Best Direct to Video or DVD Ever???

I have to say I loved this movie growing up and still do! I got it from a mom and pop video rental store that went out of business for $.99! I'd seen and loved the first one and had no idea a sequel even existed until I saw it on the shelf. As a kid I always thought this was a remarkable sequel and was even more quotable than the original. I also believe it to be far far superior to the other sequels.

I didn't know until later in life that this was a low budget(4M reportely) direct to video movie. And now thinking about it I'd say it's probably the best direct to video movie I've ever seen, exempting any straight to streaming movies that are so common today.

Sure, I can see the cut corners and the budgetary struggles today especially with the shoestring cast. In Spite of this the movie has a engaging story with an interesting direction that successfully dives deeper into the mythology. Along with this a great script that captures the characters correctly and faithfully with the comic tone of the original. It even brings the new members up to speed with the returning cast with good level of chemistry between them. I felt Burts character was done the best and had some memorable lines with an exceptional performance from Michael Gross. The cast as a whole was exceptional with Chris Gartin being a very welcome addition.

As far as effects go they used the same practical animatronics as the original movie and had very limited but decent CGI(remember this was mid 90s). The monsters look believable along with the explosions and fire arms. They even have a giant explosion at the end of the movie. All with practical effects. Due to this the movie didn't look like a typical bad CGI direct to video production. SS Wilson and his crew did an incredible job!!

I think about how so many big budget sequels can't even achieve these basic levels of sequel expectation. So I have to ask is this the best direct to video movie ever released outside of direct to streaming???