No Man's Land: The Rise of Reeker (2008)

That was an excellent one.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

If you've seen REEKER(2005) and enjoyed It - even just a little - then this will be right up your Street. The movie expands greatly on the original and shows exactly what the reeker Is and how he came about. A Horror film with a bit of Sci-Fi thrown In, It Is not without Its' tongue-In-cheek moments, particularly the dialogue between the 2 guys,one of whom puts a bag over the others head to cover up his appalling injuries! Watch carefully for a very interesting anomaly 42 minutes In,just after the deputy has shot at the Invisible barrier - a black,disc-shaped 'UFO' swings Into the very top-right corner of the screen then swings out again,throwing a brief shadow onto a large boulder as It leaves the screen. Weather Film-makers put this In as a teaser or weather It's just a strange anomaly I couldn't say, but judge for yourselves - It looks as much like a 'genuine' UFO than most of the 'real' UFO footage I've ever seen. This Is a good follow-up to the original with plenty going on to keep viewers interested and the cast do a decent job between them. Well worth watching especially If you've seen the original.

The writer/director/thief of NMLTROR "borrowed" heavily from I-had-no-clue-I-wuz-snuffed movies like "Stay", "Identity" "Dead End", "Point Blank", "The Sixth Sense", "The Others", "Carnival of Souls" but also the "Final Destination" series when he made the first movie, so it's no wonder that this prequel runs into the same kind of trouble as all the "Final Destination" sequels did: we already know the outcome. The main characters all dead i.e. dying. The whole it-was-all-a-dream shtick dates back all the way back to "The Wizard of Oz", so indirectly even that movie is one of the dozens of films that served as "inspiration" (i.e. source of thievery). Basically what I'm saying is, if you're looking for originality here, just forget it. But if you're a horror film fan, you must have already given up on that anyway. (You need to watch between 50 to 100 horror films before you find one that contains some new idea.) Admittedly, effort was made if not exactly to circumvent this problem than at least to make the movie as unpredictable as possible – within its predictable and limiting parameters. Hence the ending with two actual survivors this time around, plus the fact that Reeker actually gets killed. It's interesting though that the director lets the new sheriff survive, of all people. Isn't this the same guy who told us that he gets horny when he watches dolphins mate? Was the director trying to tell us something about himself, perhaps? Hm.But then comes the next unoriginal plot-twist i.e. premise-theft: new blood has been sought out by Evil to be trained as a serial-killer and then later as Reeker's replacement. Something tells me we've already had that idea in the supremely idiotic "Saw" series. Having a kid become a new killer is pretty daft. When is Reeker 3 going to be recruited, when he is 3 months old? In a strange way, the writer/director/thief HAS managed to create a first in cinema, although perhaps unintentionally. Namely, "Reeker" features Reeker 2 (i.e. this movie's kid), while "Reeker 2" aka NMLTROR features Reeker 1, the original Reeker. I don't think we've had that before. But because this is a prequel, it could be argued that this is "Reeker 0". Does this make sense to you? NMLTROR is a rather silly horror film, with several inane reactions by the characters, and even dumber dialog, and yet it is an improvement over the first part, which was even less original and kind of dull.

The first film was your good usual twist and turn psycho killer horror thriller, and this straight to DVD sequel is just as good, if not a tiny bit better. The film opens with the origins of how the Reeker came to be, there used to be a man, or the Salesman (Michael Robert Brandon) in the 1970s known as the Death Valley Drifter, and there is a part when he gets caught and chops his own hand off. He was caught by Sheriff McAllister (David Stanbra) in his shack filled with heads, limbs and body parts (kind of like Leatherface or the real life Ed Gein), and he was put to death in the gas chamber, but his spirit managed to get out. Then it moves to present day, where Sheriff McAllister (Robert Pine) will be retiring and having his son Deputy Harris McAllister (Michael Muhney) replace him. Then three thieves show up, one is dying but Binky (Desmond Askew) is looking forward to getting his hands on the money they stole from a casino, and Alex (Stephen Martines) wants to see his ex-girlfriend, waitress Maya (Mircea Monroe). Soon they realise that they are in danger from a mysterious ripply serial killer with a hook for a hand wearing a gas mask, the Reeker, a ghost working for Death. Each victim is warned almost by a horrible smell coming from the killer, hence the name Reeker, and when each die you see their pasts flashing before you. It is apparent though that all that did die were meant to, seeing how also they are trapped by an invisible wall, you see the logical way they are killed off in the end, and there is no Reeker at all. Also starring Lyne Odums as Psychiatrist, Valerie Cruz as Allison, Lew Temple as Hitchhiker and Ben Gunther as Reeker. I can't remember there being much humour in the predecessor, but this one has some good moments of humour in amongst the good gore and rough death scenes, and a creepy killer to go with it, not bad at all. Worth watching!

This film first appeared to be a straightforward cops and robbers movie. Three guys rob a casino and manage to land at the same gas station/cafe as a father (Robert Pine) and son (Michael Muhney), one a retiring sheriff, and the other the new man in town, were eating.Then things got weird, as one man gets his head practically torn of, but was still able to walk and talk, another man, who was burning a car, is also walking around, and, I kid you not, some legs without a body were running. Are we in the Twilight Zone or something? But, just when things couldn't get any stranger, we come to the ending where there appears to be a logical explanation to everything we saw. So what were we watching for the last hour? A soul-catcher reborn or someones imagination run amok. It was an interesting film with just the right amount of gore, a lot of laughs, and enough to keep you interested. Well, not totally. Mircea Monroe and Valerie Cruz were nice eye candy, but they could have made it more interesting.