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Stars: Milo Cawthorne, Daniel Cresswell
Director: Jason Lei Howden
Distributor: Raven Banner Entertainment

“I’ll record a song in their honour.”

10 years after Deathgasm, the creatively titled sequel, Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon, is here!

Returning to the life of Brodie (Milo Cawthorne) – his musical ambition is still present, though he lives the life of an absolute loser. Living the life of woes is successfully aided by his best friend, Giles (Daniel Cresswell), who is also a freakish loser, though seemingly more intelligent… However, hope is on the horizon as NoizeQuest is coming to town, and Brodie wants his band to win it…except not all of his band members are amongst the living. In addition, victory in this competition is seen as a way of regaining the love of Medina (Kimberley Crossman).

In opposition, Brodie has to face the challenges of his overzealous and aggressively Christian (yet hilarious) welfare case manager (Jonno, Harrison Keefe), as well as Jesse (Kieran Charnock) – the leader of his rival band. The challenges they respectively pose, as well as the positives and negatives of resurrection, contribute to a collection of almost impossible and unbearable obstacles for Brodie and his pals to survive this film.

Throughout Deathgasm 2, the practical effects presented are grotesquely glamorous, though gradually repetitive. What appears to be an over-reliance on the shock spectacle of gross practical effects, the initial appeal does dim away. In one instance where a series of male parts are sliced – whilst initially humorous – the joke wears thin.

For extensive periods, gross practical effects have existencies as plot points, thus replacing the actual story of the film. Until a hint of logic appears towards its third act, there are many instances where it is questioned, “What’s going on?”

Deathgasm 2 has the self-inflicted difficult challenge of balancing a trident of horror, comedy, and music. For this gruesome sequel, the musical element does seem to have taken a gross backseat, which is ironic given that being in a band and Battle of the Bands both play integral parts to the story. There’s just not much music until the end, and that’s pretty awful.

Ultimately, Deathgasm 2 is funny, but only for a short-lived duration. The first act or so provides a great amount of shock and humour; the shock value is exceptional at times early on. Whilst Deathgasm 2 fails to maintain itself as it progresses, there is a cameo belonging to Trivium’s Matt Heafy, that feels much welcomed as the first draws closer to its conclusion.