Simply Perfect

Sick Product of a Sick System

Don't Believe the Hype

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

If you liked The Dentist, you won't like The Dentist II. The first one, for me, was interesting, entertaining, and had some good old fashioned gratuitous violence. The sequel falls well short of the first movie, with far few cool death scenes, mostly terrible acting, and a stupid plot. The gist of the plot is that the same crazy dentist tried to leave his other life behind and start over again in a small town. But, oh, what do you know, he ends up becoming the local dentist and goes crazy again. Then there's some stupid subplot with a private investigator trying to track him down. Normally I'd be fine with that but there is a terrible lack of the same "dental torture" we were treated to in The Dentist. It had plenty of cool ways for him to torture people and had a much more basic and enjoyable plot. The Dentist II's torture scenes are few and far between. It's the only reason I watched the second one because the first one was entertaining enough. This one just misses its mark. The only reason I didn't give this a 1 is because Corbin Bernsen is kind of funny in his role. That's about the only thing that's worth it. Most of the death scenes are boring, slow-developing, with little to no payoff. Woo. Don't bother with this one. Watch something more entertaining like Ax'em.

Now seriously, I'm not the type of guy who complains every time a villain doesn't make it through a movie with his life. There have been plenty of great movies with excellent antagonists who I am am glad survived their roles. Dr. Alan Feinstone is definitely not among them. As anal and irritating a character as he was in the first movie, (though I don't blame Corben Bernsen for that. He did the best he could with the script he was given.) the mad dentist goes about pretty much the exact same path of seemingly pointless destruction as he did in the first, and for pretty much the same reason. This banal rehash of the original film brings pretty much nothing new to the equation, and the lack of bitter, demanding, dentist cadaver at the end of the blood bath just makes the entire piece a complete wash. Afterall, the least they could do for making us sit through the same mind numbing gratuitous dental shock fest twice is give us a mutilated maimed and dismembered title character at the end and deliver the sanctity of knowing for certain that there will never be another. Overall, it was awful, and even if the last fifteen minutes were a brutal ongoing death scene for Dr. Feinstone (which would have made the piece at least palatable, I'll admit.) this movie still couldn't hope to get more than a three and a half.

Already I'm quite biased to this film as it is one of my all time faveourite horrors (and Brian Yuzna rules). However, this film still provides 90 odd minutes of mouth-bleeding madness for those who just want a bit of horror entertainment. If you enjoyed the first Dentist, this is well worth checking out as it eclipses the original movie by far, upping the ante in terms of gore, madness and bonkers direction courtesy of splatter master Brian Yuzna. However, if the you thought the first Dentist was awful or (if you're squeamish) a bit too gory, stay well away! This is definitely not for the faint hearted. All in all, a superb sequel to an ace original and well worth checking out if you're a horror fan (even if you're not I recommend it though).My fan-boy rating- 10/10

In this sequel to the surprisingly enjoyable 1996 original, Dr. Feinstone (Corbin Bernsen) escapes from a mental institution and heads to small town named Paradise. Continuing the IRS sub-plot from the first movie, Feinstone assumes the identity of Dr. Lawrence Caine - an identity concocted by Feinstone so that he could secretly stash away his assets without fear of the tax man getting to them. Caine (as he is now) pretends to have retired from big-city dentistry but is soon asked to become the town's dentist after the previous one is killed in an apparent accident. Caine reluctantly accepts the job, but soon falls to his psychotic urges and another brutal bloodbath begins.This sequel unfortunately removes much of the fun elements that were so apparent in the original. Instead, 'The Dentist 2' seems to be more of an attempt at portraying Feinstone/Caine's activities from a more psychological standpoint. While the lack of background somewhat harmed the original, the over-emphasis on Caine's madness is what makes this movie rather tedious. As in the original, there are some shocking, gory and repulsive scenes of dental torture that should please gore fans but, alas, the movie's pacing is so slow that it becomes a chore to watch. The movie also suffers from multiple moments of implausibility, particularly at the very end where the film becomes so abstract and bizarre that one is left to question what was originally established; this is not a good thing. For all the storytelling and plot-flaws, Yuzna's direction is on-par once again and in the few moments where 'The Dentist 2' picks-up, the movie does become exciting and intriguing. Unfortunately these moments are spaced far too far apart from each other.Corbin Bernsen is excellent once again as the sadistic, and seriously disturbed, dentist. Without Bernsen's exceptional ability at bringing to life the character of Dr. Feinstone/Caine I'd have to believe that this movie would come off as far worse than it is. Once again Bernsen credibly and convincingly portrays the almost demonic dentist and relies very little on the supporting cast. Linda Hoffman also returns as the unfaithful wife, but the story which brings her into the film seems completely tacked on just to give her a role. Jillian McWhirter was surprisingly good as the sexy love interest for Bernsen and is the only character the audience can really feel any sympathy for. The rest of the cast were very poor in their roles, though one may question if that had much to do with the script. It was virtually impossible to empathise with any of the characters unlike the original. At some points it was almost painful to watch and one wished that Feinstone dispatched his victims much quicker than he actually did.Despite a far more sadistic Feinstone character and some good effects and death scenes, 'The Dentist 2' was relatively dull and retained little of the charm that the original possessed. For fans of 'The Dentist' (1996) this film is worth watching once, though I think that many will be disappointed. Bernsen's performance is the main highlight and although it is easy to find the over-emphasis on Feinstone's mental problems an annoyance, Bernsen's performance makes it somewhat tolerable. 'The Dentist 2' is a slow paced yet occasionally interesting and generally well directed movie. My rating for 'The Dentist 2: Brace Yourself' – 4/10.