hopeless than being chased by, say, Michael and Jason, who you know aren’t going to die. Here, everyone is human, everyone is up for grabs. And that is definitely part of the fun. It also makes everyone, even the psychos, a bit sympathetic (their losses, not their actions).

Most of the kills are quite fun, with a bit of fourth wall interaction with the camera lens here and there. There is also an undercurrent of humor that runs throughout with the inanity of some of the characters, such as one of those running complaining about fat shaming one of the Walkers.

Also, it is interesting to watch the evolution of Hershel, from his shock at his wife’s actions to the insanity that is to following being normalized. His daughter is as over-the-top insane as his late wife was, all of his kids having grown up in the harvesting business, but the leader has evolved, and that “trip” is there for us to see. Fortunately, Littlefield proves that he is up for the role. Don’t get me wrong, there is some good acting here by the leads, such as Stolte ant Tuttle, but Littlefield outshines everyone.

The question now is about watching the second part without the first. Yes, it can be a standalone, but honestly, having the background makes it flow, especially if watched as a stream, one to the other. It is almost like a much longer film, but yeah, the second can be seen without the first, especially considering how annoying some of the victim characters are presented in the first. Everyone is more interesting in the second part, even those in both, as more depth, character and story is shown.