‘VelociPastor 2’ Leaves FilmQuest Audience Roaring, Celebrating Human-Made Films in an AI Era

Who knew that one of this year’s giddiest celebrations of filmmaking would be a movie where the stunt dummies are obvious, the dinosaur costumes are obviously homemade and you can literally see the strings on special effects shots?

That’s the joy of “VelociPastor 2,” the long-awaited sequel to 2017’s “The VelociPastor.” The first film was a modern cult comedy classic made on a $36,000 budget, which followed the adventures of Doug Jones (Gregory James Cohan), a man of God who turns into a bloodthirsty dinosaur while he’s cleaning up his neighborhood from pimps and drug dealers, and his girlfriend Carol (Alyssa Kempinski).

“VelociPastor 2” is even more ambitious, moving the action to “Italy” and spinning a yarn of a giallo-esque killer who is targeting area virgins. While the scope has widened, the low budget still keeps things charmingly ramshackle. Even after raising $118,297 on Kickstarter, all of the seams are still showing. But the effect is a tribute to low-budget filmmaking, poking fun at everything from wild inconsistencies that any script supervisor would have caught (the opening scene features Doug putting on a crucifix again and again) to wildly long pieces of exposition delivered via ADR.

The Sunday FilmQuest screening of “VelociPastor 2,” a festival known for attracting audiences filled with indie filmmakers, was primed to enjoy the movie and laughed boisterously throughout. Beyond the jabs at the joys and flaws of low-budget filmmaking, the movie is filled with plenty of other jokes in the spirit of “Airplane!” that kept spirits high.

There was also a sense of gratitude that so many of the jokes showed affection for the “let’s put on a show” enthusiasm that inspires both films. A frequent topic of discussion at the Provo, Utah-based festival has been the infiltration of AI in the industry, which is met with near-universal distrust and disinterest. In fact, one of the biggest applause points before every screening at the fest is a promise that the feature presentation doesn’t include AI.

But the joy of “VelociPastor 2” is the knowing silliness of low-budget filmmaking gone wrong, something that would be too complex to try to craft an AI prompt. Whether it’s miniatures that don’t show the true scope of Italian city life or two extras playing a ferocious game of Frisbee without actually tossing a disc, it feels like a uniquely human satire.

During a post-screening Q&A, director and cowriter Jesse Gouldsbury and some members of the creative team shared stories of how difficult it was to get “VelociPastor 2” made. But despite the challenges of filming a microbudget dinosaur movie, it was clear through their laughter that they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“VelociPastor 2” is currently seeking distribution. It’s also in the middle of a series of roadshow screenings. Future dates and locations are listed on the film’s official site.