★★★1/2 out of ★★★★★
Intensity 🩸🩸🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed and written by Jason Lei Howden
Deathgasm II: Goremageddon lacks the heart and joy of its predecessor Deathgasm, and what it lacks in those departments it tries to make up for with an abundance of gross-out gags.
Official synopsis
When Brodie, a washed-up metalhead, resurrects his dead bandmates for a battle-of-the-bands, the result unleashes riffs, gore, and apocalyptic carnage only DEATHGASM can deliver.
Review
When I went into Deathgasm at South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in July 2015, I was leery that I might be in for nothing but bodily fluids and low humor. I was happily proven wrong by writer/director Jason Lei Howden’s absolute blast of a horror comedy. Sure, the gore gags were plentiful and the splatter of all manner of human liquids and solids were flowing all over the screen, but at its core was the story of aspiring dark-metal musician Brodie (Milo Cawthorne) and his bandmates in Deathgasm. It was a likable losers make good — by summoning evil — story with a big heart to it.
Alas, Deathgasm II: Goremageddon (New Zealand, 2026) basically rips the heart out of its predecessor like we have seen zombies and demons do to victims in so many movies up to this point. Instead of characters viewers can get behind and root for, we have brooding Brodie going through a mid-20s crisis and risking the lives of fellow citizens by resurrecting “The Black Hymn” in an effort to get the band back together — which involves bringing deceased bandmates Dion (Sam Berkley) and Zakk (James Joshua Blake) back from the dead, with the reluctant help of living bandmate Giles (Daniel Cresswell) — to win a battle of the bands and win back the heart of ex-girlfriend Medina (Kimberley Crossman).
So our main hero from Deathgasm is now an unlikable loser 10 years removed from what he considers his best days. His resurrected friends are here mostly for intestine-eating gore gags, and most of the other humor is mean spirited instead of “brothers in steel” celebratory.
The returning cast members from the first film still give it their all, with my favorite performances coming from Blake as a cynical zombie who decides to go vegan and newcomer to the franchise Kieran Charnock as Jesse, the egotistical artiste leader of a “heartcore” band who claims that he wants to do good for the world through his music.
The practical effects are highly impressive, and are certainly a gorehound’s delight. A set piece calculated to make men cringe in sympathetic agony works effectively. Deathgasm II: Goremageddon delivers the splatter, without doubt.
The Verdict
Deathgasm II: Goremageddon is much lighter on the charm than Deathgasm, but the aim this time seems to be more grue and meaner humor, and in those ways, it delivers. Gorehounds, metalheads, and those who enjoyed Deathgasm will want to give this sequel a try.
Deathgasm II: Goremageddon opens in cinemas across the U.S. and Canada on September 29th, 2026 and on VOD October 13th courtesy of Raven Banner Entertainment.
Review by Joseph Perry
