Writer/director Andre Ray returns to his twisted erotic suburban thriller with The Mail Lady 2, the follow-up to the viral hit. Picking up immediately after the shocking events of the first film, this sequel dives deeper into obsession, guilt, and digital deception, as Derek and Sloan find themselves caught in a deadly cycle of love and revenge. Derek (Will Coleman) is still grappling with the fallout of his affair with Sloan (Jessica Jacoby) and its devastating impact on his family. Renee (Amerrah Garrison) is in a coma, and the prognosis doesn’t look good.
Derek awakens in the hospital, confronted by police investigators about the attack. It appears that Derek shot Renee because of the affair, and a recording has surfaced of Derek telling his kids that the mail lady shot her. The recording was obviously deep-faked. Either way, Derek is the prime suspect for his wife’s attempted murder.
Meanwhile, Sloan, under a stolen identity, has quietly assumed a new life and makes a shocking discovery — she is pregnant with Derek’s child. Her new persona is that of a fragile Southern single mother, and she finds refuge at a Christian pregnancy center, where she meets a young couple, Mary (Kassidy Kimata) and Abe (Justin Gordon), who are also expecting a baby. Of course, Sloan can’t help herself, and she starts flirting with Abe behind Mary’s back and, with the help of AI technology, forms a plan to split the two apart.
“Sloan, under a stolen identity, has quietly assumed a new life and makes a shocking discovery — she is pregnant with Derek’s child.”
The Mail Lady 2 follows the path of Derek and Sloan. Derek is desperate to clear his name in Renee’s attempted murder. With the help of his military buddy, Amir (Freddie Velatayo), they begin breaking down the video of the attack to find Sloan’s whereabouts. Then there’s Sloan, who is still obsessed with Derek and continues to send him strange packages, promising that if he leaves Renee and reunites with Sloan, she’ll make all his legal problems go away.
I loved that the story is willing to “go there.” The best movies, to me, are those that refuse to hold back and move in truly twisted directions. I’m referring to the insane third act, which essentially becomes the Empire Strikes Back of the series. In this chapter of the trilogy, Derek is on a journey to accept accountability for what he did in the first film and to rediscover his true self. For Sloan, we start to see cracks in her character as she does the unspeakable in the end. Indie films shine when they refuse to self-censor, as the studios have been doing over the last decade.
Like the first film, The Mail Lady 2 is held back by its lack of production budget. Having millions would have made the film look very slick, boosting its sound and film quality and CG effects to make it look nice and clean. What Ray lacks in money, he makes up for in a cast willing to embrace the insanity and the sheer determination to raise the stakes on the first film. I also love the social-media character providing commentary in the middle and at the end of the film.
The Mail Lady 2 proves that Andre Ray isn’t afraid to double down on his story’s darkest impulses by expanding the mythology of the first film into something more unhinged. Are we ready for The Mail Lady 3?
"…Andre Ray isn't afraid to double down on his story's darkest impulses..."
Jessica Jacoby didn’t play Sloane in the 1st movie, Molly Anderson did which was shown in the flashback scenes in the beginning of Mail Lady 2.