Transcript note: This transcript is based on the original working script. It may contain production notes, draft wording, spelling mistakes or other material that differs from the finished video - these scripts were meant to be spoken, not read.

The problem with Single White Female 2 isn't that it was trashy, almost soft porn, made for TV film, that was riding the legend of a popular name.

It's that it had the seed of half a good idea for a movie.

It could, with a little effort, have been its own thing.

There are films that need a sequel.

There are films with good sequels and there are films that can just, be…

Single White Female falls into the latter category.

Single White Female 2? - Well, it’s practically blasphemy.

The entire movie looks like it was shot over a long weekend in rented apartments

And for all I know, it was - that’s not even a criticism, that’s the standard operating procedure for this era of direct-to-video sequels.

The aim wasn’t to honour a franchise.

The aim was to produce something cheap enough that the title alone could generate profit.

And, I’ll cut to the chase - Let’s not be shy, we’re all friends here.

It’s bad.

[INTRO]

Just so we’re clear - The original film worked because it told its story.

No ambiguity, no teasing something deeper. It doesn’t get much cleaner.

Between them Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh built the whole thing on their characters and tension.

It’s a nasty, twisted psychological thriller - But, it has a point of view - Something to say even.

It doesn’t try to scare you, it just gets under your skin and makes you itch - It sneaks its way into your subconscious.

The most dangerous idea it has, is that it could actually happen to you.

It plays with your ideas of identity, insecurity and even loneliness - It makes you itch because everyone, on some level, gets it.

So much so that it was practically a meme before memes were memes - The title of the film became a catch phrase almost - If you say the title in a certain way, people knew exactly what you meant by it - Even today

The words Single White Female have become part of pop culture, TV shows and movies have both riffed off of it.

It has the subtitle of “The Psycho”, but if you were around for the original popularity of the film it’s quite a redundant one.

The sequel?

It has zero interest in any of that.

It’s not a continuation, it’s not an expansion and there are no returning cast members.

There’s no narrative or thematic connection.

It’s just, the title left to do all the heavy lifting.

To give it some credit, it does try to set up a little mystery. But, barely.

The film opens with a little girl finding her mother dead in the bathtub after slitting her wrists, grim - BUT - It doesn’t give us anymore than that, and we flash forward.

We’re introduced to Holly and Jan, they're professional ladies - Not that kind - But, well maybe - judging by some of their actions.

Jan sabotages Holly in both work and personal lives so she decides to move on, starting by finding a new place to live.

She scouts the ads looking for somewhere, ringing out and deciding against all the most favourable ones till she hits the one looking for a “SWF”.

Enter Tess… The lady with the spare room.

From here we get little nods and winks from the story about the little girl at the beginning of the film - Holly and Tess both hint towards a darker past, more than once, so we’re given a little intrigue.

They become fast friends and Holly moves in, life is good until Jan manages to throw a spanner in that relationship as well…

For… Well. I'm not sure why - Power bitch plots moves, I guess?

Anyway - This just forces Holly and Tess to become closer.

Tess gets a little weird about it all, and then eventually shows up having dyed her hair the same as Holly.

I wish I could say it was a shock. But. No.

Then, predictably, it all goes downhill from there really.

We learn that the little girl from the start of the film was Holly.

And, so it comes to pass - We’re about a third of the way into the film at this point and the film shoots its one shot early.

It had a reason to keep you watching when it was keeping you guessing… and then, nothing.

From that point on the rest of the story plays out exactly as you’d expect it to go.

I don’t want to ruin it completely for you - I mean, I realise I’ve kind of given away the best chance it had of surprising you - BUT - They did it first - the name alone should pretty much point you in the right direction to begin with.

And,, to be completely fair, it’s because of that name I'm giving it more of a hard time.

It's no worse than a lot of other of these kinds of movies, truth be told.

But those movies kind of expect to go out to die and live in bargain bins, and this one tried to ride a name.

In the first film, Hedy is terrifying because she’s human.

Damaged, lonely, desperate - but grounded.

In this one, both Holly and Tess feel like they are assembled out of leftover clichés - not just them, all the characters.

There’s no logic behind anything any of them do.

No progression.

No escalation.

It’s just one red flag after another, thrown on screen like the director is ticking off a shopping list.

We’ve seen all of this before, and you’ve seen it done way better by the actual original film and more.

The difference is that here, none of it lands.

It’s not suspenseful.

It’s not unsettling.

It’s just flat.

It’s a script that probably started off life titled “Generic Roommate Thriller” written across the top of it.

And whenever the film runs out of ideas - which is frequent - it doesn’t try and find any tension, it just defaults to soft-core filler, like that’s a substitute for actual tension.

I mean of course Holly walks round her underwear doing completely mundane tasks, and of course the shy retiring Tess just happens to have lesbian tendencies before disappearing into the murky underworld of sex clubs.

Now - Normally this is the part where I’d give you some other behind-the-scenes tidbits.

A casting change.

A production mishap.

Someone saying something mildly regrettable in an interview.

But Single White Female 2 gives you nothing.

There are no interviews.

No production notes.

No DVD commentary.

Not even a half-hearted IMDb trivia entry claiming someone improvised a line, or that the opening logo on the film looks like it was done with Word Art by the work experience kid at the graphic design firm.

And that might be the most telling thing about this film.

Nobody involved ever talked about it,

nobody documented it,

and nobody cared enough to invent trivia for it.

The only interesting fact about Single White Female 2 - Is that it left no interesting facts behind.

By the time we reach the third act, the film is trying to convince you that the stakes are high.

They’re not.

You’re watching scenes you recognise, without the craft that made them matter the first time.

The final confrontation should mean something - or at least try to imitate something that once meant something.

Instead it fizzles out with a resolution that feels like everyone involved just wanted to go home.

And that brings us to the real problem.

You can make a sequel to almost anything if you understand what made the original work.

This film doesn’t.

It’s not interested in psychology, or character work, or even tension.

It’s a template thriller with the franchise label glued on the front.

It’s a simple enough truth;

Single White Female didn’t need a second chapter.

And if it ever did, this is not the chapter you write.

This is a rights-maintenance exercise.

A contractual shrug.

The cinematic equivalent of reheating something you didn’t enjoy the first time, just because it’s there.

So, Single White Female 2.

Unnecessary.

Unwanted.

Uninspired.

And, it could have actually been more if it’d just followed through on itself a little.

Anyways…