TheLittleSongbird Enjoyed the first 'Lavalantula' in a guilty pleasure sort of way. It was not what one calls great, but manages actually to be one of SyFy's best and more watchable films by quite some distance. Being someone who, like many, mostly hates SyFy with a passion, that's saying quite a bit. For the record, it's their compulsive badness and curiosity to see if they have the ability to make something decent once in a while keeps me watching. '2 Lava 2 Lantula' is very much an inferior follow-up, with the problems far more evident. '2 Lava 2 Lantula' is not terrible by any stretch and like 'Lavalantula' is also one of SyFy's better and more watchable films, but 'Lavalantula' had more freshness, more fire and more bite, was more focused story-wise and didn't take silliness too far, definitely easier to take as a guilty pleasure.Again, like 'Lavalantula', as far as SyFy movies go '2 Lava 2 Lantula' looks decent. Editing and photography is tighter than most SyFy movies, locations are colourful and atmospheric, the way the production is lit is less drab than usual. The creature special effects are more mixed, at some pretty they're not bad at all, at other times they're fake and over-obvious. That doesn't stop thankfully that the creatures themselves do have menace and personality, and the film again knows how to utilise them.The music score is groovy and eerie, is careful not to overshadow the dialogue and is used appropriately. The direction shows confidence.While there are worse script in SyFy films, the script is one of the weakest assets here and doesn't have as much above average quality as before. There are amusing moments and there are some neat references that will have film and sci-fi fans grinning, but it lacks snap and bite and tongue-in-cheek too often apart from some moments is replaced by campiness. Campiness that tends to grate and be overused rather than endear.It does make the mistake that 'Lavalantula' managed somehow to avoid, at times it does try too hard to be stupid and the tone and target and audience aren't as clear. The creature attacks are fun and suspenseful still though, if again lacking the scare factor. The story is even more disjointed and over-stretched and due to lacking freshness also feels predictable and derivative. Characters are not as annoying certainly as other characters in SyFy films, and there is some lively pacing. The acting is vastly inferior here, it was above average before, it was not good here. Especially Steve Guttenberg, whose uncomfortable-looking over-acting was painful to watch. The rest were nice to see, but they could have had more to do and they tend to be stale. Michael Winslow gives the best performance, he at least knows what kind of film he's in and doesn't take it seriously while also not falling on the wrong side of camp.Overall, watchable but a fairly difficult one to rate and review. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Wuchak RELEASED TO TV IN 2016 and directed by Nick Simon, "2 Lava 2 Lantula" chronicles events in Fort Lauderdale and the Everglades when volcanic activity releases fire-breathing arachnids the size of people. Steve Guttenberg plays a B-movie actor who rises to the challenge of annihilating the creatures. Michele Weaver plays his stepdaughter and Michael Winslow his pardner. RJ Walker & Jimmy Bellinger are also on hand. There are a lot of familiar faces.Like the previous film from 2015, this sequel is a fun, campy non-horror flick with the expected cartoony CGI. I'm glad they switched the location to Florida to shake things up (although it was apparently shot in Louisiana). Lorynn York is comely as Raya's friend, but not enough is done with her. It's entertaining to a point, but at the end of the day it's a forgettable throwaway flick.THE FILM RUNS 83 minutes and was shot in Louisiana with obvious establishing shots of Florida. WRITERS: Neil Elman & Ashley O'Neil.GRADE: C/C- (4.5/10)

Platypuschow The first Lavalantula (2015) was a surprisingly entertaining movie especially as it had the same vibe as the Sharknado franchise. Another blend of two things (Lava and Tarantulas) and starring three of the original stars of the 1980's Police Academy movies I had a lot of fun with it.I was surprised to see a sequel created, even more so when I realised all the cast would be reprising their roles and was eager for more flamey spiders.Though not bad it didn't live up to my expectations and in a way felt like a rushed sequel cashing in on the current popularity of these cheesy scyfy original movies.For a start Guttenbergs character has gone from endearing to deeply annoying and that hurt the film, the amount of movie references packed into the film as well looked desperate and was sorely not needed.Overall 2 Lava 2 Lantula is a definite watch for fans of the first but if this is the direction these movies will go then best stop here.The Good: Still do like me some flamey spiders One particularly horrific death scene Martin Kove is excellent as always The Bad:Guttenberg is deeply annoying this time round Things I learnt from this movie: Actors are apparently trained to fly grade A military helicopters for roles 4hrs of training is still fresh in a persons mind 25yrs later Somewhere through the years Marion Ramsey forgot how to act

GL84 Getting his acting career back together, the movie-star-turned- spider-killer finds that his stepdaughter is among those trapped by a new outbreak of lavalantulas in Florida and gathers his friends once again as they race to save her and stop the creatures.This here was quite the fun and enjoyably cheesy creature feature. What really tends to work well for this one is the fact that there's so much more fun cheesy action than expected here which provides this one with such a frantic pace that there's so much good times to come from this one. The first attack where they erupt on the beach is a great cheesy highlight with the formations appearing in the Florida skyline and the panic of the fleeing beach-crowds getting swarmed makes for a good time, the city-wide panic where they keep encountering the creatures in the apartment complex, at the car-depot and then the big scene with the creatures at the school while trying to re-check their supplies which introduces several big chases through the labs and classrooms trying to avoid them as their continued presence makes for a series of really enjoyable pieces that have a big impact on the film's overall pacing. That also manages to work for the rather shorter attacks throughout here that shows the spiders coming into play against the citizenry in fine form getting in the usual Sci-Fi Channel style fun and highly enjoyable encounters which manage to provide the big boost this needs to go into the finale which has the same overall fun and enjoyment with the big plan to finally take down the largest spider in the bunch which is where this one really gets quite enjoyable delivering plenty of thrilling action throughout here trying to execute their wacky plan to stop it that manages to top the exceptionally goofy and silly one from the original. That as well plays a big part of how much fun this one is as it still features the same overall attitude and tone as the first which helps to make the creatures that much more of a threat and gives the few silly lines that much more of an impact with the tone being quite consistent all the way through both. That said, there's still the one main flaw here that does tend to crop up in every single one of these films in that there's just absolutely nothing at all that realistic about the way the CGI looks in here, which is so obvious and fake that it really becomes distracting with the low-rent production getting this to look so out-of-sync with a real-life creature who fail to match their backgrounds all that accurately while managing to get the same overall grading and scene placement flaws that become prevalent and somewhat expected in these kinds of films. These, though, aren't detrimental at all and don't really tend to hold this one back too much.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.