Damon’s Revenge (2022) Review
Originally shot as Burial Ground Massacre: Reborn and retitled Burial Ground Massacre: Damon’s Revenge before being released as Damon’s Revenge, is, obviously, the sequel to last year’s Burial Ground Massacre. The original film was an enjoyable slasher until it went off the rails in the final act. Can the follow-up avoid that mistake, or is it just more of the same?
It certainly feels like déjà vu all over again, as Damon’s Revenge opens with a couple making out in the same car two people died in at the start of the first film. And of course, the masked figure of Damon (Jim Vitale, Vault) shows up again as well. We then get a replay of the conversation between Adrianna (Chelsea Vale, Black Wake, Blood Circus) and an unmasked Damon (Michael Madsen, Conjuring: The Book of the Dead, Every Last One of Them) and her burying the mask from the end of Burial Ground Massacre.
The new story opens with Adrianna playing Sheriff Walsh (Tom Sizemore, Megalodon Rising, Hell Girl) and Deputy Price (Sully Erna, Army of the Damned and singer for the band Godsmack) a message from Chief Tocho (Christopher C. Romero, Killer Ink) threatening to kill her if she doesn’t bring him the mask.
Having recapped their original film, director David Gere and co-writer Eric Weinstock jump the plot of Damon’s Revenge forward three months. Still not fully over the events of the first film, Adrianna joins Tina (Hannah Dannelly, The Allendale Curse, My Life for Yours) for a girl’s weekend. If you’re at all familiar with slasher films, you know this will end badly for all involved.
Unfortunately, where Burial Ground Massacre got down to business fairly quickly, Damon’s Revenge takes way too long to set up its overly complicated plot. I don’t want to give too much away but the cursed relics from the first film, police brutality, a jailbreak, and multiple competing killers all come into play before the film is over. The result is something of a train wreck.
The killings are a mixed bag, ranging from a nasty throat cutting to a drowning and an off-screen bludgeoning. But for a slasher film, there’s not nearly enough of them, especially after such a long wait. Damon’s Revenge does match the original when it comes to bare skin, though. In the last half hour, all of the female characters and a couple of the guys provide some eye candy.
Of the various name actors in Damon’s Revenge, Tom Sizemore has the most screen time while Michael Madsen only appears in the footage from the first film, although he does have some new dialogue dubbed in over the masked version of Damon. Robert LaSardo (Attack of the Unknown, Sky Sharks) has a couple of scenes as a liquor store owner and Erna’s deputy pops up a couple of times before exiting the film.
Burial Ground Massacre was a solid slasher for its first hour and then turned into a crime film and fell apart in the last act. Damon’s Revenge is the mirror image of that. A rather dull hour mostly revolving around the cops, followed by thirty minutes of disrobing and death. And that isn’t enough for me to recommend it. The ending hints at a third film, if they do decide to make this a trilogy, let’s hope they take its first hour from the first film and its final act from this one. That would be the slasher we all want.
VMI Worldwide has released Damon’s Revenge to VOD and Digital platforms. You can check their website and Facebook page for more details.