Death Nurse II

Director - Nick Millard (Cemetery Sisters, Death Nurse)
Starring - Priscilla Aldean (Death Nurse, Midnight Caller), Albert Eskinazi (Gunblast, Doctor Bloodbath), and Irmgard Millard (The Terrorists, Cemetery Sisters)
Release Date - 1988
Genre - Horror
Tagline(s) - "The gory elderly is back!" and "Nurse Edith will see you now"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     In recent years sequels have caught hell by the horror community by shit talkers for lacking originality.  People want "original" films when sequels can be just as amazing. They can take a story and character we already know and love and offer up more adventure.  Night of the Living Dead was a hit so it was only logical that Romero follow that up and we got Dawn and Day out of it.  Two amazing sequels.  Hell, if Friday the 13th never spawned a sequel we would have never been given the iconic slasher Jason Voorhees.  Sequels are not always bad.  In 1987 the S.O.V. horror flick Death Nurse was released and the following year a sequel hit the shelves.  Death Nurse is a solid flick that offers up some camp.  I couldn't image how this S.O.V. flick was able to spawn a sequel but it did just one year later.  The film was recently released on DVD and blu by Olive Films after they teamed up with Slasher//Video.  Thanks again guys for sending a review copy my way!

     The film, once again, follows Nurse Edith Mortley (Aldean) and her brother Dr. Mortley (Eskinazi) who run a private practice out of their home where they kill their patients and continue to bill their insurance as if they are alive.  These deaths have driven rats from the sewer into their basement where they now feed them the bodies of the dead.  On top of that, they are now killing the rats and serving them to the guests before they kill them.  A few relatives of former patients start snooping around looking for their loved ones forcing them to act fast.  They kill them but soon a detective in investigating them when they discover human remains on their front lawn.
     One upon a time, sequels would be films that were often released years after the original film with little to nothing to do with it's predecessor. That is not the case as of recent years with sequels being filmed back to back with the original to offer up one continuous story.  I enjoy sequels either way but this was uncommon when it comes to films in the 80s.  However, Death Nurse looks like the sequel was filmed along with the first film and when they saw how much footage they had they opted to make it two films.   Similar to Kill Bill.  This actually worked in the film's favor and the sequel is able to be as consistent as the first film.  The acting in this one is more of the first film.  The cast is just pushing through their dialogue with no attempts at acting.  Their interactions are difficult to watch and the dialogue has no emotion or impact.  This made the film move at a snails pace but the story still went on.  The story for this one is more of what we got in the first film but with some added twists that dialed up the macabre.  The adding of the rats and consumption of those made the film feel even more depraved and worked well with making the film feel more like a sequel and not more of the first film.  With that being said, the film picks up right after the events of the first film and then continues from their with several cast members returning and a few with different roles.  If the film would have been released years later and shot differently then it would not have worked as a sequel because the story is almost exactly the same but because it is obvious they were filmed together then the film is able to use it to it's advantage.  Finally, the film does have several kills but they are the same as in the original film.  The deaths rely heavily on camera work, editing, and off screen murder.  The practical effects are limited and restricts the viewer from truly enjoying the kills in a normal fashion but they are the standard S.O.V. kills which are entertaining in their simplicity.  Overall, Death Nurse II is a solid continuation in the Edith Mortley saga.  The film is the epitome of S.O.V. horror and I recommend it.  Check it out.