Evil Bong 2: King Bong (2009)

Film review #421

Director: Charles Band

SYNOPSIS: Alistair McDowell visits his three former roommates after one of them tells him they’ve all had strange things happening to them. Alistair surmises that they are all suffering from side effects of smoking from the evil bong that they previously destroyed when it attempted to steal their souls. They contact the delivery man who delivered the bong, who tells them that the bong originated from a tribe located in the Amazon, and so the group head into the rainforest to find answers and try to cure themselves from the side-effects which have afflicted them…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Evil Bong 2: King Bong is a 2009 comedy horror film and the sequel to the 2006 film Evil Bong. The film starts off with Alistair visiting Larnell at his new apartment. Larnell remarks that he hardly recognises Alistair; a sly reference to the fact that it is a different actor playing him than the first film. The reason Larnell called Alistair over is that he and his roommates have all been afflicted by strange changes: Larnell’s libido has gone into overdrive, Bachman has developed narcolepsy, and Brett has become morbidly obese, adding strain to his relationship with his girlfriend. Alistair guesses that it must be a side-effect of them smoking from the evil bong of the first film, and tries to learn more about it. The only lead they have is the delivery guy who delivered the bong, who they arrange to come round. He tells them the stories that he himself was told when he picked up the package about how the owner picked it up when he was serving in the Amazon with the peace corps. With this in mind, the group (including the delivery guy for some reason), head to the Amazon to find the tribe and get some answers. As with the first film, the film’s plot is fairly simple. Most probably because this is designed to be a film that you watch while smoking weed yourself. There’s more of a plot than the previous film though, and everything is simple enough to follow, so that’s a plus. 

The group arrive in the Amazon where they meet a scientist who has discovered a new type of marijuana that has extraordinary medical properties. When the group smoke this, they are cured of the afflictions of the evil bong. However, another of the scientist’s plans to use the new weed to sell it on the streets and become rich. He reforms the evil bong from the first film with the fragments that Larnell saved, and encounters the tribe alongside a more powerful bong called King Bong. When this new bong takes the delivery guy into his inner realm, the group decide to go and save him, with the original evil bong supporting them (apparently she is King Bong’s ex; don’t ask me how bong relationships work…). The climax is pretty similar to the first film, with the group venturing into the inner bong world where people are tricked by illusions that the bong creates. There’s nothing too spectacular about the finale, and it is resolved in the way you’d expect. The characters are pretty much the same from the first film, and the new characters add very little outside of the typical roles they fill.

Like the first film, the budget for this film is spectacularly minimal, but it does do a bit more than it’s predecessor by doubling the amount of settings from two to about four. The “Amazon” is clearly just some woods, and the bong world has nothing remarkable about it. I think the film flows better than the original, and has a few more laughs, but overall any improvements are minor. It’s not any worse, but not too much better. Like the first, you’re only going to find some value in this if you’re already high and can ‘enjoy’ the imagery and simple gags that won’t go over your head. Overall, Evil Bong 2 is a mild trip that is slightly better than the original, but still doesn’t live up to the ridiculousness of the premise that the title provides.