A maniac nicknamed “Ricker” drives through the desert in his car and kills random hitchhikers. He sprinkles the remains in an old crumbling barn filled with a horrible stench. One day, this madman is reeled in by police officer Reed, eventually – the killer ends up in the electric chair.

Years later, as Sheriff Reed prepares to hand over his post to his successor Harris on his last day on the job, three hapless robbers set off an explosion at a gas station. Now a veteran policeman and his young colleague must deal with the criminals and get on the trail of an even more sinister mystery-the secret of a resurrected madman…

4k movies reviews
Despite the fact that the first series has accumulated a considerable amount of negative (and mostly well-deserved) reviews, it seems to me that in recent times it has become the most notable of those pictures that have taken a ride on the terribly hackneyed but very enduring theme of parallel/perpendicular dimensions in movies.

The fact that ‘Riker 2’ is not much worse than the first one is primarily the merit of the director, for it is always noticeable when a sequel (this film, however, can be justifiably called a prequel or a remake) is directed by the same person who made the original. Because of this, the second part of the desert adventures of the stinker in a gas mask is quite acceptable and pleasantly echoes the first, rather than stupidly competing with it in spectacular or bloody, as it is now popular to do.

In principle, the only major innovation brought into the film is a brief backstory, telling the viewer where such a bad fellow as Mr. Ricker came from. The story is, to put it bluntly, quite transparent (a clear hint that there will be a ‘Ricker 3′), but for lack of other intelligible explanations, we have to be content with the suggested version of events. Otherwise, we have a nearly complete clone of the first part, except a little less bloody and a little more tedious (if I were an editor, I would gladly cut about 20 minutes out of the movie). In the first hour of the movie, there’s almost nothing on screen, everything is put aside for later. Then’ comes at the end of the film, when a couple or three more or less vivid scenes and the perennial ‘unexpected’ denouement: not bad, beautiful, but to the bar set by the finale of the first part, clearly not jumping up even with a pole.

The only memorable moment – with the car and the invisible barrier. Behind the external simplicity these shots really turned out quite spectacular and unexpected. Well, and the corrupted corpses running here and there in the best traditions of the first part were basically to the point. And with that I bid you adieu.

All in all, Dave Payne has made an average pretty sequel/prequel/remake to an average pretty movie. I think that if you know the first part well in advance, ‘Riker 2’ won’t disappoint or please you, but it will brighten up your evening.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (78.3 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)

Subtitles
English, German.