House II: The Second Story (1987)

 

So very many years ago I viewed a film titled House which I thought I really liked and a couple years ago I re-watched it and I didn't like is as much the second time.  A few nights ago I saw that this sequel (in name only as it has nothing to do with the first film) was going to be on Shobomax so I set the DVR and waited.  My memory was telling me that I had liked this followup even more than the original but damned if I was going to fall for the old unreliable narrator trick again.

 

House II (that's the house right ^^ up there, see it?) is about a house that a young man, Jesse (Arye Gross)  returns to many years after he left it.  With the help of his girlfriend Kate (Lar Park Lincoln) and his best friend Charlie (Johnathan Stark) they start going through the old mansion and discover a  family secret that's literally been buried for generations.

 

    This film has a little of everything: corpses coming back to life, Aztec virgins, time travel, baby pterodactyls, the cutest goddamn thing I ever saw that they never really explain what it is so I'll call it a caterdog, Bill Maher playing a douche (big surprise there), and John Ratzenberger (Pixar's lucky charm).  However, with all that being said the best part of the movie has to be Gramps played by Royal Dano which has to be one of his best roles.  Definitely one of the movies he has appeared in most seeing as how he is usually a bit part character actor in westerns.  House II is definitely better than the original but don't worry if you didn't see it, you don't have to.  A decent comedy horror that has a little bit for all your tastes and I give this three crystal skulls out of five.