Since Lawrence addressed the issue of Killer Cup rather well in his initial review, hopefully too many introductions aren't necessary; however, just in case you missed it, I'll briefly sum things up: Killer Cup is basically the answer to the question of what you'd get if you took a bunch of wacky French-Canadian friends, handed them a camera and a bag of Styrofoam cups, and told them to go make a movie. The results are, perhaps against all logic, actually very enjoyable, and they take the form of a unique SOV oddity called Killer Cup or Les Goblets Qui Tuent (literally, “The Cups that Kill”).

The original short, running 22 minutes in length, was reviewed by our dear Head Vampire a while back (quite favorably, I might add), so, in the interest of being brief, I'll just give a quick synopsis. Basically, while sitting around in his school cafeteria one day, a boy (Éric Aupin) finds himself assaulted by a Styrofoam cup which has somehow gained, in addition to a very bad attitude, a little carved face replete with a nasty set of teeth. Returning home after the attack, the boy finds himself again assaulted (while watching Halloween!) by an entourage of the vicious killers. Meanwhile, in the school, all of the day's disposed Styrofoam cups, fed up with the abuse they endure in the school's cafeteria, amass and form an army. As expected, the next day mayhem ensues as the cups begin attacking the campus' student body, and the onus falls on our reluctant hero to save the world from the wrath of these vicious killers.

With its combination of effective stop-motion photography and cute cup-puppetry (cuppetry?), Killer Cup proved itself to be quite an entertaining little movie for what it was. However, director Jean-François Grenier apparently felt he had more story to tell, and so that brings us to where we are today: Killer Cup 2, or Second Cup as it is known in some circles, which is a great improvement on an already very entertaining original. However, this time, M. JeF Grenier has raised the stakes for himself, and, luckily, he manages to deliver, producing a highly entertaining 36-minute short that only leaves the viewer wanting more.

This time out, things come with a little more characterization. As the story begins, we meet a group of young people headed out into the wilderness for a weekend of camping. As night falls, boredom grows, and our young adventurers begin to pick wearily at their Styrofoam cups before sneaking back to their tents to pass the while with some lovemaking.

When morning comes, the terror begins. As the couples begin wandering off through the woods, the cups, who have amassed a mighty army during the night, begin their assault, using a variety of ways to slaughter their victims.

What's different this time is the delivery of the carnage. While the original used a variety of clever visual tricks to animate its little killers, Killer Cup 2 looks even more professional. In bringing the cups to life, M. Grenier now employs most every trick in the book, from the original's simple off-camera animation to things as complicated as elaborate foam-rubber cup models and even a few instances of CGI animation. All in all, it's quite an impressive package for such an independent production, and it certainly gives me hope that some really fun projects can still come out of peoples' own backyards simply as a result of ingenuity and creativity. I really wish more people would take a cue from Mr. Genier, as he is one of the few people out there proving that there's potential in SOV production for more than yet another soft-core lesbian vampire movie. In such a short film seemingly so limited in subject matter, Mr. Grenier manages to cram in a surprising amount of comedy, referencing everything from various horror movies to war films, as well as some cute sight gags and, of course, plenty of great gore. Bravo, M. Grenier. If nothing else, you've made me laugh more than a lot of Hollywood “comedies” have managed to.

As for quality, there's really very little to report, since the Killer Cups haven't officially received a release. The disk I got, courtesy of the director himself, contained both Killer Cup 1 and 2, the first slightly letterboxed, the second full-frame, with both ratios being appropriate. Killer Cup, it should be noted, is only available in un-subtitled French, though since there are literally only four or so lines of dialogue in the entire production, and they are incidental, this is of little consequence. Conversely, Killer Cup 2 contains much more speech, though the disk does include a version of this with burned-in subs, along with the original, un-subtitled version. From what I could tell with my limited textbook knowledge of French, which was admittedly stymied by the Quebecois accents and colloquialisms, the subtitles, done by Mr. Grenier himself, accurately reflect the spoken dialogue.

All in all, both Killer Cup and its even superior sequel provide two shining examples of what can be accomplished with time, talent, a video camera and a little ingenuity. I can only hope that M. Grenier will continue to grace us with his bizarre little cinematic creations for years to come, and that perhaps some day he'll even provide us a feature. Of course, until then, I'll be more than content with my cups. Merci, monsieur!