If what you’re after is a slasher straight out of the manual, Wicked Ones is for you. Not that there’s anything technically wrong with it, but the makers haven’t skipped a page here. We’ve got the small town hiding a dark history, a phantom masked killer with an arsenal of weaponry, satanic worship gone bad (when will people in films learn that summoning the dark forces NEVER ends well?), and the perfect suburban family for whom the only catharsis lies in settling the score with mystery murderers intent on ruining (or ending) their lives.

If you missed Tory Jones’ 2017 The Wicked One, there’s enough backstory to this sequel for it not to matter. Long story short, serial murderer Colin Miller, who was partial to satanic and ritualistic slayings in the town of Carpenter Falls, is finally brought down. He’s crazed and babbling about voices in his head, and that’s just the beginning.

Ten years on, two survivors of Miller’s reign, married with three kids, move back to live in the town where it all happened. You know; like you do. Mom Alex (Katie Stewart) is a nervous, paranoid wreck with a barely controlled booze issue. Dad Adam (Dale Miller) is in contrast way too laid-back over the well being of his own kids considering past events. Kids Daniel (Skyler Guthrie), Jenna (Brandi Botkin) and Kendall (Morgan Pyle) are your standard three in a row, except Kendall really just comes off as weirdo without a cause.

Trying to solve the current two-year long string of killings are cops Burke (James Tackett), who was on watch when the original killer (known colloquially as The Wicked One) escaped, and Tromer (Lucas Dunaway), who thinks Burke should stop blaming himself and leave it alone since the Wicked One is allegedly dead. This being the general consensus among the police, Burke is forced to cool it a bit for fear of being seen as obsessed. But is he? They never found the killer’s body, after all…

One of the things that really stood out to me about Wicked Ones was the suspense music; it’s pure A Nightmare on Elm Street. Even with careful listening I could barely tell the difference. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarities end. It’s been 26 years since Freddie first ripped his way out of our screens, yet the imaginatively surreal and unpredictable story means it still remains an all-time classic.

Those years that’ve passed put Wicked Ones at a disadvantage, many variations on the theme of bloodthirsty maniac having come and gone, but for all the super-familiarity of the plot and theme it’s not without merit. The gore scenes have really been paid attention to, there’s a viciousness there that hardcore fans of the genre should appreciate; and the utter derangement on display lends an eerily convincing air to the suggestion of demonic forces at play.

This’ll likely not impress the hardcore horror vets amongst you, but if you’re a hatchling then Wicked Ones is as good a place as any to start to stretch out in front of.