In this sequel to the original 2017 film What the Waters Left Behind, this time directed solo by Nicolás Onetti sans his brother Luciano (who still hangs around to handle the music), we return to the ghost town of Epecuén, a town that had been submerged for 25 years under water. Once the waters receded, leaving behind a desert wasteland, few people returned. The one family that has taken up residency there has some rather peculiar tastes which the band The Ravens will soon discover first hand after their drummer, a dumbass named Billy Bob, sleeps with some rando named Carla and agrees to follow her back to her family’s house in Epecuén, coaxing the rest of the band to come along in the process. Unfortunately for the band, this family is more like Texas Chain Saw Massacre than Little House on the Prairie. That’s right. They cook some tasty barbecue, folks. But the secret ain’t in the sauce. It’s the MEAT.

The comparison to Tobe Hooper’s classic film is a bit on the nose but very apt. Structurally What the Waters Left Behind: Scars (and the previous film for that matter) is very similar to Texas Chain Saw Massacre, although you could make that same comparison with other big films like The Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn. Creepy cannibal hillbillies in desolate, remote locations are basically a bread-and-butter horror staple at this point. What this film brings to the table is first of all the very cool, eerie location. Epecuén was made for a horror film. Bleached, skeletal trees, crumbling ruins, cracked pavement…. Throw a ghost in here and I probably would have had just as good a time. Still, what we have is a movie that, while somewhat predictable in its plotting, is still a fun watch with a some competent gore effects and an overall grim and grimy atmosphere.

The film is shot very well in a stylish manner that elevates it beyond similar lower budget features. Onetti had already proved to me his skill behind the camera with the giallo pastiches Francesca and Abrakadabra. From the opening cinemascope flashback as we witness one of the family members’ experience during war and where some of their strange proclivities may have originated to the wide angle drone shot that introduces us to the desolate, disaster-strewn landscape, one of this film’s strongest elements is the cinematography. While I can’t speculate on what Luciano’s contributions to the previous films were in a directing capacity, I can say one area where he has been consistent is in the musical score. While this film’s score is more incidental and less memorable than the ones he did for Francesca and Abrakadabra, it is still quite good and sets the tone of the film well. If I fault this for anything it is the stilted acting of some of the members of the band. While they have names like Billy Bob, Mark and Jane, they are clearly not American or even native English-speaking. It’s like in films where Russians are played by British actors or something. It’s just distracting at best, and in a film like this where the actors just can’t act well in English, it hurts the film. For some, the film may also suffer from not going far enough with the gore which at its core is going to be the main draw for many to this kind of film. These are fairly minor quibbles if you just want to sit down with a straight forward cannibal cookout flick and watch some strangers get axed.

While Cleopatra has been a bit hit-or-miss in the past on their video mastering, What the Waters Left Behind: Scars looks very good with a transfer that does the film’s nice cinematography justice quite well. Rich colors and nice black levels are par for the course here. The disc has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo mixes and both come across pretty well, and although they are lossy, I honestly didn’t notice. For extras, I’m afraid they are next to nil with just a trailer and an image slideshow (is this something anyone watches?). Would’ve been nice to have a commentary or a bonus CD soundtrack with Luciano Onetti’s score and/or the in-movie band’s music.

While this film isn’t going to win any awards for originality, if you watched and enjoyed the first What the Waters Left Behind, you will most likely dig this one as well. Alternately, if you are the kind of horror fan that likes some dark thrills and gore but doesn’t want to go full bore into Jörg Buttgereit territory, this might be up your alley too. I personally think it’s worth checking out for the cool location alone.