“It’s getting weirder.” Yeah, no shit.

When you make a sequel to a successful film, it’s a given that the sequel will not be as good from the audience standpoint or from the critics’, compared to the original anyway. Its kind of like the law of diminishing returns of the film industry. Musicians are victims to the same assumptions when they release a follow up to a successful debut album.

Whatever you do it will never be seen as totally original (as if anything really is these days) and derivative of what came before. So, how do you avoid that? How do you keep a brand alive and continue to entertain and make money? Some cuts budgets, replace actors with less expensive ones, or reuse whatever they can. Some go straight to the home video market or VOD/streaming, and some double down and go bigger and bolder on all fronts. The Fast and the Furious franchise did this last one to box office acclaim.

Or you can do what Sean S Cunningham and Ethan Wiley did with their follow up to the 1986 horror comedy House and make a movie that is a sequel in name only. House II: The Second Story has no connection to the events and characters from the first film. And because of that, they were not beholden to the first story, and made a completely different tale of the supernatural, centred around ghosts and a spooky old house. The first three House films are precisely that, three different stories connected only by a haunted house or supernaturally empowered dwelling. An anthology, in a way. Kind of what John Carpenter and Debra Hill envisioned for the Halloween series until fans chucked a collective shit fit over Halloween III: Season of the Witch because there was no Michael Myers.

Wait, where was I going with this? I lost my train of thought.

Oh, yeah. House 2. Right.

While the first House film is seen as a minor cult classic, and the third is praised for its atmosphere, special effects and gore (and a little controversy over content in respect to the rating board), House 2 often gets left out of the discussion. And looking at the film objectively, I don’t see why. It is a fun, well made film, full of good performances, good story and a metric ton of imagination.

Maybe it’s because, in a horror franchise, House 2 is the only film billed as a supernatural comedy and not as a horror or horror comedy. While the film does have horror elements, it does have more of a fantasy/adventure vide to it. A little like an 80s version of a live action Scooby Doo episodes if the monsters and ghosts were all real and not old man Smithers is a suit. This film is a little hard to classify, harder to describe. Maybe I should give a quick run down first? Yeah, let’s do that.

The film opens with a young family (husband, wife and baby) being terrorised in the house of the title by supernatural forces and a shadowy figure in a cowboy hat. When they come face to face with the ghostly cowboy, the villain Slim Reeser, he croaks out ‘Give me the skull’, shoots are fired and the parents are ‘off screened’ to death.

Cut to a few decades later. The now adult child, Jesse McLaughan (Arye Cross) moves into the house which has be in his family for generations, not knowing about the strange goings on. Jesse has started to make it as an architect and he and his girlfriend Kate (Lar Park Lincoln) plan to make this house a home. They are later joined by Jesse’s friend Charlie (Jonathon Stark) and his girlfriend Lana (Amy Yasbeck) in the hopes Lana will be discovered by Kate as she works for a record company.

Whilst exploring the basement, Jesse and Charlie find a photo of Jesse’s great-great-grandfather (and his namesake) Jesse, holding a jewelled eyed crystal skull in front of an Aztec temple, complete with a surly looking gunfighter in the background. (Pssht! That’s Slim Reeser. Only less dead). Later we find out Slim and Jesse has a falling out over who the skull belonged too.

With the aid of some books on artifacts that just happen to be the basement too, they reason that the skull is buried with the older Jesse in the family plot and decide to procure the skull by digging up it and old Jesse. They unearth the casket but before they can retrieve the skull, they are attacked by the mummy wearing an ornate burial mask buried there. This is the undead Jesse, whom shows himself to be friendly after the younger Jesse reveals who he is. Jesse, Charlie and the newly nicknamed Gramps head back to the house, where Gramps learns that the immortality the skull promised was not as advertised on the bottle. He looks something like a mash up of a zombie and a dried prune.

When Jesse tries to sleep, Charlie takes Gramps drinking and driving. When they return, Jesse and Charlie listen to Gramps’ stories as an outlaw, and adventurer in the old west. Cramps also tells the boys that the skull is a key to the mysteries of the house, which was built from the ruins of an old Aztec temple, and that its rooms are like doorways across time and space. Cramps presses Jesse and Charlie into service to protect the skull from the forces of evil that crave the skull. What could go wrong?

