Macabre…ish Horror Review: Death Tube 2



Death Tube 2, 2010/ 1 hr 43 min.

 

 

A woman screams while tied to a table with Christmas lights and an unknown naked man, wearing a bear’s head, throws knives at her head. It’s streaming live on Death Tube.

 

 

A girl in her school uniform, Nozomi, wakes up on the floor, in a room with weapons and a laptop showing 7 other people. They are in identical rooms, soon the music plays as the animated bear on the monitor, Ponkichi explains that they are playing a game.

 

They have 3 minutes to find and open the hidden door. They’re still not certain they are on Death Tube until one of the women are killed with a wrecking ball.

 

Nozomi finds her hidden door behind her monitor, she clicks a button and her room door opens. She informs the others and tells them to look behind their monitors. They open their doors and follow the arrow upstairs, the doors close behind them with less than 20 seconds to go.

 

A celebrating player is executed because he exited his room with his left foot, everyone else used their right.

 

Ponkichi introduces his little brother, Pontaro and warns them, he will shoot. The second game is musical chairs. Nozomi stops them from beginning the game, she surmises that if no one plays then there will be no odd one out. Another player, Mr. Kakizaki says that Death Tube always had a way for everyone’s survival. But some of them struggle against the urge to not play. But Ryuuta reminds them that only one person can survive Death Tube. So it’s pointless for all of them to clear a game.

 

They break out into a fight over it. Mr. Kakizaki aka Old Guy stops Alice from jumping into the game. But they fight to keep everyone out of the chair until the music stops. Most decide they would like to try to clear every game together and hopefully find a way out. Only Ryuuta is defiant.

 

The next games include Kendama, hula hoop, a guessing game etc. Every once in a while, Pontaro comes in just to be a menace. Meanwhile, the viewers are bored. And the captives are busy looking for a way out between games.

 

Because they keep clearing the games, a crying Ponkichi, promises to let them go and they rejoice but he’s then taken over by a furious Death Tube room manager. The games are about to get a lot harder. Pontaro then comes in a remove two players, Masai Baba and Sachie Mizusawa, then the game begins.

 

This game is done in pairs. In a room with a monitor, two desks and two laptops, the pair open the laptops to see their loved one’s tied to chairs. Sachie sees his daughter, Miki and Masai also sees her son, Kazuhiko.

 

The rest of the group watch in horror via projector screen. The challenge is to commit suicide within 3 minutes and their child will be saved. But whoever kills themself to save their child will kill the other’s child. If they run out the clock then all four will be killed.

 

There’s no way out, Sachie slits his own throat and a distraught Masai tries to stop the bleeding. Afterward, a man in a bear suit beheads her son, Kazuhiko and a devastated Masai sees it and slits her own throat.

 

The rest of the players are horrified as they wait to hear their names called. Nozomi Shindo and Ryuuta Kido are next. Ryuuta doesn’t want to die, he decides to kill the 5 of them to save himself. He turns on Nozomi who is a more than formidable opponent and he takes a knife to the neck.

 

When Pontaro arrives to collect the body, Ryuuta sits up with the knife that was ‘in his neck’ and attacks him. Nozomi jumps into the fray, kicking Pontaro in the head. But Ryuuta ends it, stabbing him to death. Ryuuta and Nozomi’s act worked, the door is still open and they all go through it.

 

Nine flights down and they’re still in the building. They become more frantic, the lower they go. But when they get to what should be the first floor, it keeps going. Seeming to repeat the second floor over and over. Then they happen upon a man in a bear suit, sweeping the floor. They run back upstairs. Soon there’s another bear, coming from upstairs.

 

Nozomi notices someone’s been changing the floor numbers. She rips one of the curtains down to reveal an unlocked door behind it. They enter a room to rest and bandage their wounds. It’s the final room in the last movie, complete with red blocks and the laptop and webcam.

 

Nozomi tells the others her parents were killed in a robbery and wonders if it’s connected to Death Tube. She also remembers the killer reminded her of Ryuuta. Meanwhile, the room is still streaming and the bears are still looking.

 

Mr. Kakizaki finds the laptop and opens it. They see a bear near the entrance to their location and they hide. So the bear enters into what appears to be an empty room. Alice distracts him and the rest lays in wait. They attack, tie him to a chair and reveal his face. He says he’s forced to do it or he’ll be killed by the device around his neck.

 

The former bear begs for his life and Ryuuta puts his gun to his head but Nozomi steps in between them and asks if he knows where the exit is. He does and shows them and for a man who is in fear for his life, he talks a lot and is super chipper. They arrive at the door and it’s locked. He says Pontaro, the bear they killed earlier, has the key.

 

Nozomi volunteers to go back and get the key. Ryuuta offers to come with her. They leave the gun with Alice and Mr. Kakizaki but take the laptop. The creepy bear guy laughs and makes them uncomfortable. He informs them that the game is inescapable and shows them proof.

 

Once again, Ryuuta kills another bear who was laying in wait this time. But Nozomi doesn’t like how easy it is for him to kill.

 

Meanwhile, Alice shoots Mr. Kakizaki after he loses it from reading the Death Tube playbook. And when Nozomi and Ryuuta return, she shoots at them. Ryuuta spots the book on the floor but then grabs Alice and stabs her after Nozomi calms her down.

 

They walk into another room with a laptop on a table and a bear to welcome them. He warns them that the building is swarming with bears, there’s no escape. Then three bears start dancing to Thriller.

 

They are also warned that only one of them can win. Before the game can end they get a lot of revelations that might impact the outcome of the game.

 

 

This sequel was also directed by Yôhei Fukuda. It seems to be a direct sequel and it is a little less gory than the first one. It has fewer challenges and more interaction with the bears. These players are more fierce than the last and willing to take more chances. It’s doesn’t feel as bleak and hopeless as the last one.

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