| Principally, "A Haunted House" 2013 qualified as a crude but clever carbon copy parody of the found footage chiller "Paranormal Activity." This time, however, director Michael Tiddes and leading man Marlon Wayans told the tale entirely from an African-American perspective. In "A Haunted House," Malcolm Johnson Wayans and his girlfriend Kisha Essence Atkins moved into a new house. A lustful evil spirit that cannot satisfy its sexual appetite possessed Kisha and turned her into a nymphomaniac in voodoo make-up. Predictably, everything spiraled hopelessly out <more> of control for this cute African-American couple, and the film delivered an avalanche of laughter along the way. Interestingly, Kisha attributed all the incidents to a supernatural entity. Malcolm dismissed her paranormal paranoia. Instead, he argued that a burglar had been prowling the premises. Predictably, our hero installed surveillance cameras galore to catch the intruder in the act. Meantime, Kisha summoned a gay psychic Nick Swardson of "Grandma's Boy" named Chip to assist them. Mostly, Chip spent the entire 86-minutes of this nimble, fast-paced, farce desperately trying to seduce Malcolm. Incredibly, Open Road Films parlayed this $2.5 million movie into a box office bonanza that coined approximately $40 million at the box office. Consequently, nobody should have been surprised that Tiddes and Wayans would team up for a sequel. "A Haunted House 2" picks up the narrative thread where its predecessor unraveled. Malcolm's possessed girlfriend Kisha reappears at the outset. She rides with Malcolm in the back seat of an automobile with his wacky gun-toting cousin Ray Ray Affion Crockett of "Never Back Down" at the wheels. Ray Ray likes to ghost drive. When you ghost drive, you're driving with your hands off the steering wheel. They are transporting Kisha to the hospital. Ray Ray reminds Malcolm that they have to dump her body out of the vehicle in front of the ER and careen off before anybody can recognize them. Instead, Ray Ray crashes the car, and they abandon Kisha because they thought she was kaput. As it turns out, their optimism proved to be premature. A year elapses. After he has managed to recover from his harrowing ordeal with Kisha, Malcolm moves into another house. This time a gorgeous Caucasian cutie, Megan Jaime Pressly of "Joe Dirt" , moves in with him. Indeed, the filmmakers get a lot of laughs out of interracial dating as a theme. Megan's obnoxious, growing pains, daughter Becky Ashley Rickards and younger son Wyatt newcomer Steele Stebbins , who claims he has an invisible friend called Tony, accompanies her. Becky discovers a mysterious box in the basement. Malcolm and she tangle over the box. Imagine Megan's reaction when she hears Becky scolding Malcolm for sticking his hand in her box? Tiddes and scenarists Marlon Wayans and Rick Alvarez pull out all stops during this rollicking scene to embarrass Malcolm in front of Megan. Synonymous words and their slang meanings generate most of the hilarity throughout the scene. Indeed, pandemonium breaks loose in this hilarious, often ribald sequel that shows little restraint in its borderline obscene shenanigans. Anybody who saw "A Haunted House" will laugh even harder at all the lowest-common-denominator, gross-out, antics that fueled the original as well as the sequel. If you abhor dimwitted horror movies about dolts who don't evacuate the house before the ghouls get them, "A Haunted House 2" will insult your intelligence and offend your moral sensibilities. On the other hand, if fart jokes, bowel humor, juvenile pranks, profanity, sight-gags, and simulated sex keep you in stitches, this comedy will make you laugh so hard that your bladder may burst before you can make it to the restroom.The R-rated, spooky, slapstick that sophomore scenarist Rick Alvarez and Wayans have concocted for "A Haunted House 2" raises the bar considerably above its no-holds barred predecessor. In other words, the second "Haunted House" is far ruder and far cruder than its audacious predecessor, except the evil spirit doesn't sodomize Malcolm. When co-scripter Wayans isn't skewering movies such as "The Conjuring," "The Possession," "Sinister" and "Insidious," he ridicules himself without mercy. If you've seen "A Haunted House," you remember the simulated sex that Malcolm had in his briefs with three plush toys on his bed. In "A Haunted House 2," Malcolm has intercourse from every position with a demonic doll named Abigail that resembles Chucky's sister from the "Chucky" horror franchise. Yes, this is an inanimate doll. No sooner has Malcolm performed every possible sexual position with blue-eyed Abigail than doll stalks him on Facebook, blows up his cell phone, and keys his car. Conspicuously absent from this zany but irreverent sequel is Chip the psychic. The filmmakers have replaced Chip with a Hispanic next door neighbor who Malcolm initially mistakes as a yard care specialist.When he tries to hire Miguel Gabriel Iglesias of "Magic Mike" to cut his yard, Miguel accuses Malcolm of racism. No sooner has Miguel made Malcolm feel like he has committed a politically correct indiscretion than he tells him not to worry. Unquestionably, Iglesias gets more laughs than the quirky Swardson. Some of the best scenes in "A Haunted House 2" appear in the trailer. The scene involving Malcolm's dog Shiloh is sidesplitting, but narrow-minded animal rights activists might not appreciate it. During one moment, after Shiloh has been crushed by a huge vault, Malcolm pulls his pancaked pup out of from under the safe and uses a bicycle air pump to inflate him. Oops! Shiloh flies out of Malcolm's well-meaning hands and zooms around in circles, making raspberry sounds as the air escapes its anus. An even funnier scene involves a blood sacrifice that our hero must make with a pugnacious rooster. Of course, the clearly ersatz rooster is not easily subdued despite Malcolm and Miguel's rigorous efforts. Cedric the Entertainer reappears as the blasphemous Father Doug. Although it is not particularly ground-breaking, "A Haunted House 2" with its consistently uproarious, but low-brow humor should keep you in stitches. <less> |
