976-EVIL II (976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor) (1992)

Like with Chopping Mall, even though this finally got released on DVD in 2012, as part of one of those Lionsgate 8-horror movie packs (the same one, in fact), I didn't see it myself for a long time afterward. Moreover, since I wasn't a big fan of the first 976-EVIL to begin with, I didn't feel any pressing need to seek out the sequel, and it wasn't until I decided to do both of them for Schlocktober 2 that I finally did. Needless to say, I didn't have high hopes, especially knowing that it was a direct-to-video sequel by Jim Wynorski. If nothing else, all I could do was hope that it would be more enjoyable than the first, with Wynorski possibly bringing a campier, more full on B-movie vibe to it. After watching this online, I can say that it is what he did, but I would hardly call this an improvement over the first; in fact, it's actually worse many ways. And it's also ironic that the first was directed by Robert Englund, because this sequel feels very much like a Nightmare on Elm Street wannabe, right down to the nature of some of the special effects and a villain who comes off as a poor man's Freddy Krueger. Except for one imaginative and well-executed setpiece, which wouldn't be out of place in one of those movies, and a few aspects here and there, there's little to recommend it. The acting is almost universally bad and the characters are cardboard, it looks extremely cheap and has nowhere near the visual flair of the first, the visual and makeup effects range from ho-hum to downright awful, and the ending is one of the most unexpectedly downbeat and mean-spirited ones you could ask for.

Laurie Glazer, a student at Slate River College, is stalked and murdered after a nighttime swim in the campus' pool. She's the latest in a series of murders that's been plaguing the town for the past four months, but this time, there's an eyewitness: Leonard Turrell, an alcoholic derelict who happened to be squatting in the campus theater. Based on his tip, the college dean, Stephan Grubeck, is arrested as the killer. While being taken to his cell, he runs into young Robin Jamison, who used to work in his office. There to visit her father, the police department's psychiatrist, Robin suddenly begins having visions of Grubeck murdering Laurie, first when she finds a card advertising the 976-EVIL number in a magazine, and again Grubeck takes her hand, causing her to faint. She awakens in her father's office, where she learns, to her shock, that Grubeck has been arrested for the murders. It turns out that he's committed them while serving Satan through the 976-number, and he uses his one phone call while in custody to dial it again. When he does, he's promised the evil power he was expecting to receive. Meanwhile, as he's traveling across the country on his motorcycle, Spike Johnson, himself still plagued by the number despite having fought off its influence, arrives in town after hearing about the murders and experiencing visions connected to it. He meets Robin at the local diner, where she leaves the card for the horoscope on the table. Seeing it, Spike later talks with her about it and warns her of its evil influence, as well as the visions it causes. Robin, in turn, tells him of the visions she herself has begun having. That night, as he's in his cell, the number gives Grubeck the power of astral projection, allowing him to leave his physical body behind and go out to continue his killing spree. After killing both Turrell and Susan Lawlor, the prosecuting lawyer, Grubeck now sets his evil sights on Robin, whom he has been infatuated with since she started working in his office.

Although Robert Englund ultimately opted not to return to direct the sequel, CineTel Films did offer it to him, and he did have an idea in the form of a story that focused on a cursed crisis line. But, ultimately, Jim Wynorski was brought on to do it, and it's not hard to see why. Besides being a master of low budget schlock, Wynorski is also no stranger to making sequels to other people's movies. When he did 976-EVIL II, he'd already done Deathstalker II, Big Bad Mama II, The Return of Swamp Thing, and Sorority House Massacre II, and would go on to do various others afterward. He himself once said that he rarely turned down any offers to make sequels, but at the same time, preferred to make a sequel to a movie that was already bad, hoping that he could do better. While I'm not sure if he thought the first 976-EVIL was bad, he's admitted that this is one of his own movies that he doesn't like at all, saying, "It was tough to make. I was handed a script and I didn't think it was very good." Because he didn't care for that initial screenplay, by Rick Glassman (who has only one other credit on his IMDB page), Wynorski brought in another writer, Erik Anjou, but it didn't make much of a difference in the long run.

