Brandon Rhiness’s ‘GROTESQUE 2’ (2024) – Movie Review – PopHorror

Recently I reviewed my new indie horror obsession Grotesque, which features slasher icon in the making Mildred Moyer. Director/writer Brandon Rhiness was kind enough to let me check out Grotesque 2 for review.

How does it hold up to the original? Read on for my thoughts.

Synopsis

Mildred Moyer is at it again, unleashing her unique brand of vengeance on a corrupt religious organization that took advantage of her and others.

Grotesque 2 was written and directed by Brandon Rhiness (Grotesque) from a story by Rhiness and Julie Whelan. The film stars Elizabeth Chamberlain returning as Mildred Moyer, Jaime Hill (Grotesque), Nick Gauthier (Hot Box), Julie Whelan (Grotesque), Natasha Hurlburt, Laura Fuentes (I’m Haunted 2), Jarvis Greiner (Grotesque), Chris Schuler (Grotesque), and Alice Wordsworth.

I really enjoyed getting to see Mildred Moyer return in Grotesque 2, though it kind of shattered the sense of happiness she found in the original. I liked that the story took its time to develop and spent time establishing the villains of the story and how truly awful they are. The villains are a corrupt religious organization who steals from those in need of prayer, and drugs their congregation into compliance. The fact that they were so awful made their deaths all the more satisfying.

Speaking of deaths, we get a ton of them here, one of my favorites being a woman who gets cut in half. The deaths lean heavily into comedy and Mildred Moyer’s trademark one liners are back. Some of them are pretty cringe but the film leans into it by having Mildred poke fun at just how bad some of them are.

I enjoyed how people kept telling Mildred that she looks like infamous serial killer Mildred Moyer and how she thought on her feet and hilariously figured out ways past it, like, “I have glasses and she didn’t.” I loved Mildred’s look in Grotesque 2 and how it was an inverse of her look in the first film. I thought it was cool that so many actors from the original returned as different characters. I loved how the story came full circle and tied everything back to the original and wrapped up some loose ends.

The one thing I didn’t really care for was the ending, which left me feeling pretty upset as it seems to mark a definitive ending to the series. Besides that one complaint I really enjoyed the hell out of Grotesque 2.

Final Thoughts 

Grotesque 2 is a fun slasher sequel that leans into the comedy present in the original and brings the story full circle. Highly recommend.