A sequel to the 2011 video release Skeleton Key 3, this new film is in no way shape or form related to the Kate Hudson starring film from 2005. This film follows a man dealing with the (blue) zombie apocalypse while saddled with a demon sidekick/bully and a ragtag team of helpers. John Johnson, the man credited as the brain behind this film and the star of the film looks to be specialized in the anything goes/what the fuck type of horror films by the looks of his IMDB page. As this particular film is not listed and this reviewer will not be watching it again to pull the credits, the little bits of credits available on Midnight Releasing’s website are all that will be used to identify the players here.
Not having seen the rest of the series did not feel like an hindrance in terms of understanding the story, but it probably would be helpful in deciding or not to watch this. The film starts off fairly simply and quickly, with each character tossed in there making it feel more and more like a group of local comic-con cosplayers got together on weekends to make the wackiest film they could come up with. Johnson is joined by a demon whose costume is possibly the best of the bunch (except for the makeup on his arm not fully covering his clear band tattoo, let’s see if you can guess it and spot it), an evil scientist, an anime girl complete with blue hair and high pitch voice, a man in a morph suit, a video game character, a barista, a few sex-obsessed lingerie-clad girls, a potential porn star, a black militia group, a man in black face (yes, in black face), \etc, etc, etc.
Some of these characters are played by John Johnson, David Simmons III, Christopher J. Duncan, Teale Davies, Royce Hobson, et al. The film takes the “everything and the kitchen sink” approach to just about every aspects of its story. It has so many characters all seemingly chosen at random and so many sub-plots and what could be described as side-quests to the main plot/quest that it makes the whole anything but boring. At the same time though, it all makes very little sense in how it gets to be too much and confusing as all hell.
The cast does the best that could be expected of them given the mess of storylines, songs, and characters. Director John Johnson having given himself the heroic lead shows his acting chops which are unfortunately rather limited. The surprising star of this film, the actor playing his part fully and with the most interesting take on it is the man in the white demon makeup. He gives a performance full of devilish glee, playing a character that falls so\mewhere between TV’s Lucifer, Angel’s Lorne, and a few demon variations from Supernatural. His part is the most fun to watch.
The film bears a bit of special effects, mostly on the demon buddy who is a bit generic in style but well-executed besides the aforementioned white arm makeup. His horns look good; the idea to paint him white adds interest and some originality to him. The zombies here are blue which may be a nod to a much more famous zombie film of yore, the way they are “painted” shows the strokes and seem a bit uneven. Other effects are all over the place unfortunately.
Skeleton Key 3 Part 2 is a film that boast “Boobs, Blood, and Musical Numbers” in its tagline and it provides all and just about everything else one would think of. The film has some good, entertaining bits, but also a lot of cringe-worthy stuff. For all it tries to achieve and even its numerous misses, Skeleton Key 3 Part 2 is never boring and should keep most viewer glued to it in incredulity. It’s one of those “what the fuck was that?” films that you just can’t look away.