Directed by: Stephen
R. Monroe
Starring: Jemma
Dallender, Joe Absolom, Yavar Baharov, Aleksandar
Aleksiev, and Mary Stockley
Genre: Horror,
Slasher, Exploitation, Rape-Revenge
Rated: R
Katie has just moved to New York in hopes of beginning a
modeling career. In need of new photos for her portfolio she answers an ad
offering a free set for prospective models. However, answering this ad brings
her to the attention of some very dangerous men, and soon Katie finds herself
trapped in a nightmare of rape and torture – one that the perpetrators will
soon regret inflicting upon her.
I’m not really certain why this sequel was made, except to
cash in on the success of the remake and cult status of the original film. The
filmmakers tried to take it in a different direction this time, tackling the
human trafficking issue, but I feel it may have taken on more than it could
handle.
I found the plot a lot harder to believe than that of the
previous film. Katie is extremely naïve, and I found it foolish of her to think
that such an ad could be entirely on the up-and-up. When is something ever
given away for free without some kind of catch, especially a photo shoot that
typically costs about $2,000? I understand that she’s a country girl, but that
doesn’t mean she’s foolhardy enough to walk into something that is obviously
shady. (Let me be clear, I am in NO WAY victim blaming. The character did NOT
deserve or ask for what happened to her. I simply think she was written as far
too naïve for a girl living in a slummy part of town, who is obviously smarter
and more resourceful than that. If anything it’s an insult to her character and
to the audience.)
The initial attack I did find believable. One of the men
from the photo shoot, Georgy, appears at her apartment to drop off a flash
drive containing the pictures. He later breaks into her apartment, ties her up,
and brutally rapes her – a graphic and honest portrayal of the horrific act.
What follows is a bit more far-fetched, as the super catches Georgy in the act,
and is stabbed to death in his attempt to rescue Katie. Georgy then calls his
brothers to rescue him and Katie is drugged and packed in a crate, only to wake
up in Bulgaria, laying naked on a bare mattress in a basement. (How they got
her to Bulgaria is anyone’s guess, and has been a topic of much debate on the
imdb.com message boards.) There she is brutally raped and tortured by the
brothers and one man who paid the brothers for a turn. (This was the point
where the flimsy human-trafficking subplot comes in.) Once she has been beaten
to near unconsciousness, she is once again drugged, packed into the box, and
left for dead. These men underestimate Katie’s strength, and for that, they
will pay with their lives.
As in both previous films, Katie comes back with a vengeance
and the viewers get to watch these rapists and their conspirators get their
just desserts. I did like how Katie twisted the tortures each man inflicted
upon her back on them as she was taking her revenge. However, I found it hard
to believe that she could manhandle these grown men as easily as she does, as
she is more petite than her predecessors, and these men easily ranged from 170
to over 250 pounds. To drag them through the sewers like she does would take
greater strength than she looks like she could possess, but maybe she’s running
on pure adrenaline.
I didn’t find the performances as convincing as in the
remake or the original. Jemma Dallender does well in the first hour of the film
as the victim, but when playing the badass revenge seeking heroine of the last
portion of the movie, I feel she falls short. Joe Absolom was probably the most
convincing as Ivan, the ringleader of the group, and he’s a little scary, but
mostly just comes off as an angry older brother trying to clean up another mess
Georgy has made. Baharov (Georgy) is really only menacing in the initial rape
scene in Katie’s apartment, and Aleksiev’s Nicolay is nothing more than an
egotistical drug-addled douche bag.
These actors cannot take the entire blame for these
characters not holding up; they were just working with what they had. Georgy
appears to be written as almost sympathetic after the initial incident in Katie’s
apartment. He comes off as a little mentally and intellectually troubled, and I
wonder if he’s a half-hearted homage to Matthew from both the original and
remake. It appears that Georgy thinks that he and Katie have some kind of connection,
and tries to take care of her – not understanding why she rejects him. In a
twisted way he almost becomes sympathetic, except, like Katie, the audience
cannot forget that this entire scenario is his fault. Unlike Matthew, Georgy
was not coerced or forced into participating, he initiated the attack. His
brothers wouldn’t have gotten involved if it weren’t for him. He may be
intellectually challenged, but he is also violent and dangerous.
The character of Nicolay seemed only really good for one
thing, and that was supplying the drugs to keep Katie under control. Honestly,
he was just there to add to the rape count and further humiliate Katie, and his
obnoxious character was not really necessary. I think the film would have
worked better if Ivan had the drugs and Nicolay wasn’t even in the picture. His
character seemed like an afterthought – like “Oh, we need a fourth man, because
the original and remake had a group of four,” and he could have been left out
entirely.
To be honest, the human trafficking angle didn’t work, as
there was only one paying “customer,” so he could have been left out as well. His
entrance into the film wasn’t handled very well, as him being a customer isn’t
explicitly made clear. He is just suddenly in the room with Katie with no introduction.
The torture he inflicts could have been performed by Ivan, (if it had to be in
the film at all) and the human trafficking subplot could have been dropped, as
it doesn’t work with this particular formula.
I think this film would have worked better if
it the men had left Katie for dead after the apartment incident. That scene was
plenty brutal enough; her ordeal did not have to be extended to being
transported overseas for continued rape and torture. The human trafficking
angle could have been dropped, and the film could have just followed the
original formula. It may have been a rehashing of the previous films, but it
would have worked better than the contrived plot the filmmakers went with.
The rape, humiliation and torture scenes are very graphic. There
is full frontal nudity from Katie and Ivan, as well as genital mutilation
performed on both characters. The deaths are relatively slow and seem excruciating,
which these men absolutely deserve, but at the same time, they don’t seem like
enough after the forty-five minutes to an hour of watching Katie suffer. She is
tortured for days, and raped repeatedly, director Monroe obviously ditching his
previous less-is-more angle, exposing her completely to her assailants and the
audience. As mentioned above, the rape scenes could have been trimmed back to
the apartment scene and still been effective.
Overall, this was an unnecessary sequel that attempted to
take on too much while sticking to the original formula. However, it is not
terrible for the kind of film that it is, although after watching the heroine
be tortured for the majority of the film, having all of the rapists’ deaths
crammed into the last half-hour was a little unsatisfying. This film focuses
more on shock value than characterization and plot. It will make you cringe,
both for the acts committed against Katie, and those she commits against her
attackers. Still, I think the film would have worked better if the excess
characters and subplots were removed, and there was equal focus on the demise
of the rapists as there was on Katie’s ordeal.
5.5/10
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