This 2004 film is a nominal sequel to 1998’s Wild Things. Written by Ross Helford and Andy Hurst, and directed by Jack Perez, this film was released straight-to-video in 2004. It takes place in the same Florida town as the first film, and that’s pretty much its only connection to it.

Well, that and it tries to give us more of what we loved about the first film.

Yeah, that. But I’m getting ahead of myself again.

Susan Ward stars as Britney, a High School Senior. She’s one of the most popular girls in the school. She was a poor girl from a trailer park until her mother married Nile Dunlap (Tony Denison), a wealthy businessman, who is a bit of a sleazebag. As the film opens Britney’s mother has died in a car crash, a flashback reveals that she was sad and drunk as a result of Nile’s constant cheating on her, so she drove her car into the swamp (her body was never found). Leila Arcieri plays Maya, another High School senior, also from a trailer park and a bit of a troublemaker (she’s been held back twice). The two girls don’t get along.

And I have to say that while neither Denise Richards nor Neve Campbell returns in this film, the stars Ward and Arcieri both have their…attributes and aren’t shy to display them here.

Britney and Niles don’t get along. So she isn’t too unhappy when he suddenly dies in a small plane crash that he was piloting. She is unhappy when she learns that she will not be inheriting Niles’ $70 million fortune. She’s only set to get money for college and then $25,000 a year for the rest of her life. The majority of his fortune is held in trust to either go to his favorite Country Club or to a blood heir if one is discovered. And then suddenly Maya comes forward to proclaim that she’s Niles’ long-lost illegitimate daughter. A DNA test proves that her story is true, and the next thing you know she’s set to get all of Niles’ money.

Then of course there is the first big PLOT TWIST. Joe Michael Burke plays Julian, the coroner who exhumed Niles’ body and performed the test that proved Maya is his daughter. Meeting in Britney’s wine seller we learn that three of them were all in all this scheme together. The DNA test was faked and once Maya officially gets the money they all plan to split it and run off together. Which leads to…a threesome!

It’s pretty hot. Even if this time we saw it coming, so it wasn’t as big of a surprise. I still don’t want to spoil everything, so I’ll leave some spoilers intact.

Isaiah Washington plays Terence Bridge, an insurance agent who works for the company that Niles bought a $2 million life insurance from. He’s investigating Niles’ death to make sure it was an accident, and he begins to suspect foul play. Especially after he gets ahold of Niles’ medical records and discovers that Niles was likely sterile, which means he couldn’t have been Maya’s father. Joe panics, which causes Maya to insist to Britney that they need to kill him before he spills the beans.

And that’s all I’ll say about that. There are more twists, not everyone makes it out of this film alive and then, like before, the full details are revealed in flashbacks during the closing credits. It’s not quite as mind-blowing as the first film. Mainly because this time, as I said, we’re expecting huge plot twists. Still, this doesn’t feel like a typical cheap straight-to-DVD cash-in sequel. The production values and acting are all very good. Also notable in this film is Linden Ashby who plays the lead detective in the police department. Even if you haven’t seen Wild Things 1, this is a decent film on its own merits.

Chacebook rating: 4 STARS

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