The Cell 2   Starring: Tessie Santiago, Frank Whaley, Chris Bruno Entertainment in Video RRP: £19.99 EDV9603 Certificate: 18 Available 29 June 2009

Maya Casteneda is the only victim to have survived the clutches of notorious serial killer, The Cusp, who kidnaps young women, binds and then kills them, only to bring them back to life - over and over in increasingly sadistic and inventive ways. Having been killed six times, the chemical imbalances in her brain have enabled her to enter a person’s head to read their memories. No matter how hard she tries she can’t bring to mind the face of her tormentor, and soon realises the only way to trace his whereabouts and bring him to justice is to use the process on The Cusp. Time is of the essence; the sheriff’s daughter has been abducted, and the FBI believe the sheriff himself is The Cusp. Maya has no choice but to enter the head of a psychopath. But The Cusp is ready for her...

For some reason this film’s predecessor seems to have passed me by. Thankfully, we need not to have seen the original to enjoy this sequel. We learn right from the start that Maya was a prior victim of the killer, who was left for dead but instead acquired psychic powers.

The Cell 2 attempts to strike a balance between a grounded murder mystery and a supernatural investigation. It seems to work - just. The trouble is if you can overlook the standard stereotyped characters, you are still left with the conundrum that is The Cusp. For the first half of the movie we see him in shadow or hooded to hide his features. We hear his voice which is deep and slow; calm with an underlying menace. Then, for no discernible reason, his identity is suddenly revealed to the viewer. From then onwards his whole demeanour changes; without giving too much away, his voice, actions and mannerisms conflict with the precision and menace which has gone before. In short, it could be two different people.

The killer is handled with such a lack of thought in the latter stages that the requisite building of suspense and terror is conspicuous by its absence. An average film which could have been much better.

5

Ty Power