DVD review: Meat Market 2 (Video 2001)

The sequel to Meat Market picks up more than a year after the events of the first movie with the few survivors, Argenta (Bettina May) , Nemesis (Alison Therriault), and others, struggling for survival against the undead in the ruins of what was once society. In their search for a safe haven they come across what appears to be the last refuge of humanity - a fortified compound run by former motivational speaker Bill Wilhelm, and his cult of heavily armed fanatics. But when Argenta is subjected to indoctrination techniques and her comrades imprisoned, she begins to suspect that deep within the compound, more is going on than a simple attempt to 'rebuild'...that Bill and his followers have more than one use for the living and the undead alike... Meat Market 2 is written and directed by Brian Clement. There are noticeable improvements in camera technique and editing, the acting is pretty bad this time also. The soundtrack is pretty good. There is penty of blood and gore, I notice improvements in regard to the practical gore make-up fx and the make-up fx design of the zombies, which are clearly influenced by the Italian living dead films. There is both female and male nudity and out of the blue we suddenly get a a couple of explicit close up shots of a man masturbating in a shower.
This review is based upon the region all DVD release from Crypt Keeper which is uncut.
Rating: 5 out of 7. Meat Market 2 feels darker and little less campy than the first film even though it retains some of the eccentricity from the first film. We get more zombies, more gore and more action and I like it! Now I´m very interested in seeing Meat Market 3 in which Brian Clement throws away the campiness and goes all out for straight horror..

/JL