Created by writer/director Aaron B. Koontz and writer Cameron Burns, the horror-comedy Scare Package was released on AMC Networks’ horror streaming platform Shudder in the summer of 2020. Scare Package is an anthology film that tells a series of blood-splattered, satirical horror stories from various directors, which are being recounted by Chad Buckley (Jeremy King), the owner of a video rental store called Rad Chad’s Horror Emporium. This year, Koontz and Burns have assembled a new team of directors for a sequel to Scare Package, the horror-comedy anthology Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge, which features the return of Chad Buckley, a character who feels like a combination of Joe Bob Briggs and Randy Meeks.
In addition to the impressively over the top practical effects, part of what makes Scare Package and Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge so much fun are the ways in which the anthologies parody common horror tropes, as well as sequels, and both films showcase a great deal of love and appreciation for the horror genre, something that would make Rad Chad proud.
Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge begins with friends and family, including Jessie Kapowski (Zoe Graham), who Chad predicted would be the final girl in Scare Package, as well as Jessie’s mother (Kelli Maroney), mourning the death of Chad Buckley. At the funeral, which serves as the wraparound story for the anthology, mourners are shown a series of videos inviting them to participate in what Chad calls “a fully immersive experience” and play an increasingly sinister succession of games, an obvious but amusing lampoon of Jigsaw.
With each new challenge comes a story from a different director, including Alexandra Barreto (Welcome to the 90s), Anthony Cousins (The Night He Came Back Again! Part VI: The Night She Came Back), Jed Shepherd (Special Edition), and Rachele Wiggins (We’re So Dead). The stories not only poke fun at horror tropes, but they also playfully pay homage to various horror movies like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser, and Reanimator, as well as parodying some of those films’ bigger doesn’t always equal better sequels.
As is to be expected with anthologies, some of the segments in Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge are stronger than others, but the most effective and funniest part of the film is the wraparound saga from Koontz and Burns. The reactions of the characters who are trapped at Chad’s funeral and forced to play survival games while having their knowledge of horror movies tested are hysterical to watch. The top-notch cast includes Jeremy King as Chad, Zoe Graham as Jessie, Rich Sommer as Rick, Shakira Ja’nai Paye as Kimmie, Maria Olsen as Moira, and Byron Brown as Sam, but Graham Skipper and Kelli Maroney give standout, flustered performances as Dwight and Ms. Kapowski. Skipper’s clever comedic timing makes a sequence of Dwight reenacting the “I am in hell, help me” scene from Hellraiser laugh-out-loud funny. Also noteworthy are the mischievously macabre segments Welcome to the 90s, a satire on slashers that finds a masked killer terrorizing the Final Girls and Sure to Die Girls sororities, and We’re So Dead, a mash-up parody of Stand by Me and Re-Animator.
Without a doubt, the stars of Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge are the film’s remarkable practical effects. Koontz, Burns, and the directors they’ve enlisted for the anthology expertly utilize buckets of blood, chainsaws, decapitated heads, acid, and even bees to produce scenarios that are terrifying but still manage to be humorous. The attacks carried out by slashers and reanimated masked killers who desperately aspire to be Jason Voorhees, but sometimes comically fail, are wildly creative.
Despite the fact he cosplays as Jigsaw to torment his friends and family, Chad Buckley has a serious message in life and in death that all horror fans can relate to—horror deserves more respect. This is the underlying message of Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge, which also features killer practical effects, memorable comedic performances, and impishly pokes fun at horror tropes, making it feel like a lighthearted love letter to the genre.
Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge will premiere on Shudder on December 22 from Paper Street Pictures.
The post ‘Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge’ Review – A Fun and Bloody Love Letter to the Horror Genre appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.