While he's not technically the only actor from the first movie to reappear here (Mindy Seeger, who played one of the anonymous victims early on, shows up here again as a school nurse), Patrick O'Bryan is the only major cast member who's in both. Returning as Spike Johnson (and dropping off the face of the Earth afterward), O'Bryan, like before, has very little screen presence and his role in the story is actually pretty meaningless. Still haunted by the 976-EVIL number, despite having escaped its influence, Spike is apparently now just riding his motorcycle across the country, possibly embarking on the trip he and Hoax had talked about going on. He feels compelled by the visions he experiences to go to the town of Slate River, hearing about it and its recent slate of murders on a TV at a biker bar. When he arrives, he immediately meets Robin Jamison at the local diner and hits on her, only to learn she found one of the number's advertising cards when she leaves it behind on the table. He meets her again that night and warns her about the number, and the way it influences and possesses people. Initially, she doesn't believe him, but when he talks about seeing things after crossing paths with it himself, Robin admits that she's been having visions, too. Spike later breaks into Stephan Grubeck's house and finds that he called the number literally over a hundred times in the past month, as well as evidence of his obsession with Robin. The number's evil forces also attempt to kill him while he's in there, but he manages to fight them off and escape. After telling Robin of this, he talks her into searching the desk in Grubeck's old office at the school for any clues, leading her to have a vision about Grubeck killing Susan Lawlor, the prosecuting lawyer, on the highway. She also finds a clue that leads Spike to learn that Grubeck has the ability to use astral projection to get to his victims while he's locked up. By the time he learns this and makes it back to Robin, though, Grubeck has framed her for a murder he committed, and she and Spike are on the run. The two of them work together to try to kill Grubeck once and for all, with Spike managing to do some astral projection of he's fatally injured in a crash on the highway. However, it's not enough to save Robin from the horrendous ultimate fate she suffers.

The real protagonist, albeit a very passive and unmemorable one, is Robin Jamison (Debbie James), a perfectly innocent young woman who gets caught up in the story because she's literally in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since her father is the police psychiatrist, she goes to the station to see him one day and happens to be there when Grubeck is brought in after being arrested. Suddenly, she starts seeing visions of him killing his previous victim, including when he manages to take her hand on his way to his cell. She's later shocked to learn that he is indeed suspected to be the killer who's been terrorizing Slate River, and then meets Spike when he rolls into town. He tells her about the 976-EVIL number, which she saw an advertisement for in a magazine she read at the station, and what it does to those who call it. While initially skeptical, she thinks there may be something to it when Spike tells her about the visions he's been having because of it. Learning that Grubeck himself called the number numerous times, Robin is pressed into going through his desk in his office, where she finds a note in an appointment book about "astral research." She gives this note to Spike, who then goes off and learns about astral projection. She also has another vision, of Grubeck killing Susan Lawlor on the highway, and gets caught up in the attack while driving home, witnessing Lawlor's death firsthand. Moreover, Grubeck himself confronts Robin and admits that he's been obsessed with her since she started working in his office and intends to take her when he gets the opportunity. However, neither Sheriff Stone nor her father believe her claims, especially since Grubeck has, for all intents and purposes, been in his cell the whole time. Angry at her father for not listening, and also for suggesting that she needs to see a therapist, Robin spends the night at the home of Paula, a friend of hers. However, Grubeck kills Paula and frames Robin for the crime, intending for her to be locked up as well so he can visit her at night and have his way with her. Despite Spike's intervention, he and Robin are soon on the run, suspected of Paula's murder. Spike comes up with a plan, intending to lure away Grubeck's astral form, while Robin kills his real body, but things don't work out, as Grubeck manages to kill Spike and return to his body for Robin. And even though Spike does manage to astral project in order to return and save Robin at the last minute, the movie ends with her being taken away as a suspect in the recent killings!

Since he'd worked with him before, including on his first movie, The Lost Empire, Wynorski initially wanted Angus Scrimm to play the villain, Stephan Grubeck, but he ultimately had to go with Rene Assa. I wish it had been Scrimm, as I think he would've made Grubeck much more fun. Having become a slave to the 976-EVIL number, he's already killed six people by the time the movie begins, but is identified when Leonard Turrell, a drunken derelict, sees him killing his latest victim. Upon being arrested and brought to the station, Grubeck is delighted when he comes across Robin, taking her hand and causing her to have her second vision in a row of his latest kill. Refusing to talk while being interrogated, when he's allowed his one phone call, he dials the number, worried about being arrested, saying this wasn't supposed to happen. But when he says he will continue to serve Satan, he's promised a power that will allow him to, "Fulfill your purpose and feed your fire." That night, while in his jail cell, he suddenly starts writhing around and yelling, clearly in pain, before falling still and revealing that he now has the ability to astral project out of his physical body. In rapid succession, he kills both Turrell and prosecuting lawyer Susan Lawlor, but all the while, his real goal is to get his hands on Robin. Given their initial interaction, her mentioning that she used to work in his office, and his stalking her while astral projecting, we can guess long before he admits it that he has an unhealthy obsession with her. Following Lawlor's death, he appears to Robin, telling her, "Those afternoons, when you worked in the school office, they were the best part of my day. I've dreamt of touching you like this. Feeling your skin. So smooth. So beautiful. We're meant to be together. I've always known that. And now we will be, soon. Forever." He proceeds to murder her friend, Paula, then calls the police and talks in her voice, telling them that she did it. Cornering her, he says, "They'll lock you up, in your own little cell. And then, every night, I can be there with you, 'helping' you through your troubled time." But then, Grubeck finds he has to deal with Spike.

