Starring John Patrick Jordan, Amy Paffrath, Sonny Carl Davis, Brett Chukerman, Mitch Eakins, Brian Lloyd, Jacob Witkin, Robin Sydney, Michele Mais, Michael A. Shepard
Directed by Charles Band
Expectations: Moderate, I enjoyed the first.
On the general scale:
On the B-Movie scale:
Evil Bong 2 starts off with a short recap of the entire first film for those that didn’t see it or have pot-induced selective memory. In a low-budget film, this is usually a bad sign that the rest of the film’s runtime will be padded out as much as possible with stock footage and a general lack of imagination. It is a sequel after all. Evil Bong 2 goes the complete opposite direction after this opening though, delivering more laughs, more fun and more awesome Evil Bong action that you can shake a shitty tribal spear at!
Time has passed and the guys have moved into a new apartment, but not everything is coming up roses for our heroes. It seems the Evil Bong’s pot fantasies have had a lasting impact on their daily lives. They are afflicted with extreme versions of marijuana’s side effects: the munchies, loss of inhibition and narcolepsy. With nowhere left to turn, they call the delivery man who brought them the Evil Bong in the first film and then venture into the Amazon to find the birthplace of the Evil Bong itself! Only in a B-movie could a story take as many ridiculous twists and turns and still come out on top, but Evil Bong 2 does just that and succeeds remarkably at keeping the interest level high throughout.
Everything about Evil Bong 2 is a step up from the original. The writing is much funnier, as is the acting. Sonny Carl Davis (Rabbit, the Delivery Man) is in this one a lot more and has some great moments. The original Alistair has been replaced with Brett Chukerman, who is infinitely better at coming off as the brainy friend to the stoners, instead of an annoying Revenge of the Nerds smart guy. Newcomer Amy Paffrath is a great addition to the cast as well, playing off the guys perfectly and looking beautiful while she does it.
I have to give Charles Band and Full Moon some credit for not taking the easy way out on this too. With a title like Evil Bong 2: King Bong, I expected a simple re-telling of King Kong with bongs in clever places. Instead the King Kong allusions are only minor, serving more to inform the general story direction (going to the Amazon) instead of every clichéd plot point. The DVD cover is probably a bigger reason why I thought it would be like this, but in fact the cover has more in common with King Kong than the actual movie does!
Evil Bong 2: King Bong completely blew away my expectations and delivered a thoroughly enjoyable tale of medicinal pot, evil bongs and lost tribes of Amazon women. I can’t ask for much more from a movie than that. Highly recommended to low-budget comedy fans or anyone who saw the first and approached a sequel with trepidation. It should be noted that while the first film was never much of a horror movie, this sequel is even less of one. They go completely into the realm of comedy here, which worked smashingly for me, but if you go in expecting horror you might be disappointed.
Next week, I’ll be jumping back into the hands of the puppeteer as I take on the seventh series entry, Retro Puppet Master!
The first one is more of a comedy also. If you saw the first one, you’d expect adolescent comedy and topless women, and you’ll get about twice as much of each in this sequel. If you are expecting to see Chong in this one, you’d be disappointed. I think.
I honestly don’t think there’s twice as much topless women in this one. The first one goes back to the strip club like five or six times throughout, but in this one there isn’t any nudity till almost the end. Then when they all go inside the bong it’s a nude-fest to end the film so perhaps it left a greater impact all coming at once. I’d say there’s probably an equal amount. There’s definitely more adolescent humor though.