Your favorite horror fan and video store clerk returns from the dead in this sequel to the 2020 anthology from some of your favorite genre directors.

“Rad Chad” Buckley has died and there are a few people attending his funeral. One of the attendees is Jessie Kapowski, who survived but not before watching him get killed by the Devil’s Lake Impaler. Jessie’s mom is there as well as accountant Rick, Jessie’s girlfriend Kimmie, super horror fan Dwight, and an elderly woman, Moira. Watching his posthumous video, Chad decides to make this a funeral no one will forget.

After films are viewed upon the request of Chad, the attendees soon learn that the funeral has become a series of traps made to make the attendees learn the true nature of horror. After each trap, the attendees are gassed and then made to watch another film before another trap is set. As the body count begins to rise, some shocking discoveries are made and having survived one ordeal, can Jessie be able to survive another “scare package”?

2020’s Scare Package was quite a surprise for horror fans as it brought the spirit of Creepshow mixed in with an actual main story that went into left field but in a wonderful way. It was a bit of a surprise when a sequel was announced but clearly, creators Aaron B. Koontz and Cameron Burns have one-upped the ante with this new installment. Any horror fan will enjoy the many references from genre films this one delves in.

The main story takes its cue from Saw but there are other movies references, including a hilarious homage to a classic scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. The stories that make up the rest of the film are quite fun. The first one, involving sweet innocent final girls learning a lesson about how the final girl changes in the 1990s, with the character names references to classic final girls of horror films. The second story is a sequel to a story in the original film, which could serve as a finale of sorts…or does it? The third story features the cast of the hit Shudder film Host in a new tale of a laserdisc that results in horrifying results. The final sub-story takes a nod from both Pet Semetary and Re-Animator.

While the cast of the sub-stories are great, it is the cast of the titular main story that really do well. Jeremy King and Zoe Graham triumphantly return as the now late “Rad Chad” and the final girl from the previous film as she is set for another experience like no other. WorldFilmGeek Hall of Famer Kelli Maroney joins the fray as Jessie’s mom, who from the second you see her, knows she is going to be one tough cookie to mess with. Graham Skipper provides some laughs as Dwight as one trap results in something insane for him. Rich Sommer plays accountant Rick, who seems to crush on Mrs. Kapowski while another genre legend as of late, Maria Olsen, is fantastic as the wallflowerish Moira, whose fate is one of the most martyr-like and yet, might make you want to get a barf bag.

While the finale is quite another “left turn” and could have ended a little better, it does leave open a Scare Package III and quite frankly, I can’t wait for it to happen.

Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge upped the ante on the original in terms of its first two acts and the sub-stories being a lot more fun this time around. The finale was a bit of a “what the ****” but as it leaves open a Scare Package III and I’m sure it will be as great, if not better than this one.

WFG RATING: B

RLJE Films and Shudder present a Paper Street Pictures production. Directors: Aaron B. Koontz, Alexandra Barreto, Anthony Cousins, Jed Shepherd, and Rachele Wiggins. Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Cameron Burns, Anthony Cousins, Nicole Rosas, Ashleigh Snead, Shawn Talley, Helen Tuck, and Tim Willrich. Writers: Aaron B. Koontz, Cameron Burns, Alexandra Barreto, Ryan Schaddlee, John Karsko, Anthony Cousins, and Jed Shepherd. Cinematography: Andrew Scott Baird, Chris Bland, Ciaron Craig, and Robert Patrick Stern. Editing: Aaron B. Koontz, Alex Euting, John Cole, Ciaron Craig, Abbey Killheffer, and Richard Louprasong.

Cast: Jeremy King, Zoe Graham, Kelli Maroney, Graham Skipper, Byron Brown, Rich Sommer, Maria Olsen, Shakira Ja’Nai Paye, Dustin Rhodes, Allison Sugimoto, Kelli Cormack, Steph Barkley, Chelsea Grant, Michael Paul Levin, Alex Galick, Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward, Dean Kyrwood, Luc Barrett.