When you see him kill Laurie Glazer during the opening, Grubeck has this faux philosophical quote before doing her in: "In your life, every niche holds skulls and skeletons. End it." (I honestly wasn't sure what he said until I turned the subtitles on, as he mumbles and the music kind of muffles his voice.) After killing her, he adds, "Welcome to my hell." But once he's able to astral project, he becomes a Freddy Krueger wannabe, tending to joke around and taunt his victims, as well as prove impossible to escape, be

it by appearing in a mirror, passing through walls, taking control of someone's car, appearing in another's television and sucking them into it, commandeering a big cargo truck to chase down Spike, etc. However, there's none of the energy or imagination you get from even the worst Nightmare on Elm Street movies, partly because the special effects tend to be really crap, and also because Rene Assa's attempts at being a charismatic, funny villain feel so forced and half-hearted. Some the lines they

give him to say don't help either. "You forgot to flush." "Be sure you look both ways before you cross." "Don't you know it's impolite to hang up on people?" "Hey, hey, hey, this is Stabbin' Steve, comin' to you on K-Hell from beautiful, downtown Hades! The temperature's unseasonably warm down here, gettin' hotter all the time, ba-bay!" "Come on! Let's go cruisin'!" "Some drivers just shouldn't be on the road." "Forgive my appearance, Robin. I've been beside myself, lately." "Is this a bad time?" And since he's like Freddy, I guess they figured they had to give

him some kind of nasty makeup as well. And like Hoax in the first movie, he looks worse and worse as the movie goes on, starting with some boils and sores on his face and around his mouth, but then progressing to the point where all of the flesh around his mouth looks diseased and is peeling off, along with bits of skin of his face. It's not that interesting or even disgusting of a makeup design, though, and as much as I may not have cared for Hoax's full-on demon look, at least that was kind of unique, and had the obvious talent of Kevin Yagher and his company behind it.

Most of the other characters are virtual non-entities in the story. That's especially true of Sheriff Stone (Paul Coufos), who does literally nothing other than act outraged over Grubeck's indignity and arrogance when he's first arrested, and is tasked with arresting and taking away Robin at the very end. His deputy, Jody Taylor (Philip McKeon), who's shown to have a crush on Robin, has a little more screentime, although he does little else during that time besides make it clear to Grubeck that, like Stone, he's not thrilled 

with having to be in his presence or deal with him. That's especially true when Grubeck threatens his sister, who goes to the local college, saying he'll be back in class very soon. Taylor is also very nonchalant when Grubeck, early on, gives him a telephone to hang up and he gets shocked by demonic energy. Dropping the receiver and wringing his hand, he yells, "Damn! What is with you?!" He's killed by Grubeck offscreen, with Robin finding his body at the station during the third act. Robin's father, Dr. 

Jamison (Rod McCary), gives a horribly lackluster, indifferent performance, including in scenes where he's supposed to be trying to comfort his daughter, as well as when he listens to her claims about the visions and starts to believe she may be suffering from trauma. His worst moment is when, following Susan Lawlor's death, she tries to tell him that she saw her death earlier in a vision, and Jamison alludes that he's contemplating sending her to a shrink. Granted, what she's telling him is crazy and she has no proof, but the actor's ho-hum performance and patronizing attitude 

really don't make him come off well. By the end of the movie, he seems to now believe her, but it turns out he's in on the decision to arrest and charge her with the more recent murders. Speaking of Lawlor (Monique Gabrielle), in the first of her two scenes, she talks smack to Grubeck's lawyer, Phil Lemisch (Ace Mask), who's not only smarmy and arrogant, but was also disbarred the previous year, though reinstated after being acquitted. Believing that Leonard Turrell was murdered, Lawlor intends to not only keep Grubeck locked up due to evidence found

at an earlier crime scene, but to also go for execution. But Grubeck uses his astral projection to take control of Lawlor's car while she's on the freeway and cause it to crash, killing her instantly. And Robin's friend, Paula (Leslie Ryan), is at the center of the movie's best sequence, when the two of them are playfully arguing about watching either Night of the Living Dead or It's a Wonderful Life, when Grubeck sucks her into the TV, and places her in a merging of the two movies.

