Movie Review: 'Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge' is a Love Letter to the Horror Genre

Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge

Directed by Aaron B. Koontz

Written by Anthology

Starring Zoe Graham, Jeremy King, Rich Sommer, Shakira Ja'nai Paye

Release Date December 22nd, 2022

Published December 26th, 2022

Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge is an anthology horror comedy that takes the framing device of a Saw movie and uses it as a hanger for a series of short films deconstructing horror tropes. Overseen by director Aaron B. Koontz, it's a chaotic package of hits and misses, good ideas and bad ideas, and, most importantly, wildly inventive strangeness. There is a particular charm to the low budget aesthetic, one that painstakingly recalls 80s horror movies, and Saw, of course, and that charm worked on me, for the most part.

A group of friends has gathered for the funeral of the late, great Rad Chad (Jeremy Buckley), horror movie lover and video store owner. Chad died from having a demon nearly explode his face with a punch. His funeral is attended by the 'Final Girl' of the original Scare Package, Jessie (Zoe Graham), her new girlfriend, Kimmie (Shakira Ja'Nai Paye), and Jessie's mother (Kelly Maroney), and several other faces familiar from the previous Scare Package film.

In the midst of the mourning of Rad Chad, the guests find themselves incapacitated by gas and kidnapped. Trapped in some eerie basement, the group finds out via exposition video tape that they are to be part of Rad Chad's game of death. Much like a Saw movie trap, they've all been poisoned and must look for clues, escape room style to find the cure. But first, the must watch a short horror movie which may or may not contain clues for their survival.

The first short finds a slasher horror movie villain standing on a sidewalk at night. He's staring at two sorority houses. One house is for party girls who are supposed to die and the other is for Final Girls, who are supposed to beat the slasher killer and survive. Our killer chooses the Final Girl house and inside, the Final Girls are surprised and annoyed to see the killer, they assume he's found the wrong house. What happens next I will leave you to discover. The short is mildly amusing with a few solid gags built on an okay premise.

With our framing device protagonists, what's left of them anyway, gassed and moved to a new location, in a new trap, with a new chance at surviving, we get on to our next short film. In all there are four short films surrounding our framing device and each is as clever as the last, filled with broad ideas based on familiar horror tropes that hardcore fans of the genre will very much enjoy. Homages to The Ring, Hellraiser, a very specific Nightmare on Elm Street sequel reference, found footage movies, and the Saw franchise, hit more than they miss in Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge with a fun combination of horror and humor.

There are laughs throughout alongside some stand out special effects including makeup effects for a skinless man that are delightfully gory. The mostly practical effects and horror makeup provide a charming throwback quality that is perhaps the best thing about Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge. There is a clear appreciation for the horror genre that is at the heart of this anthology and that appreciation even acts as the driving motivation of our antagonist in Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge. Fail to know and respect horror movies and you may not survive to the end.

Scare Package 2: Rad Chad's Revenge is available now for subscribers to the horror themed streaming service, Shudder.

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