Starring - James Balsamo, Craig Muckler (Hollywood Werewolf, The Hand That Feeds), and Bob Cummings (Demonoids from Hell, Mind Melters 2)
Release Date - 2025
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "Bad cop. Bat cop"
Format - Streaming (Online Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
A decade or so ago I befriended filmmaker and pun-gineer James Balsamo as he was promoting a few of the films he was releasing. I reviewed several of them around that time like I Spill Your Guts, Hack Job, Cool as Hell, Killer Waves, and Bite School. I liked most of his films but Bite School was probably my favorite of those releases. I've randomly reviewed a few of James' releases since then but Bite School has always stood out to me. A few nights back James reached out for me to review a new one from him and it just happened to be a sequel to Bite School. I was really looking forward to checking this one out so I moved it to the top of my review list so I could quickly check it out.
The film follows former millionaire playboy Tony Canoni (Balsamo) who has been hunting vampires for the last ten years when he comes across a large gathering of vampires performing a ceremony with Robot Dracula. Now, he must stop them before their diabolical plan takes over the world.
Bite School 2 goes a route I was not expecting but I did dig the direction. However, the way Balsamo's films have been in recent years is something I'm not really a fan of. I had a lot of fun with his earlier films but the endless cameos and random scenes filmed at conventions or in hotel halls takes away from the overall film. The acting in this one is very uneven. Some of the cast, actually a great deal of it, is random scenes from celebrities and musicians talking to the camera from what I assume was a video sent to Balsamo to be added to the film or from conventions and hotel lobbies. It's clear that they have no idea what the film is about and is asked to give out some random bits of dialogue for the camera so it could be pieced in during editing. When you remove those scenes you are left with some pretty decent acting. Balsamo does a solid performance and the remainder of the cast is the same as well but the film doesn't give them much time to really get into their roles before we move between cameos. The story for this one suffers just like the acting does. I liked the Robot Dracula character and picking up with Tony ten years later. However, as soon as the film gains tractions it is derailed by the random cameos that don't really fit the film. I would love to see this one edited with these removed so we can get a more coherent story. Finally, this is probably the most impressive film in regards to effects that I've seen with Balsamo attached. The make-up effects are solid enough but what impressed me was the prosthetics and creature design. I absolutely loved the look of the vampires and Robot Dracula. I would have loved some gore but I'll take what I can get here. Overall, Bite School 2 is a film that I liked but only half of it. The random inserts and cameos does take away from the film which is a bummer considering how much I love the first film. I wanted to love it but couldn't.
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