There are two noteworthy actors to be found here. One is George Buck Flower, who plays Leonard Turrell, the drunk vagrant who happens to be snoozing in the college theater when Grubeck murders Laurie Glazer. As the only eyewitness, his testimony leads to Grubeck's arrest, and he's placed in protective custody until the trial. Turrell takes full advantage of his situation: he makes bets on the races and, when one of the officers guarding goes out to fetch some dinner, Turrell tasks him with bringing

him some chicken and white wine, bragging to his bookie on the phone that he's, "Having room service." And then, Grubeck shows up, terrorizes Turrell, and kills him by holding him out in the middle of the road, where he gets hit by a big cargo truck. The other is Brigitte Nielsen, who appears in one scene as Agnes, the owner of this occult store where Spike goes to learn about astral projection. She spends her small amount of screentime telling Spike the ins and outs of how the phenomenon works, as well as flirts with him, at one point saying, "You're very cute. You kind of remind me of a young Freddy Krueger,"; Spike, in turn, says that she's like, "Elvira on steroids." And at the end of the scene, she tells him, "Well, you know, we'll be closing in a couple of minutes, so, uh, why don't you stick around and grab something to eat?" What I like best is knowing that Nielsen is only in this movie because she literally lost a bet with Wynorski over a game of pool (if Wynorski had lost, he said he would've dressed up like a maid and cleaned Nielsen's house).

It could be because, at the time I'm writing this, the movie still hasn't gotten a Blu-Ray release (which it was rumored to be getting), as well as because it was shot on an even lower budget and shorter schedule, but 976-EVIL II isn't as visually compelling as the first. It has a drabber overall look to it, for one thing, and there aren't as many memorable uses of camerawork and color, save for some exceptions here and there. The opening, with Grubeck stalking and eventually killing Laurie Glazer in the college auditorium, is shot fair enough, notably the latter part,

as the play that's being put on is a production of Faust. There are some nice uses of beams of light, as well as mist and back-lighting, on that set, and Grubeck himself is nicely backlit when he appears before Laurie. The interior of the Mad Dog Inn, the biker bar where Spike stops in his first scene, has an okay look to it, with mixtures of purple lighting at the bar itself and orange-red on the stage when the stripper is dancing. Also, when Spike answers the payphone in the back that only he hears ringing, after he hangs up, there's a moment where the sunlight

suddenly beams brightly through a stained glass window across from him, creating a virtual spotlight in the form of one of its crucifix-like symbols on him and the wall behind him. The shot of Grubeck standing over Robin's bed right after he's killed Turrell has a pretty cool, blue look to it, and the same goes for the scene in his cell and on the highway during the third act. When he comes upon Robin in Paula's kitchen following the latter's death, there's some noteworthy purple lighting on the shots of her 

after he turns off the main light. And there's a memorable uses of beams of light when Spike leaves Grubeck's house after the weird experience he has there. Finally, the movie's biggest action sequences, when Grubeck takes control of Susan Lawlor's car on the freeway, eventually causing her to crash, and when he chases Spike on his motorcycle while driving a tanker truck, aren't exactly high-octane or thrilling, but they're shot and edited well enough. And when he blew something up, you can tell Wynorski made sure to show the explosion from every possible angle, since he likely only had one opportunity to get it.

Like the first, the movie was shot near Los Angeles, specifically at San Pedro and Sun Valley. However, unlike the filthy, rundown, graffiti-covered streets and business sites of Garden City, and the low- and middle class homes in its suburban areas, the town of Slate River is portrayed as a more bucolic place that's rocked to its core by the murders and the revelation of the killer's identity. While the swimming pool area, shower room, and exterior hallways leading to the college auditorium are made to look kind of creepy during the opening, what little we see of the rest of

the school, which consists mostly of the main hallway, with the lockers, and the science lab, come off as pretty standard. The same goes for Grubeck's old office and the interiors of the police station, like the front desk, her father's office, and the holding cells (Grubeck seems to be the only prisoner there), although the hallways are meant to look long and imposing when Robin is wandering them alone during the third act. The local diner, which was actually the Cadillac Jack's Diner in Sun Valley, is way more 

appealing and feels like a more comfortable place to eat than Dante's in the first movie. And while the motel where Turrell is kept in protective custody is far from "fancy," as he calls it, I could just imagine what such a place in Garden City would look like. Finally, getting to the residential area, it's quite nice as well, with a small park where people tend to either pass through or hang out, a cliff overlooking the seaside called "the Point," and Paula's house, of which we see the living room and kitchen, has a real charm to it, with its light color scheme, lovely wallpaper, and the cute addition of a little white rabbit ceramic that sits on her TV set.

