Death Bitch 2 takes place sometime after part one (which I did watch for this as well), and in it, our heroine, Alexis Walker (Linnea Swanson), is trying to move on with her life after avenging the deaths of her brother and mother. Two problems with that though. One, the crime boss she killed last time, Dante, he has a sister named Sabrina (Michelle Bauer) who wants revenge; and two, while Alexis is parking her car after meeting her friend April for drinks, when she comes back she finds her friend murdered after a mugging. So as much as she tries to get out, they keep pulling her back in! At the same time, the police are trying to curb this sudden crime wave started by Sabrina and her gang of ne'er-do-wells, and in the process Ian Jacklin's partner gets killed--someone must not have liked his Boston accent. Now he's teaming with Det. Douglas from the last movie (Doug Waugh) and his partner, Det. Matt Stone (Robert Allen Mukes), to get his revenge.
This was a ton of fun. A great heroine to root for, great baddies to oppose her, and a lot of fun touches along the way, like the news report bumpers with August Kyss as reporter Kimberly Wells, and Dawna Lee Heising as the mayor's wife--who later gets himself caught with a sex worker. Two things I would say though: one, like the first film, we lose Alexis for large portions of the film as things focus more on the detectives, and I think some of those scenes of dialog with them go on a bit longer than they needed to; and two, and this isn't so much a knock, but as a sequel, it helps to see the first one first, which fortunately it is available on Fawesome and is only 87 minutes--and also a lot of fun like this one, so worth the effort, but I wanted to throw that out there too. The thing I loved about this the most was how filmmaker Ken "Ace" Brewer was able to take the basic premise of the original Death Wish, but not make it simply a remake with a female lead, but rather do new things with it. The Ian Jacklin piece for us 90s DTV action fans was great to see as well, and while he's now the grizzled veteran cop, he did an excellent job as that grizzled veteran cop who could still throw some nice punches and maybe an knee or two if you need it. This is getting released on November 12th, both on DVD and Blu-ray from the company's site, lividmedia.org, with a limited theatrical release as well, so check your area theater listings to see if it's playing near you! It's a lot of fun and worth checking out.
Let's start with our lead, Linnea Swanson, who is reprising her role from the first film. Unlike a lot of women action leads we see, she's not doing any martial arts here, it's more about her showing up with a gun and killing people, but despite being as far from Charles Bronson as you can imagine, she sells it in a Bronson-esque way. Whenever someone's getting mugged or assaulted, once we see her come around the corner, we know it's over for the baddies. Part of it too is having a writer and director like Brewer who has a clear, cohesive vision of what he wants to make, and casting someone like Swanson who can carry it off. For example, when Alexis is captured by Sabrina, it looks like Jacklin and the other cops are coming to save her. That damsel in distress element would've hurt the whole thing, but instead Alexis escapes and has a final showdown with Sabrina without any police involvement, which is what we needed. I'd be up for however many of these Death Bitch films Brewer wants to make with Swanson, as I said above, this was a ton of fun.
As far as Ian Jacklin, I think it's great just to see him back in a film like this. I wasn't sure how much of him we'd get, but he actually has a secondary plot arc with a woman who works behind the counter of a convenience store he goes to. The problem in a role like this is if we get more of him, we get less of Swanson as Alexis, which I wouldn't have wanted, and this wasn't his movie anyway, so I was okay with it, I was more happy to just see him in this and doing well. As far as the fights, he had a couple, and at this stage it's more about throwing punches with a few knees thrown in, but I'm okay with that too, we already had the movies where he proved his martial arts skills, so it was good to see that he could pull off the grizzled detective now--and still mix it up a bit if he needs to. It looks like he's found work in the vertical film market, which aren't films we'll cover here, but work is work and I wouldn't begrudge anyone getting paid; hopefully though we'll see some more stuff like this from him too.
Throughout both this film and the one before it, we have these news reports and interviews given to us by reporter Kimberly Wells, played by August Kyss, who we've seen on the site before in a few other horror screeners. While a lot of the moments are played for laughs, I think they also do a great job of--I don't know if "grounding the film" is the right idea, but they reinforce a truth that this film uses to underpin the more extreme and absurdist elements, and that is that many of us have no sympathy for people who make our streets less safe, and however they're dealt with is fine with us, which is what makes the Death Wish films work. I remember when Trump first deployed the National Guard to DC, someone posted a kid on an ATV riding down one of the streets and was like "look at that, there's your big crime!", which I get, but as extreme as it sounds, if Mayor Parker here in Philly called in the National Guard and they rounded up all the dirt bike riders and frog marched them through Center City, a lot of people would applaud it, and while I might not applaud it, I don't know if I'd be outraged either because those dirt bike guys are a dangerous nuisance. I get too that it's a slippery slope, but what makes this movie so much fun is it never gets fully slippery, which I think is what made the Death Wish films work so well too; but then Brewer used those news segments to touch on the deeper conversations, while we get to enjoy Alexis shooting all the baddies she can.
Finally, a joke that's carried through from the first film is Det. Douglas eating vegan donuts, and in this one his new partners eat them and think they taste horrible. I wanted to use this paragraph to defend this plant-based confection, because here in Philly we have a donut shop, Okie Dokie Donuts, that not only has all gluten free donuts, but also a great selection of vegan ones, and they're some of the best donuts I've ever eaten. They are more expensive, but they're also so rich that one is probably enough. Also Doughnut Plant in Grand Central Station in NYC makes great vegan donuts, I got a strawberry one there that was amazing. With that said, for all the things I loved about this film, the vegan donut slander was one I needed to push back on, because vegan donuts can taste great!
And with that, let's wrap this up. This will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on the Livid Media site (lividmedia.org) on November 12th, and possibly in a theater near you on the same day. This is a fun indie film that really worked for me, and is worth checking out, especially if you're looking to support more indie filmmakers.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35390399
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