The trio are shocked out of there conversation by the sound of music. Confused, Jesse and Charlie go up stairs to find a costume party in full swing. Charlie admits that he set this up, and then forgot about it. And this being a Halloween party, Gramps fits right in. At the party, Jesse’s interaction with an old girlfriend caused Kate to leave him and takes Lana with her. Thanks to the machinations of Kate’s smarmy boss John (Bill Maher).

And that’s when a barbarian arrives at the party from one of those doorways mentioned earlier and steals the skull from the mantlepiece. The boys chase him upstairs and into a room that sends them to an ancient jungle. Full of dinosaurs. Glorious stop-motion dinosaurs. Movie Gods be praised. They defeat the barbarian with a little help from a dinosaur that looks like a mad scientist’s experiment to mix a hippo and a catfish and retrieve the skull. Only to have the skull stolen by a flying pterodactyl, who deposits the skull in its nest atop a very, VERY tall tree.

Whilst Jesse is climbing the tree, Charlie is being stalked through the undergrowth by an unseen something. We don’t get to see the little critter until later. When reaching into the nest, because one of the eggs had hatched, Jesse was met by a baby pterodactyl, intent on keeping the skull. In the struggle, Jesse, the baby pterodactyl and the skull fall from the high tree to the ground below. When hitting the ground, they fall through the ground taking Charlie and the unseen stalker with them. They fall through the ceiling of the basement of Jesse’s house at Cramps’ feet. After they gain their bearings, Gramps asks, “Why didn’t you use the stairs?”. And they find a creature hanging on to Charlie’s leg. A half dog, half caterpillar little beasty who happily barks at them. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the Cater-Puppy. One of the cutest characters ever to grace the screen, and the illustration accompanying this review.

Then we have a little board comedy as they try to wrestle the skull from the baby prehistoric bird. The chase spills out into the rest of the house, ending in the kitchen were the swap the skull for some food. This chase is very Scooby Doo.

Later when an electrician and adventurer Bill Towner (John Ratzenberger) is at the house to fix some wiring, the skull is nicked again by an Aztec-like warrior. Bill alerts the boys to the time portal in the wall (“one of those time-portal things…you see these all the time in these old houses”), retrieves a sword from his long tool box and leads the boys into the mystic past. They find themselves in a temple where priests and warriors are about to sacrifice a virgin to the skull, now sitting at the head on the ceremonial alter. Bill and the boys, rescue the virgin (Playmate Devin DeVasquez), defeat the warriors and once again, get the skull back. When they return, Bill gives them a business card featuring the words “Bill Towner. Electrician and Adventurer” and says to call if they need him. And he is never seen in the movie again. I wanted more of Bill. He should have got his own movie.

The strange band of friends and family, featuring a beautiful Aztec virgin, two prehistoric animals, a zombie cowboy, and Charlie and Jesse sit down for dinner. Slim Reeser makes his grand entrance. Coming right out of the dinner plater and standing on the table. Gramps is shot, Slim catches a knife thrown by Charlie, Slim kidnaps the virgin (who never actually gets a name in the movie), and Charlie gives chase when he notices the skull is missing. Jesse goes to Gramps; he tells him Slim is the one who kills his parents and gives him his guns. Jesse goes hunting for Slim. He finds a portal to the old west in a window and dives through were he finds Charlie and the Aztec girl strung up on gallows. Bait for the trap. Slim rides in on his zombie horse (another great piece of stop-motion) and he and Jesse shot it out, ending up back in Jesse’s house via crashing through another window. After a tense cat and mouse shoot out through the house, Slim is killed and the skull is retrieved from Slim’s chest.

Returning to Gramps with the skull, hoping that it will heal him, Gramps says his goodbyes to his great-great-grandson after telling him to get what he wants from the enchanted object and then get rid of it. Gramps dies embracing Jesse.

The film ends in the old west. Jesse has buried Gramps and left the skull on his grave. He rides off into the sunset on a wagon with Charlie, the Aztec girl, the baby pterodactyl and Cater-puppy. The end.