There are only three locations in the whole movie movie that are actually fairly memorable. One is the Mad Dog Inn, mostly because of how it is literally out in the middle of nowhere, on this very isolated desert road (which Wynorski manages to get some good shots of during the opening). Another is Grubeck's house, which Spike breaks into around the halfway point. Besides its likely being the biggest and fanciest home in the whole town, with a big dining room table, a small chandelier, and a fireplace in the living room, it's filled with various weapons, including both

old, decorative ones, like a pair of swords and a mace, and some freaking assault rifles on the wall. Also, when Spike searches the desk, he finds Grubeck's phone bill for the past month, which has numerous calls to the 976-EVIL number, and photos of Robin, the first real proof of his obsession with her. And it's also where Spike gets caught up in a setpiece that feels like a cross between A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Evil Dead. Finally, there's Lucifer's, the occult shop which, in its establishing exterior

shot, looks like something out of a Gothic, Victorian-era movie, with the building's architecture, the flowing mist on the ground, and streetlamps outside the front door. Inside, it's like a big, old library, lit by a bunch of candles, with a red color scheme on the walls and the candles themselves, and shelves filled with hundreds of old books, as well as set decorations like skulls, small, unusual statues, paintings on the wall, and so on.

It's clear that this was one of those movies where Jim Wynorski was on autopilot and trying to get through it as quickly as he could, as there are very few of his trademarks here. Among the exceptions are how, literally just over a minute in, you see a naked woman, as Laurie Glazer is showering after swimming in the pool, and shortly afterward, we get a shot of her legs as she pulls her panties on. And then, less than ten minutes in, we see that stripper at the Mad Dog Inn. She doesn't do anything other than dance provocatively while she's half-naked, but still,

it's like Wynorski was getting it out of his system right at the beginning. Going back to the opening with Laurie, when she's chased into the auditorium, a sign tells us that this production of Faust is directed by Joe Bob Briggs, while the theater department head is "Roger Gorman." (Okay, I'll admit, I did smirk when I first saw that.) And then, there are, mostly eye-rolling, references to other movies, such as Agnes telling Spike that he's like a young Freddy Krueger, as well as scenes that feel like knockoffs of setpieces you'd see in other franchises. But the use of Mindy Seeger in another bit part and the sequence where Paula gets sucked into the television are, admittedly, clever.

Besides how Grubeck often feels like he's trying to be Freddy Krueger, some of the sequences, like I said, feel like they're out of one of the later Nightmare on Elm Streets. An example is when Grubeck appears in Turrell's motel room, showing up in his mirror's reflection and putting his arm around him, then popping up no matter where he runs and hides to taunt him, before finally killing him. The same goes for when Grubeck takes control of Lawlor's car on the freeway, taunting her over the radio, then locking her in and pushing the gas pedal, sending her careening

down the road, slamming into cars, including Robin's, before finally killing her by crashing the car into a substation. That sequence, especially the first part and the explosive ending, specifically reminds me of Dan's death scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5. And that's to say nothing of the sequence with Paula, which is like Spence's scene in Freddy's Dead (originally, she was supposed to have found herself in a video game, which would've made it all the more like that film, but they couldn't afford to do that). I also mentioned there's a sequence that feels 

like it's out of an Evil Dead movie, and that's when Spike breaks into Grubeck's house, only for the evil force to lock him in and attack him in various ways: the lights in the dining room flicker and blow out all around him, he runs into the kitchen and gets sprayed with water from a nozzle on the sink, the oven blasts flames at him, the refrigerator opens and flings frozen pizzas at him, and when he runs back into the living room and tries to escape through the door, one of the assault rifles floats in midair and fires at him, forcing

him to take cover until he manages to run in and grab it. Admittedly, a lot of this stuff is also akin to what you would see in a Nightmare movie, as well as in schlocky haunted house flick, but the Evil Dead element comes when a boar trophy on the wall comes to life and says, "Hey, Spike, watch where ya point that thing." That automatically makes me think of that laughing, possessed deer head in Evil Dead II; the difference is that I found that funny, whereas this is just stupid. 

