''976-EVIL II'', also known as ''976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor'', is a 1992 supernatural horror–

slasher Slasher may refer to: * Slasher (basketball), a style of play in basketball * Slasher film, a subgenre of the horror film * Slasher (tool), a scrub-clearing implement * ''Slasher'' (2004 film), a 2004 documentary film * ''Slasher'' (2007 film) ...

film directed by

Jim Wynorski Jim Wynorski (born August 14, 1950) is an American screenwriter, film director, director, and film producer, producer. Wynorski has been making B-movies and exploitation movies since the early 1980s, and has directed over 150 feature films. His ...

. The film is a sequel to the 1988 horror film '' 976-EVIL''. It was referenced in ''

Invasion of the Scream Queens ''Invasion of the Scream Queens'' is a 1992 documentary film by American filmmaker Donald Farmer. The film interviews the women who have made a career out of starring in the B horror and science fiction genres are interviewed, and clips and trail ...

'' (1992).

Premise

Leonard "Spike" Johnson (

Patrick O'Bryan Patrick O'Bryan (born February 17, 1960) is an American actor known for his appearances in a variety of television shows and films in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is perhaps best known for his starring role as "Spike" in the 1988 cult film ...

) returns to battle the

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

in a small

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

college town A college town or university town is a community (often a separate town or city, but in some cases a town/city neighborhood or a district) that is dominated by its university population. The university may be large, or there may be several sma ...

. Someone is killing college

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

s at a rate that is causing alarm. A pretty student, Robin, learns that her dean, Professor Grubeck, is a ghost using

astral projection Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...

and a satanic 976 " horrorscope" hotline to kill students.

Cast

* Debbie James as Robin * Rene Assa as Mr. Grubeck *

as Leonard "Spike" Johnson *

Philip McKeon Philip Anthony McKeon (November 11, 1964 – December 10, 2019) was an American child actor and radio personality, best known for his role as Tommy Hyatt, the son of the title character on the television sitcom ''Alice (American TV series), Ali ...

as Taylor * Leslie Ryan as Paula *

Brigitte Nielsen Brigitte Nielsen (; born Gitte Nielsen; 15 July 1963) is a Danish actress, model, and singer. She began her career modelling for Greg Gorman and Helmut Newton. She subsequently acted in the 1985 films ''Red Sonja'' and ''Rocky IV'', later retu ...

as Agnes *

Rod McCary Rod McCary (born April 15, 1941) is an American commercial, film and television actor. Born in St. Cloud, Minnesota. McCary attended at Cathedral High School and University of Denver. He began his career in 1970, as appearing in the film '' ...

as Dr. Jamison * Paul Coufos as Stone *

Karen Mayo-Chandler Karen Mayo-Chandler (18 April 1958 – 11 July 2006) was a British actress and model. She appeared in issues of ''Vogue'' and '' Harper's Bazaar'' magazines. After minor television and theatre appearances in the United Kingdom, she relocated to ...

as Laurie *

George Buck Flower George Albert "Buck" Flower (October 28, 1937 – June 18, 2004) was an American actor, writer, producer, assistant director, production manager, and casting director. He was sometimes credited as Ernest Wall, Buck Flower, George "Buck" Flower ...

as Turrell * Sigal Diamant as Barmaid *

Joy Ballard Joy Ballard (born 1966) is a British head teacher. She has been prominently featured in the media discussing the potential for improvement in schools and issues with the British education system. Ballard grew up in Southampton on a council esta ...

as Stripper * Yavone Evans as Reporter * Eric Anjou as Detective * Angela Gordon as Cashier * Christopher Garr as "Skeech" * David Rogge as Keith * Lou Bonacki as Neelan * Chuck Montalbano as Gross * Ace Mask as Lemisch *

Monique Gabrielle Katherine Gonzalez (born July 30, 1962), also known as Monique Gabrielle, is an American model and actress. Gabrielle was selected as the ''Penthouse'' Pet of the Month for December 1982, and has appeared in a variety of mainstream and adult fil ...

as Lawlor * Deborah Dutch as Commercial Wife * Ronald Green as Commercial Husband * Mindy Seeger as Nurse

Production

The film was directed by

who had gained a reputation for making a number of sequels, such as '' Deathstalker 2''. "People would just come to me and ask," said Wynorski. "And I always said "yes". I wanted the money and the experience. There were only a couple of films that I turned down. I always wanted to make a sequel only if the previous film was bad. There wasn't much point to a sequel if the previous release was really great. I wanted to make a sequel that was better than the first one." Wynorski later said "I hate that film... It was tough to make. I was handed a script and I didn't think it was very good." The only part of the film he liked was a sequence where a girl was meant to be sucked into a Pac Man machine. This was too expensive to film so Wynorski came up with the idea, based on a dream, where he recreated a scene from ''

It's a Wonderful Life ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas by medium#Films, Christmas Fantasy film, fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet ''The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern se ...

'' (1946). He could do this because that film was in the public domain. "For me that's the one stand out aspect of that film, 'cause it's so weird," he said. The film featured

in a small role. Wynorski met her at a party and they played pool together. Wynorski challenged her to a wager - if he won she would do a day for him for scale on his next picture; if she won he would "put on a maid's outfit and clean your house. And she was up for that. We had a good game, it was close but I won." So Nielsen did a day on the film. Wynorski said she did "an ok job... she wasn't difficult to work with. She was working for pretty big bucks at the time and she was working for scale and she didn't really come in super prepared and we had to go over her lines but in the end she did a great job."

Home media

The movie was released in April 1992 on

videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...

Vestron Video Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1993, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market. The name is now used for a collecto ...

. A DVD was released in the UK. In the U.S., the film was released on DVD by Lionsgate as part of an 8 horror film DVD set.

References

External links

* * *
Smithee Awards entry
{{Jim Wynorski 1992 direct-to-video films 1990s English-language films Direct-to-video horror films Telephone numbers in the United States CineTel Films films 1992 horror films 1992 films Films directed by Jim Wynorski American direct-to-video films American sequel films Direct-to-video sequel films Supernatural slasher films American supernatural horror films 1990s American films