Straddling the line between gratuitous fan service and meta-sequel, Mutilator 2 is an odd creation from original writer/director Buddy Cooper, who returns to his cult slasher property nearly four decades later. While I enjoyed the original for what it was, a superficial but somewhat ridiculous bodycount film, what ultimately lured me in was the sheer novelty of the idea: the original writer-director returning, alongside much of the original cast, to revisit a property that has since amassed a cult following.
In its meta twist Mutilator 2 follows a younger cast and crew in the midst of wrapping a remake of the original Mutilator, which is also a cult horror film in this film’s reality as well. When the remake’s director is mysteriously killed the night before the big wrap party, a detective is dispatched to try solve that murder – as the bodies begin to pile up. Supplementing the new cast is a sizable contingent of returning actors from the original film, who gather for the wrap party and fill us in on what they’ve been up to in the decades since.
For the most part, the story worked for me—right up until the killer is revealed in the film’s final minutes, which felt less like a culmination and more like an afterthought. I understand the impulse: this is The Mutilator 2, and given the controversy surrounding the heavily cut gore of the original release, Cooper clearly wanted to up the ante. And to its credit, the film delivers on that front—though often at the expense of the comedic, charming tone that defines its first two acts. The kills themselves in the end are plentiful, but their effectiveness varies depending on execution; since the crystal-clear Blu-ray presentation and occasionally leering camera work tend to undermine the believability of some of the more elaborate kills.
While those first two acts worked for me and felt like a film pulled from another era, that final act attempts to accomplish too much, ultimately sacrificing a more satisfying conclusion and cohesive story. Still, I appreciated how Cooper used the premise as an opportunity to bring back characters from the original film and give them the kind of closure you never get in these films. Even when their presence veers into outright fan service, it injects a sense of heart that was largely missing from the first entry. All of that said, I don’t think Mutilator 2 is quite the travesty some have made it out to be. It isn’t the greatest, but it’s an uncompromising vision that, whether or not it fully works, demands a certain level of respect.