Wynorski has said that the one sequence he likes is Paula's death sequence, and as much as it also reminds me of a Nightmare setpiece, it is the standout scene here. It starts when Robin is staying over at Paula's house, and the two of them playfully fight over whether they're going to watch Night of the Living Dead or It's a Wonderful Life. In the end, Robin wins and goes to make them popcorn, while Paula stays on the couch, grumbling about how It's a Wonderful Life is "so dumb." Suddenly, the movie gets interrupted by a commercial, where some really

bad actors portray a couple who can't find the right remote to work the TV. The guy, who looks like a stereotypical Asian nerd, with big glasses and a goofy grin, goes through the remote to the VCR, the CD player, the garage door, and even a vibrator, which his girl apparently has on her at the moment. Grubeck, who quickly introduced the commercial, steps back onscreen and advertises the "Zap-O-Matic," which he claims can, among other things, put viewers in the TV. He demonstrates by placing her into It's a Wonderful Life, and she then finds herself in

monochrome, standing in the back of that movie's ending scene, where the Baileys are celebrating Christmas. But when the bell rings on the tree, little Zuzu Bailey (in an obviously dubbed over voice), says, "Look, Daddy. Every time you hear a bell, a zombie takes a soul to hell." Hearing that, Paula knows something isn't right, and then, as the camera pans around, she finds herself in the farmhouse from Night of the Living Dead, with all of the characters in front of her turning around, revealing 

that they're zombies. They all crowd in on her, backing her against the door, when zombies from outside burst their hands through, grabbing at her. She slumps down to the floor, when Zuzu, now like the undead Karen Cooper, comes at her with a trowel and stabs her to death, splattering blood on the wall. It then fades to "THE END" title card from It's a Wonderful Life, and when Robin walks back into the living room, she finds Paula's dead body in front of the TV. That sequence makes you wish that the rest of the movie had that level of skill and effort put into it.

There's no consistency with how the 976-EVIL number itself worked in the first movie. First, even though Spike never fell prey to its influence, and managed to escape its attempt to kill him when he disobeyed it, he's still randomly being haunted by it, as he gets phone calls that only he can hear, and sees visions. Moreover, the phone-line seems to actively attempt to send him to Slate River at the beginning, when he sees and hears things at the Mad Dog Inn, including a call that prompts him to go off in that direction. Likely, it was trying to lure him into a trap,

and considering how the movie ends, I guess evil is triumphant, but Spike still interferes with Grubeck and the number fails in claiming his soul. Second, since Robin never calls the number, there's no reason why she should be seeing or hearing things. And if you want to make the excuse that Grubeck himself makes her see things due to his taking her hand at the station, I'd buy that, except that it starts right beforehand, when she takes the card from the magazine advertising the phone number. That doesn't happen to anyone else. Similarly, Laurie Glazer, at the

beginning, hears the number's distinctive, warped ringtone (though she never picks it up), which she shouldn't be hearing, unless she called it at some point. That's never made clear, but it doesn't matter, anyway, as Grubeck is the one who kills her. Speaking of Grubeck, let's ignore that he doesn't become a demon like Hoax (though he does let out a demonic growl at one point), as the number could possibly affect different people in different ways. While the movie shows us that he has become a slave 

to the phone-line's evil powers when he calls it in jail, and he does deteriorate over the course of the movie, just as Hoax slowly transformed, it feels like, once he's given the power of astral projection, there's no reason for him to do as it says anymore. It's all but flat-out stated that the initial murders he committed were his way of serving Satan through the number, but once he's able to astral project, everything he does is to fulfill his own personal desires, and he never calls or even references the line again. It's not even 

established that he could be punished for no longer doing as Satan wants, nor does the number ever command him to do anything else, as it seems more focused on claiming Spike. (In fact, at a certain point, you could forget about the phone-line altogether, until the very end, when a payphone suddenly rings.) Spike suddenly astral projecting at the end is one thing that does get an explanation, as Agnes tells him that someone can do it when they're under "extreme duress or pain," which he most certainly is at that point. 

But even the rules of astral projection that are established here are sometimes contradicted. We're told that the only way they can stop Grubeck is to kill his physical body in the jail cell, as it will destroy the astral one as well. We even see this in action at the end, as Spike suddenly disappears off into the sky after killing Grubeck and kissing Robin, suggesting that his physical body back at the scene of the crash he was in beforehand just gave out. But then, even though Grubeck himself is in his physical body at the end, which allows Spike to knock him off a cliff to 

his death, it doesn't explain how Grubeck was, earlier, able to get inside the trunk of Robin's car at the prison without her knowing, as she was way ahead of him and running, while he was calmly walking after her. Unless he's able to teleport and such while still in his physical body (which is never established and would negate the need for astral projection in the first place), that severely violates the established rules.