When I said this film was full of imagination, I wasn’t kidding. It’s weird, wacky, tense at times, and wonderfully fun. The narrative is a little disjoined at times, but every section of the story carries over into the next pretty well. And considering it was operating with a relatively small budget for a film of this kind of scope, the filmmakers delivered quite the visual feast. Every kind of practical effect and camera trick was used. Apart from the stop-motion animation I mention before, there was also some amazing matte paintings to open up the other worlds, optical effects to blend the elements together, fun and effective puppets, and incredibility believable make-up effects (Gramps is a high point here). Not to mention the props, costumes, set and production design which all help the $3 Million budget seem like $10 Million. Which oddly enough is how much the film made. Which is pretty good in 1987 dollars. And all this from a first-time director.

No kidding. Ethan Wiley, who wrote the first film with Freed Dekker, had never directed a film before. And he took double duty here, both writing and directing the film. And it’s a shame he hasn’t directed more films, having only directed seven films, with many and the best ones being in the horror genre.

I think one of the reasons Wiley excelled at his first directing gig, is that he knew the filmmaking process pretty well. Apart from being a screenwriter, he had worked in special effects on film like Empire Strikes Back and Gremlins, and worked as a second unit and assistant director on other films. So, he knew how to make an effects laden film, but also who to hire to get the job done. He even hired one of his old bosses, Chris Walas, to oversee the effects. Walas has worked on The Fly for David Cronenberg and would later direct the sequel to that film.

Harry Manfredini’s score for the film is as random as the story is. Writing and conducting original music that could be taken from different kinds of films. Music that wouldn’t seem out of place in a horror film, an adventure epic or a western. Complete with light comic touches. There is a reason Cunningham works with Manfredini more than any other composer.

The cast all did marvellous jobs in the film. Ayre Gross and Jonathan Stark as the two leads of the film, had good chemistry on and off screen, and believably delivered the dramatic and comic elements of their character’s arches. Lar Park Lincoln and Amy Yasbeck, while have both done amazing work in other projects, seem wasted here as there is not much for them to do and they exit the story very quickly when it gets going. And Bill Maher is the slimy ass that he plays so well as Kate’s boss. But the two stand outs in the cast are Royal Dano and John Ratzenberger.

With 197 credits to his name, Royal Dano is a character actor who has done just about everything in TV and film. He was most famous for his portrayal of characters in westerns. Hell, he was in Bonanza 12 times. He was one of the few actors you called if you needed someone to play an aging cowboy, so he fits perfectly in the story of House 2 even before he opens his mouth. And even in his later years when he made this film, to his credit, he doesn’t sleepwalk through this role, delivering the most believable performance in the movie. Which must not have been an easy feet, as prior to filming, Dano had had a triple bypass. And didn’t complain once. Dude was a trooper. He had also done other horror and fantasy projects too. Movies like Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), Ghoulies II (1987), Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988), Space Invaders (1990) and The Dark Half (1990). He even played a travelling judge in the first season of Twin Peaks. Royal died in 1994 at the age of 71.

Now, the other stand out, did it all with around only ten minutes of screen time. If that. But with that ten minutes John Ratzenberger steals the show. John is probably best known for his role of Cliff in 270 episodes of the sitcom Cheers and voicing characters in every Pixar movie, such as Hamm in the Toy Story franchise. But with 181 acting and voice credits to his name, he is another character actor who has done just about everything. Seriously, check out his IMDb page, you’ll be surprised. From Horror classics to Doug McClure adventure movies.

Not only did John study acting in London, he also studied stage combat too. So, when he slips into sword wielding adventure mode in the film, its all him, and you fucking believe it. And with his comic chops and his delivery of the dialogue, and his improvising, he is the most memorable and most quotable character in the film.

And just a quick honourable mention. The voice of the villain, Slim Reeser, in none other than the freakishly talented Frank Welker. The Grand Emperor of voice actors who has voiced everything from Megatron, Doctor Claw, Scooby Doo, Abu in Aladdin, Slimer and Ray in The Real Ghostbusters to almost a 1000 others characters.

This film is like a spooky cartoon, a family horror film, if you will. It’s a crazy movie and while it doesn’t make too much sense at times, it knows what it is. The film just wants to entertain you with its ideas, its humour, its action, charm and heart. It might not be as memorable as other films in the genre, and its not an award winner, but I do think its worth your time.

Hardcore horror fans may scoff but I do believe this film deserves better than its 7% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This is a film that will spark your imagination, brighten your day, and make you think twice about digging up a long since dead relative.

Now, I’m just wondering, what happens when the baby pterodactyl grows up in the old west. Now, that could be a movie.