SCOURING the shelves in search of something that no longer is being made can be an exhausting process. He went from resale shops to charity stores looking for a VCR. For those of you not familiar with the term it was an abbreviation for “videocassette recorder.” Prior to streaming and DVDs, the first time we were able to watch a television program at a time that was convenient for us was on the videocassette tapes these machines used to record on. The poor man had a collection of movies and shows that had been recorded and his recorder had broken. Going to an electronics store he found out they no longer make such machines, so he had to seek out a used one. As technology gets more advanced it seems as if more things become obsolete quicker. Do not even get me started about the financial cost to keep up with all of it. In addition, think about all the waste for example when one upgrades to a new technology. As an example going from VHS to DVD; what does one do with all the things they have on the tapes?   HAVING said that I have recently noticed things that were considered old are becoming new; an example would be vinyl records. Talk about one heck of a technical journey from vinyl to 8 track tape to cassette tape to DVD to digital; I am sure music aficionados were having a nightmare over all the changes taking place with their equipment so they could continue listening to their music. I remember when I was converting my music library to a new format; there were songs that I used to play that over time I lost interest in as my tastes evolved. My decision was to leave that music and not spend any time or money to establish them into my new listening devices. I can honestly say I felt the same way about this dramatic horror sequel.   AFTER several years, an old video resurfaced that had deathly consequences to those who watched it. When her boyfriend Holt, played by Alex Roe (The 5^th Wave, The Fugitives-TV), was not responding to her messages Julia, played by Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz (Summertime, L’Universale), decided to travel to his college to find out what happened. For the life of me (no pun intended) I cannot understand what the point was for the movie studio to dig up this film franchise and do such a poor job of a sequel. The script was utterly void of originality and used the familiar scare tactics of quick cut away scenes and sudden loud noises to try and scare the viewing audience. I was bored throughout the picture. Seeing Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory-TV, In Time) as Gabriel and Vincent D’Ononfrio (The Magnificent Seven, Pele: Birth of a Legend), as Burke was simply embarrassing; what in the world were the two of them thinking to take such a role? It made me wonder if they even read the script before accepting the job. There might be a chance those who were fans of the original films may find a couple of redeeming qualities with this latest installment; but in my opinion, this is one film that needed to stay buried in the past.

1 ½ stars