Like the first movie, there's not nearly as much entertaining gore and makeup effects as you would hope for, and even worse, those that are here are either ho-hum or aren't pulled off that well. The first death, of Laurie Glazer, may initially seem like it's going to be pretty awesome, as Grubeck sends a fake stalactite that's part of the Faust set hurtling down at her midsection. But it then cuts to a close-up of her head, where all you see is blood splattering on her chin and neck, followed shortly by blood dripping down her hand as it hangs off the edge of the stage.

The second death, of Turrell, consists of Grubeck dragging him out into the middle of the highway, where he's hit by a big cargo truck (which does nothing to try to swerve around him). Turrell literally explodes into chunks of flesh and bloody pulp on contact, but it's not as awesome as it sounds. Susan Lawlor simply dies in an explosion when her car crashes into the substation, and when Paula is killed within Night of the Living Dead, you not only see her blood splattering on the wall, as happened to Helen Cooper, but when Robin comes back into the living 

room, you see Paula lying on the floor, the trowel sticking out of her bloody corpse. And the final onscreen deaths, that of Spike when he wipes out on his motorcycle but manages to astral project in order to save Robin, and Grubeck, when Spike sends him tumbling off the edge of a cliff with a punch, aren't much to write home about, either. There are also some offscreen deaths we only see the aftermaths of: one of the cops guarding Turrell and Deputy Taylor, whom Robin finds at the seemingly deserted station during 

the third act. Both had their throats torn open throats, the effects for which, again, are okay but nothing amazing. Some of the physical effects, like the utensils and such that come to life to attack Spike in Grubeck's home, and that boar's head, are also pulled off fair enough, even if the latter is really dumb, and the pyrotechnics on the explosive crashes come off as impressive and on a fairly big scale, but now, I'm just stretching for compliments.

The visual effects, however, are often just plain bad. Like in the original, you have instances of rotoscoping animation, like whenever Grubeck vanishes in a flash of light and others, like Spike at the end, do the same, but as dated as it is, you still can't help but kind of smile at it. But there's also a lot of painfully obvious compositing and matting for moments such as when Grubeck and Spike astral project out of their physical bodies, when Grubeck passes through walls and cell bars (Freddy doing that 

in the original Nightmare on Elm Street was much more seamless), a moment where Spike tries to punch Grubeck's astral self but his fist can't connect (it doesn't even go through him, so I don't get the point of the compositing there in the first place), and, most egregiously, when an assault rifle in Grubeck's house floats in midair while firing at Spike (that may actually be an early instance of digital work). The one example of such effects work that comes off fairly well is in the scene in Turrell's motel room, where

Grubeck appears in the mirror's reflection but not actually in the room with Turrell. But even that's hurt by the obvious matte work on the mirror, as well as how you can see a little bit of Grubeck behind Turrell before he comes out into the open.

Just like with the first movie, 976-EVIL II's climax is a dud. Following Paula's death and Grubeck framing Robin for it, she and Spike find themselves hiding from the police. Spike tells Robin of his plan to kill Grubeck by having her sneak into the jail and take out his physical body, while he lures away his astral spirit. Spike gives Robin a kiss for encouragement and says he'll meet her at the point. They then head out, with Spike parking his motorcycle out in front of the jailhouse. He yells at Grubeck, challenging him to come after him, saying, "Now, you can't have Robin,

boy, but you can sure as hell have me!" Hearing this, Grubeck's spiritual form takes the bait, walking out of the cell and taking control of a container truck in the impound yard. Seeing this, Spike puts on his helmet and rides off, while Grubeck comments, "Time to put the pedal to the metal, as I believe the saying goes." He follows after him, and once they're gone, Robin pulls into the impound yard and heads into the jailhouse itself. What follows is a montage that's anything but tense or exciting, as the film cuts back and forth from the slow chase on the highway to

Robin roaming around the seemingly empty building. We get more of Grubeck's unfunny mugging, as he honks the truck's horn and yells, "Yoo-hoo!" He almost runs Spike down, only for Spike to pull very far ahead of him, while back at the prison, Robin finds that Deputy Taylor has been killed when his body tumbles out from behind a door she opens. Spike then stops far ahead on the road, waiting for Grubeck to catch up. He takes out a bundle of dynamite and lights it, then drives right at the truck

when it rounds the bend in front of him. Grubeck laughs at this, saying, "Come to Daddy," (Frank Cotton in Hellraiser did that better, too), then adds, "I got somethin' for you." He pulls a lever that angles the truck down the road in a manner where the container travels perpendicular to it, aiming right at Spike. Seeing this, Spike tosses the dynamite at the container, then lies down and skids underneath it. The back of the container explodes, as the truck comes to a stop, and the whole thing goes up in a massive fireball.

