Director – Mark Mackner (Deadsville Rock n Roll Mysteries, The Embalmo the Clown Show)
Starring – Mary Sack (The Devilish Desire of Dario Dragani, Camp Blood 666), Dahlia DeSade (The Half-Life Horror from Hell or: Irradiated Satan Rocks the World!, Daisy Derkins: Dogsitter of the Damned), and J.D. Korejko (Evil Brew, Bleeding Hearts)
Release Date – 2019
Rating – 2/5
Several years ago I was digging through Instagram when I came across a post for the film Daisy Derkins: Dogsitter of the Damned. This jumped out to me and I quickly snagged a copy to review. I fucking loved the film and sought the director out on social media. I started following his projects from there and soon realized that he had made several Daisy Derkins films since Dogsitter of the Damned.
The years since then I’ve snagged a few of them to add to my collection but never found the time to watch them until now. A few weeks back Mark reached out to review his newest installment which forced my hand to finally check the previous installments out. The second film in the franchise, Daisy Derkins vs The Bloodthirsty Beast of Barren Pines, was not as fun as the first but did have it’s moments.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows Daisy who has now come to the realization that she has the ability to defeat monsters and demons. She finds herself hitching a ride with a punk trio when they break down in a wooded area with no phone service. They decide to head out to look for help while leaving one person behind to stay with the car. What they don’t know is that an all female gang has just pulled off a deadly heist and is also walking through the woods along with a creature of unspeakable evil. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into this follow up with a lot of excitement after remembering how much I enjoyed the first film. Sadly, it just didn’t have the same energy the first film had. I did like a few things brought forward in this one but the overall film was lacking.
The acting in this one is very inconsistent. While I did like some of the performances, most of the film is a bit awkward. The cast is extremely stiff in front of the camera which results in dialogue that feels like it’s being read off of cards out of view. The performances that were not like this are overshadowed by the rest of the film.
The story for this one is pretty impressive but could have been shot better. The idea of a punk band and Daisy Derkins wondering through the woods with a gang of killer women and a dinosaur should be something every horror fan can get behind. However, the gang is not as menacing as I would have liked. Could you imagine a female version of Last House on the Left? Anyway, the dinosaur is underwhelming and the female gang is more for comedic effect than it is for carrying the story further.
Finally, the film is full of visual effects that are not visually appealing. I love when funny horror comedies use bad CGI to add another layer of laughs to a film but here these are out of place. Mix that with the little bit of blood you do get and you are in for a bit of disappointment. Overall, The Bloodthirsty Beast of Barren Pines is nowhere near as fun as the first film. There is parts of the film that I did enjoy but the overall film falls short of where it needs to be. This is one I cannot recommend.
