Young filmmaker Spencer (Hunter Johnson) convinces friend Mack (David Coupe) to help him make the sequel to writer/director James Cullen Bressack’s original movie To Jennifer (2013). Thinking that Bressack is on board with the project, Mack has no idea of Spencer’s truly dark intentions.
What makes the plot of 2 Jennifer so implausible is Spencer himself. He’s just not smart enough to pull any of this off. So we are presented with a continuously frustrating alternate reality where everyone has suddenly become mentally retarded. Anyone that can be subdued by such a dweeb using just one hand deserves to die. Never mind the fact that our lead has zero likability, but he spends the entire movie literally looking like an escaped mental patient. The actor is also really bad at fake stabbing. He looks like a child on speed doing the Mexican wave. The lingering looks when he closes a door are more laughable than creepy. And what the hell is with this epidemic of indie filmmakers who for some very strange reason think that their audience wants to see them naked. I speak for everybody when I say, “We really don’t!”
There’s no tension whatsoever because we begin the movie knowing full well that Spencer is out of his mind as well as what will eventually happen. So three quarters of the film is simply a waiting game, an excruciating hour of sitting through one dumb and uninteresting conversation after another. The “shit ton of Jennifers” argument is possibly the most pointless scene of them all. Mankind has achieved space travel. But finding an actress called Jennifer? Now there’s a real head-scratcher. Bitch, please!
Some points of interest do crop up, though. The concept of the movie itself carries with it a strong Last Horror Film (1982) meets Audition (1999) vibe with a twist. Whether this is intentional or not is anyone’s guess. In the final moments Spencer also achieves a metamorphosis on-screen that plants him somewhere between Buffalo Bill and the killer from Cherry Falls (2000). This reveal shows Spencer as much more complicated beast than first thought, but if it all was just for shock value then perhaps not.
LAST WORDS:
It’s all been done before, as they keep telling us. But you’re not going to break any new ground by insulting your audience’s intelligence. You don’t necessarily have to strive for airtight believability either. Put the fear in people by creating a killer smart enough to kill off characters who have an actual brain between their ears. Don’t expect anyone with a brain to enjoy this movie though…