ART OF THE DEVIL 2 is another one that I had to watch as an import VCD with no subs/dubs as the U.S. release doesn't hit til next month - so anything I say about the film is based strictly on what I "saw" - as I have no idea what anyone was saying. Also, this is about as "name only" for a sequel as it gets - as far as I can tell, this film has nothing in common storywise with the original ART OF THE DEVIL, other than the title...<br /><br />The story centers around a group of kids who have a sorcerer cast a spell on some guy cuz he's a dick to them. When homeboy starts pushin' fish-hooks through his skin, his ol' lady decides to get even by casting some spells of her own. The kids take a little vacation to a shack on the waterfront - and this is where the "action" happens. There's a decent amount of gore, including the previously mentioned fish-hook death, and a particularly decent leg-blowtorching-to-flesh-removal that is pretty choice. There also seemed to be some sort of "twist" to the ending that I didn't understand...<br /><br />Overall, AOTD 2 seems to be a pretty decent film, similar in vein to the 80's era Hong Kong sorcery-horror joints, but WAY better. There seemed to be a few genuinely creepy moments, and the gore was pretty heavy, though not as much of an all-out bloodbath as I was expecting from the trailer. I'll be interested to pick this one up when the U.S. release hits to see if the storyline measures up to my expectations...8/10