ou were part of that big cover-up, weren’t you!” Sister-in-law Helene Delambre has died, never really recovering from the mentally taxing death of her husband Andre from a freakish demise at his foundry – leaving Francois (Vincent Price) to take care of her adult son, Philippe (Brett Halsey). At first, her husband’s undoing was deemed a murder, then a suicide, then an accident – the exact circumstances of which are seemingly hushed up by the police due to the unbelievable nature of it all.

“If I tell you Philippe, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.” Of course, Francois has to explain what happened, not just for the character, but also for the audience, in case anyone might have forgotten about the striking, shocking sequences from the original film a year prior. Although it’s highly unlikely, Philippe expectedly picks up where Andre left off, researching the possibilities of transmissions of three-dimensional molecular structures through space. And, sure enough, a problematic insect is destined to return – and to interfere with Philippe’s experimentations.

“I want to rebuild this.” Now that the primary conceit is well known – alongside the best of the horror moments – this hasty follow-up has to spend a bit of time complicating the plot beyond the mere reconstruction of the very same teleportation device. Francois now has a larger role, working directly with the “mad scientist” lead, while a lab assistant (David Frankham) isn’t just standing around pushing buttons and flipping switches. Plus, there’s a pesky copper or two, an unscrupulous mortician (the very recognizable Dan Seymour), and a potential love interest (Danielle De Metz). Nevertheless, there’s still some notable repetition (the researchers don protective eyewear to watch an object disintegrate too many times to count), stretching out a picture that doesn’t even last a standard 90 minutes.

“It’s happened again!” The body-blending visual terrors do get going quicker than before (and more often), and they’re used for evil this time, rather than honest but misguided research. “Shall we say he’s serving the cause of science?” Violence is similarly more frequent and graphic, but it’s the anticipated and appropriately ghastly climactic reveal – all too familiar in design yet tremendously satisfying (complete with a face-squeezing, high-pitched scream from a frightened woman) – that proves to be a genuine crowd-pleaser. And subsequent moments with the titular monstrosity are just as alarmingly delightful, now unafraid to show the oversized man-fly mask and claw prop (in broad daylight, no less). Though this sequel is ultimately not necessary (save for fans who really want to see more of the creature effects; it boasts a higher budget but less expectations, resulting in a black-and-white release), especially when the story is crafted around repeated mistakes and a seemingly greater number of villains than protagonists, the various expansions on the main concept are moderately amusing – and the finale is curiously hopeful and firmly resolute.

– Mike Massie