Just in time to join the fearful festivities of the Halloween season, director/co-writer Dante Yore unleashes bloody barrels of hay and guts in Fear PHarm 2. A follow-up sequel to the 2020 original Fear PHarm (read our review here), Fear PHarm 2 continues the storyline of horror cinema’s fresh, fun, and freak-filled family of farming slashers.

A young woman named Melanie (Tiana Tuttle) remains the captive of a family of farmers that operate a giant corn maze. Unbeknownst to the locals, the family captures unsuspecting customers who are carriers of a coveted gene, one which they harvest for its anti-aging capabilities to add to their retail line of skin cream. Operations are interrupted when Melanie and the other captives escape into the corn maze and the family must hunt them down. However, what they assume will be a simple corral and capture of their captives turns into a night of bloody exchanges as the hunted fight back while searching for a way out of the corn maze, and the hunters fight to keep their family together and their sinister secret hidden.

Yore does not hold back in Fear PHarm 2! Not just aesthetically by throwing blood and guts and body parts around, but also premise-wise, as in fashion with the first movie, the ending takes risks that subvert typical expectations of what can happen to characters filling certain roles in the film. Further in fashion with the first film, Fear PHarm 2 leaves room for the story to continue into a potential third installment, which I feel that Yore and crew definitely deserve to continue after improving upon the first.
Starring as Hershel, the head of the family John Littlefield portrays sadness a lot better than a loving father, but he is certainly given opportunities to shine, along with the rest of his murderous family. Aimee Stolte reprises her role as the daughter, Gemma, who really impressed me by showing how she grew her character from the first installment; where at first it felt like she was doing a Harley Quinn knock off in Fear PHarm, in Fear PHarm 2 she stands out as more of a badass, well-rounded character in her own right. Yore also reprises his heroin/final girl from the first film, as well as introduces a slew of other young, suppled-skinned teens as fodder, only thanks to the efforts of Fear PHarm 2‘s writing team, these fodder-ous characters are given some major zingers throughout the film and truly made Fear PHarm 2 a very fun watch.

The chase ’em and hack ’em nature of Dante Yore’s Fear PHarm movies could get him inducted into the so-called “Splat Pack,” as these movies are quickly beginning to remind me of the spirit and aesthetic of Adam Green movies — those who appreciate those sorts of bloody horror-comedies should get a kick out of these films, and especially the much-improved Fear PHarm 2. the acting is definitely amateur despite everyone’s obvious charisma and the production quality still screams B-movie horror, but it was a fun watch all the same. In fact, I wish I had 3D glasses for watching this movie, as eyeballs and blood quite frequently splattered against the screen. It is obvious that Yore has quite the sense of humor, crafting comedic kills and lovable characters for lovers of slasher flicks to enjoy.

 

6.75 out of 10

 

Fear PHarm 2
RATING: NR
Fear PHarm 2 | OFFICIAL TRAILER
Runtime: 1 Hr. 15 Mins.
Directed By:
Written By:

About the Author

Adrienne Reese is a fan of movies - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and came to the horror genre by way of getting over her fear of... everything. Adrienne also writes for the Frida Cinema, and in addition to film enjoys cooking, Minesweeper, and binge-watching Game of Thrones.