Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge

Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge
Original title:Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge
Director:Aaron B. Koontz, Alexandra Barreto, Anthony Cousins, Jed Shepherd, Rachele Wiggins
Release:Shudder
Running time:98 minutes
Release date:22 december 2022
Rating:
When horror guru Rad Chad Buckley's funeral turns into an elaborate series of death traps centered around Chad's favorite films, the guests must band together and use the rules of horror to survive the bloody game.

Mulder's Review

The Shudder streaming platform is definitely one of the best places for moviegoers to discover the best of independent horror cinema, whether it's first films by new and talented directors or exploitation films that show that with a small budget it's still possible to create excellent, effective and truly frightening films. In the same way Shudder was able to revive the Creepshow universe with a successful new series celebrating short stories.

The movie Scare Package released in June 2020 was an excellent horror anthology movie with great scripts and direction by Aaron B. Koontz (Rad Chad's Horror Emporium, Horror Hypothesis), Courtney Andujar, Hillary Andujar (Girls Night Out Of Body), Anthony Cousins (The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV: The Final Kill), Emily Hagins (Cold Open), Chris McInroy (One Time In The Woods), Noah Segan (M.I.S.T.E.R.) and Baron Vaughn (So Much To Do). The much awaited second part had to be just as successful but above all to erase the few imperfections of the first film. We find here the director and co-creator of this cinematographic saga Aaron B. Koontz but also for the different sketches composing this film Alexandra Barreto, Anthony Cousins, Jed Shepherd and Rachele Wiggins.

Following the events of the first film, the story begins with the funeral of horror guru Rad Chad Buckley. The funeral turns into an elaborate series of death traps based on Chad's favorite movies. The guests must unite, put aside their differences and use the rules of horror to survive the bloody game. If Scare package had shown an overflowing imagination, this first part is a sincere homage to many films and cinematographic saga marking the 80's and 90's by way of Saw, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th.

The survivors will see while they are locked up and must fight for their survival short films selected by Rad Chad. From Alexandra Barreto's pro-feminist slasher (Welcome to the 90s), to Antony Cousins' sequel (The Night He Came Back Again Part VI - The Night She Came Back), to Jed Shepherd's short film (Special Edition), to Rachele Wiggins' (We're So Dead). These very short and often funny stories are very effective and demonstrate the undeniable talent and commitment of their directors and crew. His short films have as a guiding thread the revenge of Rad Chad who turns out to have a mind as twisted and unpredictable as John Kramer.

Clearly more successful than the previous film, this film shows a will to constantly surprise and not to hesitate to use imagination as much as to resort to outrageous gore scenes and especially benefiting from a great care in their direction. In spite of a reduced budget, Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge is a film destined to become a cult and which would have deserved a better promotion in many international festivals such as the PIFFF which was recently held in Paris. After having been shown at the Frighfest festival (London), this film is an excellent surprise that we can only advise you to discover on Shudder from December 22nd.

Scare Package II: Rad Chad's Revenge
Directed by Aaron B. Koontz, Alexandra Barreto, Anthony Cousins, Jed Shepherd, Rachele Wiggins
Produced by Cameron Burns, Anthony Cousins, Alex Euting, Aaron B. Koontz, Nicole Rosas, Ashleigh Snead, Shawn Talley, Helen Tuck, Tim Willrich
Written by Aaron B. Koontz, Cameron Burns, Alexandra Barreto, John Karsko, Jed Shepherd
Starring Zoe Graham, Jeremy King, Rich Sommer, Shakira Ja'nai Paye, Kelli Maroney, Graham Skipper, Maria Olsen, Steph Barkley, Barbara Bingham, Chelsea Grant, Byron Brown, Jemma Moore, Caroline Ward
Music by Alex Cuervo
Cinematography : Andrew Scott Baird, Chris Bland, Ciaron Craig, Robert Patrick Stern
Edited by John Cole, Ciaron Craig, Alex Euting, Abbey Killheffer, Aaron B. Koontz, Richard Louprasong 
Production companies : Paper Street Pictures
Distributed by Shudder
Release date : December 22, 2022 (Shudder)
Running time : 98 minutes

Seen on December 10, 2022 (press link)

Mulder's Mark: