I first want to say that I'm easily pleased by movies. While the first isn't one that I would openly recommend to all my friends, I still enjoyed it enough. It was an odd viewing experience, for sure... yet it was memorable in my mind. When I heard a sequel was on the way, I made sure to keep my eyes open for it. Luckily, I saw it on Amazon Prime the other day and quickly watched it.

What the two movies do extremely well is putting emphasis on characters which is HUGE for me. Hank, his wife Dorothy, Francis, and Meg... I can say after seeing the two movies that I love all these characters. They feel like real people, especially Hank and Dorothy who look and act like a real couple in a rural setting.

Though I admire the character and the cute actress who played her, Meg was terribly miscast in the first movie as a deputy but this movie acknowledges that by having her give up her badge to be a bartender instead - even having the character remark that it wasn't a good fit as though it was a clever wink to the audience.

I was most interested to see Francis back. The original's ending was puzzling and left for a lot of possibilities for the sequel, which is why I had my eyes on it. Had Francis joined forces with Dogman and become a more sinister (yet dynamic) character than we were led to believe she was in the original? That was a huge question mark for me.

Storytelling wasn't the greatest. Still, for what the movie lacks in that and special effects (yes, the dog monsters did look cheesy but I can shut my brain off and enjoy a movie, even without booze),these two movies succeeded in creating characters you care about which is rare in under-the-radar efforts such as these. The sequel is a so-so follow-up, if only because it's nice seeing so many original actors back to play the characters I grew to care about in the first.

I can say that I like both movie more than a lot of other people probably would.

5 / 10 for both movies.

I had no expectations upon discovering this um, er, uh film? The first 15 minutes my laughter was non-stop. To pull it off all they needed was for the director to engage his friend's 6 year old daughter to design and create the costumes. They are darling! I did find the 17 scenes of the dog men smelling one another's butts gratuitous. I want a DOG MAN!!!!

A tow truck driver happens upon a dead, bloody body in the middle of the road. Nearby, there are four abandoned vehicles; an ambulance, two sheriff's department patrol cars, and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. There is a shotgun laying on the road, a short distance away from the bloody body.

What does the tow truck driver do? He has come upon what is ostensibly a bloody crime scene. No one else is around, and the tow truck driver himself may very well be in danger. Does he pick the shotgun up? Nope. He wanders around the various abandoned vehicles, shouting, "Hello? Hello?"

Let's go back to that dead body, shall we? The dead body belongs to an EMS worker, who had been sitting in one of the abandoned patrol car, with the aforementioned shotgun. When one of the creatures in the movie approaches the squad car, what does the EMS worker do?

He throws open the door to the squad car, drops the shotgun to the ground, and tries to run. Of course, he is killed by one of the creatures.

Now, as to these creatures. They look like refugees from a "Scooby Doo on Ice" revue. For a movie with a $1,000,000.00 budget, these are THE worst creature effects that I've ever seen. The "monsters" look like overly large, plush stuffed animals.

Another vehicle comes along and finds the four previously abandoned vehicles, and the now abandoned tow truck. That shotgun is still laying on the side of the road. Does anyone pick it up? Nope. The driver wanders about calling out, "Glenn! Glenn! Glenn!"

Glenn is the tow truck driver, who shows up and scares the crap out of the guy who had been calling for him. Glenn tells the driver that he saw something that looked like a bear... but it never occurred to him to pick up the shotgun laying in the road.

There are definitely aspects of this movie that are tongue-in-cheek, but there's a fine line between tongue-in-cheek and flat-out stupid. This movie tramples all over that fine line.

Do yourself a favor. Unless you enjoy a pack of idiots running around like a clueless pack of idiots, pass on this one. It's beyond stupid, so bad that you'll struggle to figure out what that million dollar budget was spent on.