Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon

In case 2015 New Zealand/Aotearoa indie horror hit Deathgasm passed you by, as, to be fair, it did most people, there’s a useful summary in the lyrics to the opening song for this sequel – as long as you can understand death metal vocals. If you can’t then, to be honest, this film probably isn’t going to work for you.

A decade has passed in the film’s universe, as well as our own, since metal-loving teenager Brodie (Milo Cawthorne) saved the world from a demonic apocalypse – after, admittedly, getting it into trouble in the first place – and caused the deaths of two of his bandmates along the way. Those unfortunate details aside, his life was looking up. He had renewed his friendship with one of his dead friends and won the love of the much cooler and more talented Medina (Kimberley Crossman).

The years have not been kind. As this film opens, Brodie wakes up on his living room floor, soaked in vomit and surrounded by the relics of the night before. Medina has left him to go and have a successful music career and hang around with the supremely pretentious Jesse Dead (Kieran Charnock). His little dog Metalhead expresses sympathy as he sniffs one of her old t-shirts, but the only human who shows any sympathy for him is the similarly be draggled Giles. His Jobseeker Support advisor Jonno (Harrison Keefe), who claims to be able to understand the desire for a musical vocation because he once played the triangle, forces him to do unpaid cleaning at his church under threat of cutting off his money; and even then, he’s so poor that his guitar gets repossessed.

The only hope of life getting better is represented by the upcoming Noisequest event, which could offer a renewed shot at a career in metal – and what’s more, Medina will be there. The only trouble is that they no longer have a band – but, Brodie realises, there are still a lot of spells in those old pages of his that he never tried, and that includes a spell to raise the dead. What could possibly go wrong?

The bulk of the film follows Brodie and Giles’ efforts to keep their new zombie bandmates from eating everybody they meet. In keeping with the national tradition, this is delivered in as grotesque and gratuitous a manner as possible, with lots of ripping out of intestines, severed genitals and blood splurting everywhere. Both regain more of their humanity over time, but in different ways, with Zakk (James Joshua Blake) deciding to give up his people eating ways whilst Dion (Sam Berkley) rebels against Giles’ aggressive methods of control and one is again reminded of the importance of that old warning from the works of HP Lovecraft: “doe not call up any that you can not put downe; by the which I meane, any that can in turne call up somewhat against you.”

The original film was derided by critics for being crude, exploitative and immature. Fans will be pleased to know that this one delivers more of the same. There’s less plot and some of the gags goon rather too long, but on the plus side, there’s a great cameo by Matthew Kiichi Heafy of Trivium, who also wrote all the music, plus a guest appearance at the end by a band of stellar significance. It’s not the most artistic or intellectual of films, but if you like fart jokes, cock jokes and the idea of being able defeat evil by playing metal really loud, it could be just the thing.

Reviewed on: 05 Oct 2025