When a comely coed is killed on campus and beloved community college dean Mr. Grubeck (René Assa, Deep Cover) is arrested for her murder, the fetching student and aerobics enthusiast Robin (Debbie James, 1997’s The Underground) can’t believe it. She refuses to!
Her locks may be golden, but her gut is not; Grubeck did do it, having been possessed by satanic forces after having dialed the titular party line for his “Horrorscope.” Robin tries to figure out just what’s up, enlisting the help of bad-boy biker Spike (Pat O’Bryan, No Holds Barred), the lone human holdover from the 1988 original, who consults an occult bookstore owner (Cobra woman Brigitte Nielsen, in a slinky cameo).
Meanwhile, more people die! Or come perilously close. Thanks to Grubeck’s spectral touch of death, the lone, alcoholic witness (George “Buck” Flower, Delinquent Schoolgirls) to the aforementioned homicide gets splattered by a semi, making him explode like a water balloon hitting hot pavement. Spike himself narrowly escapes an attack by an entire kitchen, including a refrigerator unit that spits out frozen pizzas like so many saw blades, while a lawyer (Monique Gabrielle, Amazon Women on the Moon) gets trapped in a runaway car in a strong action set piece that would not be out of place in a Final Destination sequel.
Whereas the first film was directed by Robert Englund (aka Elm Street’s resident boogeyman, Freddy Krueger), 976-EVIL II was entrusted to Jim Wynorski (The Lost Empire). His handling of the death scenes — particularly that vehicular one — proves the man has severely underutilized talents that go far beyond the one he’s primarily called upon to use these days: ordering actresses to “pop your top.” Demonstrating true inventiveness is a black-and-white sequence in which Robin’s gal pal is trapped within two movies they were flipping between on TV: Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life … and then George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead: “Look, Daddy! Every time you hear a bell, a zombie takes a soul to hell!” Touches like that let Wynorski’s 976-EVIL II do the walking all over Englund’s vision of telephone-based terror. —Rod Lott