Review: DEATH NURSE II

DEATH NURSE II
Slasher//Video (DVD Release)
60 Minutes, Unrated
1988

Yes! Yes! YES! Nick Millard and company made a second DEATH NURSE movie! Let's just dive right in.

THE PLOT:

Remember HALLOWEEN II? Remember how it starts at the end of the original HALLOWEEN? That's how DEATH NURSE II is. It picks up right where the last one left off. The story this time is mostly the same. There is a new social worker, John Sawyer, played by. . . Michael. Seriously, no one knows his name. It's not on IMDB either. You can't even make a determination on what his name may be because like the first movie DEATH NURSE II shares the same credits as CRIMINALLY INSANE.

Sawyer is the new social worker that replaces Faith (The social worker played By Director Nick Millard's elderly mother in the first DEATH NURSE). He notices Faith was placing people at Shady Palms. He starts rounding up homeless drunks and crazy polish street poets for Edith to kill.

In the end, Faith's twin sister Charity (played by Millard's mother) comes looking for her twin sister. There's an awkward exchange between Charity and Nurse Mortley. Charity is suspicious so she contacts  Sgt. Gallagher (Played by a mustached Nick Millard). Charity sneaks into Shady Palms, sees her dead sister in the garage/basement, gets knifed repeatedly.

Gallagher calls Edith and asks to come speak to her. She uses a mop bucket of powder labeled, "Lime" to rid the garage of that pesky rotting flesh smell. . . which apparently drives the rats out into the yard. Gallagher gets a warrant based on the rats bringing human flesh out of the garage. Edith sits on the couch. . . we see her sitting. . . and more. . . The End.

IMPROVEMENT:

Read my review for DEATH NURSE. The movie is horrible. Would I say part II is better? Absolutely. I would say that DEATH NURSE II feels like less of a chore to get through. Although in terms of being a completely bizarre and jarring cinema experience, nothing can top the original.

The main difference between DEATH NURSE II and the previous entry in the series is there seems to be a bigger focus on characterization. Two of the crazy derelicts Sawyer brings to Shady Palms are absolutely hilarious. The first, Brownie (Played by Milliard's wife Irmi) may very well be my favorite dirty alcoholic character in cinema history. We first meet Brownie dumpster diving behind a store. This is padding, but very welcome padding. She finds some grapes. Pokes around a bit. Takes a swig from a massive jug of wine. Then Sawyer pops by and tries to take her to safety. As he approaches  Brownie pulls out a kitchen knife and exclaims, "I'm gonna kill you, KILL YOU, dirty mother fucker!"

"White Wine it is."

The second is Mischa Ridinski (sic). Sawyer picks him up outside of city hall where we briefly see him giving an anti-socialist speech. Mischa is amazing. He has a horseshoe haircut (like Hulk Hogan) and a cool mustache (like Hulk Hogan). The simple fact that he is a polish street preacher makes him awesome. I think the term awkward is overused, but there is no other way to describe the way this man acts. It's brilliant.

"Capitalism is good."

THE BAD:

If you read my review of the first DEATH NURSE, you know that movie contains tons of padding. DEATH NURSE II is no different. While it isn't as bad (or maybe I'm just used to it), we are still treated to more of Edith's dreams/nightmares which are the same scene from CRIMINALLY INSANE. Between the two DEATH NURSE movies, we see the same scene from CRIMINALLY INSANE a total of SIX. TIMES. Granted it is edited slightly different each time, it's still absurd that Millard thought this was a good idea. Even for budgetary reasons it ridiculous. The DEATH NURSE movies were shot on tape. I'd rather have more scenes of ice cream eating and hole digging than see the same god damn stock footage six times. There is roughly ten minutes of stock footage from CRIMINALLY INSANE in this movie. The second dream clocks in at around four and a half minutes. Plenty of time to smoke a cig, get a beer, take a dump, file your taxes etc.

There are other scenes of padding here too. The most notable is Edith honing her cleaver. Oh yeah, she does it incorrectly as well. She's also really slow. I'm guessing purposely. 

Another thing I would consider to be bad are that the events of the first movie lead to the finale of the second. Nothing else has to happen in the plot but the killing of Faith and Sgt. Gallagher coming to check on her to conclude the story. Brownie, Mischa, and all of the other residents of Shady Palms are just fodder. So  if you really sit back and think about these two movies, they're essentially two hours of padding.

The DVD:

This movie was also released by Slasher//Video. Like the first, Death Nurse II is given the royal treatment. 2 Audio commentaries, Interviews and a newly filmed skit featuring Brownie.

For a movie that was nearly completely forgotten in the gutters of cinema history, this DVD is as great as anyone could hope for. I would highly recommend a purchase of both Death Nurse as well as Death Nurse II. It simply does not get as cheap, infuriating, or hilarious as the DEATH NURSE series.