2.5 out of 4 stars
A local TV anchor bites off his tongue with a brutal beating in Paps, Utah, in this genuinely silly, overlong sequel to Obduction (2013).
Calvin Sinclair (Sean McKnight) investigates a strange mutilation on the grounds of an abandoned mine. Deeper into the dig, he finds himself in a world overrun by birds—and his tongue, literally, taken out. It was never going to be pretty in Paps, though, and it’s hard to tell just how many people are dead, or killed and stuffed into makeshift coffins. There’s a lot of head scratching and clawing on screen, but the bloody result feels less surprising than it should. Watch out for a would-be killer who claims to be a tree in disguise.
While Paps grows more and more ridiculous, this movie also increasingly falls flat as it unfolds. Take that as you will, but a committed single mom (Sabrina Carpenter) who moved to Utah to run her family’s meatpacking business is one of the film’s bigger highlights. You can also expect at least one trip to a funeral home; Carpenter loses even more of her tongue as she undergoes a zany masochistic death-comedy sequence.
Above all, keep an eye out for McKnight and Carpenter, who are the only two performers that make any effort to liven up a constantly monotonous script.
