Leofwine_draca
Saddled with one of the most boringly unimaginative movie titles that I can think of, BURIED ALIVE 2 is a bitter (as a blowfish) disappointment. The original 1990 movie was surprisingly good for a TV film, with quality performances, an interesting plot and plenty of creepy moments. This sequel is a poor rehash of the first film, with the sole difference that the wife is the one being poisoned and the husband is the adulterer instead of the other way round. Everything else is exactly the same, including the poisoning by blowfish, even the drilling and trap at the end, but it's just not as effective this time around. The only fun parts are those which directly follow on from the first film, like the unexpected exhumation of the two bodies in a coffin and the character of Clint Goodman, but these are played down to a mere sideline in the movie.Ally Sheedy (MAN'S BEST FRIEND) is frankly one of the most unattractive actresses I've seen, and her unconvincing performance doesn't help much. The rest of the cast is even worse, with the unknown Stephen Caffrey and Tracey Needham to blame for most of the bad acting in the movie. The only good performers are Tim Matheson, who has an excellently creepy role as a man with an unholy connection to death having been buried alive himself in the first, it's just a shame his direction isn't so inspired this time around. Brian Libby also has fun as an enbalmer with a black sense of humour.The plot is often contrived (the enbalming machine going haywire is just plain dumb) and over-emphasises plot developments so that they become laughable. The final image, of two people trapped in a boat at the bottom of the ocean, is mishandled, turning a potentially horrific image into a laughable one thanks to the over-acting of the aforementioned Caffrey and Needham. Give this worthless flick a miss and rewatch the first movie instead, as it's about ten times better than this unoriginal garbage.
bob the moo
Following on from the first film Sheriff Sam has died and his niece, Laura (Ally Sheedy) mourns his passing with her husband Randy (Stephen Caffrey). She also meets a shadowy figure at her uncle's grave who may be Clint (Tim Matheson)- a man who many thought died years ago. Meanwhile Randy hears the story of Clint and his murderous wife and plots with his girlfriend Roxanne (Tracey Needham) to carry out the same deviousness on Laura.Was the first film so good that it justified a sequel? I've seen both so I can tell you no! This is not even a sequel but a lazy rehash of the first movie. The situation is reversed from the treacherous wife of the first to the husband here, but the poison is the same, the plot is the same, the problems are the same, the revenge is essentially the same. There is a slight change due to the involvement of Tim Matheson's character but he only floats around for a bit before vanishing, and anyway his character only confuses the issue rather than adding to the film. All the same problems with the first film are repeated here. Tim Matheson tries to copy Frank Darabont's direction, in many cases just copying the first shot for shot, but he's flogging a dead donkey and can't inject any tension into this.The actors are C-rate versions of the first film's B-rate stars. Sheedy doesn't really convince as the vengeful wife while Caffrey doesn't seem like the sort to say boo! to a goose much less murder his wife. Matheson seems to exist in his own little film - halfway in you find out why he's in it at all but until then he just confuses the thing.This is a pointless remake posing as a sequel. No one cares that all the old characters are tied back into the second film or that Matheson's back. It's all a bit pointless and the fact that it happens in the same town to people familiar with what happened last time round make it even less believable than the first film. the only upside is that the revenge is a bit more believable that the whole "building a massive wooden maze in a house" deal in the first film but it's still not great.The film would have been better as a pure remake with the sexes switched and set in a new town with new people. The attempt to pass it off as a follow-on from the original with the same characters turns this poor film into a pointless, boring rubbish film.
SentraWagon1982
*This contains spoilers*Buried Alive II is a half way decent sequel, but nothing close to saying it's a fantastic movie. What makes it a half way decent sequel is the fact that it picks up where the first one leaves off. Laura (Ally Sheedy) and Randy (Stephen Caffrey) have just inherited a large sum of money from the sheriff, Sam, from the original movie who had just passed away. Randy wanted to buy a new boat with the money and Laura didn't want to waste the whole inheritance on it. While at the same time, Randy was seeing Tracy (Tracy Needham). They come up with a plot to murder Laura by poisoning her with fish toxon. Randy would then be able to get his hands on Laura's money so that he would be able to buy the boat he wanted. Randy follows up with his plans and poisons Laura in a restaurant. Laura, of coarse, does not die, and after she wakes up from her coma, she takes her revenge out on Randy and Tracy.Though this is a decent sequel, it left a lot to be desired. In general, the acting by Clint and Laura was very well done; however, the acting by Randy and Tracy seemed very stale. In the first place, poisoning somebody in public doesn't seem like a very well thought out plot by the writers. They also could have found another way to prevent Laura from being embalmed instead of showing the fluid injection system going haywire, which seemed cheesy and fake. The scenes with Randy and Tracy at the end were rather funny. While Laura was sinking the boat Randy and Tracy was on, Randy says to Tracy "What would you like me to do, call 911?". Overall, this movie is worth seeing, but don't expect anything spectacular.Movie rating: 6 out of 10
nugirl
...seeing the same movie twice? The first was good..the second a poor model of the first.