Back at the jail, Robin, armed with a gun she took from Taylor's body, heads down to the cell area. But, when she unlocks and enters Grubeck's cell, preparing to shoot him, she yanks back the cover on his cot to find he's returned to his physical body. She screams and he quickly grabs her wrist, causing her to misfire, and disarms her. He also tells her that Spike, "Took a vacation, from the rest of his life," adding, "It's you and me, now. Now, and forever." Robin promptly knees him in the groin, then runs out of the cell area and into the jail's front area. Grubeck follows after

her, as she runs outside, gets into her car, and peels out of there. Meanwhile, at the site of the crash, Spike lays on the ground amid the burning debris, and attempts to get up. Instead of standing, he manages to astral project out of his physical body. Removing his helmet, he disappears within a flash. Elsewhere, Robin arrives at the point, as they agreed, but when she gets out of the car, she doesn't notice Grubeck emerge from the trunk. She desperately calls for Spike, walking to the edge of the drop-off and

looking down at the shoreline below, when she bursts into tears. Grubeck appears from behind her and grabs her, then attempts to force her to say that she loves him, promising to let her live if she does. Robin, however, refuses, and as Grubeck keeps trying to force her, Spike appears behind him, saying, "I love you, asshole!", and decks him in the face when he looks. Grubeck is sent tumbling over the edge to his death, as Spike helps Robin to her feet. He kisses her, before his astral body vanishes and shoots off into the sky in the form of a trail of lights.

But then, just when you think the movie's going to end in a typical Hollywood manner, albeit somewhat bittersweet, you get the ending where Robin is suddenly arrested and taken away by the police, charged with committing the more recent spate of murders, including that of Grubeck. It's kind of like the ending of the grocery store slasher movie, Intruder, where, after everything they've been through, the two survivors end up getting arrested for the killings. This ending is more sensible, since nobody is going to believe Robin's story, and she's 

the only living suspect they have, whereas those cops at the end of Intruder were just unreasonable, abusive dickheads. But still, holy crap, does this end things on a jarring, cruel, and sour note, especially since there was never a third movie and thus, no chance for Robin to redeem herself.

I will admit that Chuck Cirino's score here is a tad more memorable than the first movie's, mainly because it's much more overt and has more variety, as well. It has some surprisingly big, almost operatic pieces, such as this recurring theme for Grubeck, which you first hear before he kills Laurie at the beginning, and there's also a traveling, rustic piece when you see Spike riding on his motorcycle during the opening credits, a bouncy, fast-paced, Danny Elfman-like piano bit for the scene where Spike is attacked in Grubeck's home, a mystical piece for the scene at the occult shop, and a moment during the highway chase near the end that sounds like it has a suggestion of The Terminator about it. But what's most notable about the music is the soundtrack, which has three songs that are credited, in both writing and performing, to Vincent D'Onofrio. I stopped cold when I saw that and, looking up the movie's soundtrack listing on its IMDB page, it does link to the actor. Initially, I thought that it might've been another person with that name, as IMDB has been wrong before, but, that said, "D'Onofrio" does have other music and soundtrack credits on his filmography, including another for Jim Wynorski and one for Fred Olen Ray. So, maybe it is the same guy. If anyone knows for sure, let me know.

I may not be a fan of the first 976-EVIL but, at the very least, it was visually stylish and Robert Englund clearly had a vision for it; 976-EVIL II, on the other hand, is a typically low-rent, direct-to-video sequel, with little to recommend it aside from one standout setpiece, a handful of okay cinematography and locations choices, a brief but fine performance by George Buck Flower, and a fair music score. Other than that, though, this is just bad: cardboard characters and equally stiff actors, a villain who isn't entertaining or fun to watch, no matter how much he tries, a number of scenes and sequences that steal from the Nightmare on Elm Street and Evil Dead movies, an overall drab visual style, inconsistencies with the lore established in the first movie, few noteworthy sets or locations, ho-hum makeup effects and really bad visual ones, and a climax that's not only a letdown but ends on an unfair, cruel note that's bound to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Given the amount of utter crap he's made, I think it's safe to say that if Jim Wynorski is dismissive of this flick, then it really is worth skipping.