The Jester 2

With a handful of neat short films and now two features, creators, writers, director and actor Michael Sheffield and Colin Krawchuk have developed their own niche weirdo serial killer.

Here in The Jester 2, The Jester (Michael Sheffield) quickly gets into his stride with a pinata kill having dragged himself out of a chest in the woods. He then saunters off across the town performing card tricks. Not looking out of place in his mask, hat, and grubby orange suit as it is Halloween.

Meanwhile Max (Kaitlyn Trentham) is all dressed up as a witch for Halloween ready for trick or treat only for her mother to tell he she’s too old. Downhearted she goes to a restaurant where The Jester shows her a trick only to annoy him as she knows how it’s done, being into magic herself. Max is then pranked by people from school.

Max takes some solace and a confidence boost talking to magic shop owner Willie (Dingani Beza), while The Jester gets back to killing and burning cards.

Through a combination of murder, pact and magic The Jester and Max are forced to work together to a deadline, neither of them can escape.

The Jester since the beginning has had supernatural leanings, here Krawchuk takes that forward providing more background to the character and motive for its actions.

It’s not that innovative but it does add some complexity to the story and enables Max to play a more interesting part in the film. Otherwise it could just be another creepily masked killer with ultra-violent tendencies and imaginative, bloody kills.

There are times when it looks stilted and it drags a bit, much like the first feature. That however doesn’t do too much damage to the film mainly as it has a solid lead in Max, who’s downtrodden at times but then picks herself for the coming challenges. Then there’s The Jester who here is starting to come into their own. Though it has to be asked though if there’s room for two clown faced serial killers with supernatural faculties.

The Jester 2 will be on Shudder from 26 December 2025.