What usually makes low-budget movies so funny is that they’re not trying to be, it’s the flubbed earnesty which gives them relatable absurdity. What’s fascinating about that is how it means the audience’s sense of humor might be more relevant than the creator’s, and it’s an idea supported by how rare it is that sequels which actively try to recapture the fun of the original actually manage to do so. A success story would be The Evil Dead, a laughably straight-faced film which was followed by a sequel that cranked up the horror to the point of absurdity, but again, it’s up to the audience to determine where that point is. The location is especially variable in a case like Dead Space 2, where its louder, bloodier excessiveness resulted from a serious desire to court general audiences, rather than one to refine the original. When I first played it, I even refunded it for how patronizing the new tone felt, but since then, my sense of humor has shifted enough to find joy in it. The way the game opens with a necromorph exploding into blood and screaming in your face has become hilarious to me for how hilarious it’s not supposed to be; the enemies that peak around corners and sprint behind cover feel like they’re setting up the punchline where you staple them to a wall. Using engineering tools as weapons was originally an efficient device to blend story and gameplay, but here, the all-encompassing loudness gives the same tools a new sort of expressiveness. It’s the difference between a normal chainsaw and Ash Williams’ chainsaw hand: they theoretically have the same functionality, but the latter is the legendary centerpiece of a new and excessive tone. It might make you wish that Dead Space 2 had a similar wink to the audience to help avoid the disappointment I initially experienced, but I’m glad it doesn’t. It’s not like a terrible movie which only works when taken as a joke, it’s executed competently enough to work as pure action, action-horror, wildly gory horror-comedy, or maybe even just straight-faced horror. It really works perfectly, just as long as you don’t take yourself too seriously.