Review

Picking up sometime after events in the first movie Nell terrorises a random couple and after psychological evaluation ends up in a half way house for wayward girls in New Orleans. Seems Nell has forgotten about being possessed by a demon and the final confrontation, but hey those old bad feelings have a way of sneaking pass mental barriers. Seems the Cult may be about to ensure she's drag back to the dark side while the forces of light are also interested, in a sort of bumbling ineffectual fashion.

So Nell gets plenty of indications the demon of her dreams Abalam has found her and is closing in, but seeks help from a bunch of voodoo spouting anti-demon crusaders. That doesn't work out so well as Part II closes with the threat of a third movie. Would really like to add to the plot summary but, well, you would need more of a plot for that to happen.

You know you are in trouble during a sequel when it starts with a rehash of the original movie. Sorry I wouldn't be here watching Exorcism 2 if I hadn't dug on the first movie, I don't need reminding of Nell's previous woodland cook out thank you very much. Problem being I didn't realise how much trouble I was in till late in the second block of the flick when I suddenly realised not a lot had actually happened and I was seeing the sort of stuff normally reserved for tween horror lite movies. From there it just got worse till the concluding drive by firebombing had me banging my head on my desk. As a movie The Last Exorcism: Part II sucks the life out of the universe, as a sequel to a very solid found footage flick it sucked the life out of neighbouring universes as well. There weren't a lot of positives to be found, Eli Roth once again showing he has no idea how the genre actually works in any shape or form and is prepared to put his name behind any old shite.

Like that second Blair Marketing Project movie Exorcism 2 moves from a found footage effort to standard cinema format. While I'm not against this development I got to say nothing much is achieved by doing so. The original idea, a charlatan Preacher actually finds the devil is real, was sold enough but is not advanced in the sequel where we have ideas such as the demon being in love with Nell being tossed onto the table resulting in the audience sniggering rather than cowering in terror. I mean who comes up with ideas as lame as this, are Bronies now writing Boredwood scripts? The surprise and shock value of the original movie has pretty much been eroded by a script that seeks to down grade the whole concept to the equivalent of an episode of Supernatural. I should have known something wasn't quite right when the posters for this movie all showed that infamous contortion scene from the original movie.

I would like to say this is a serious psychological horror movie but the Writers simply aren't good enough to acheive that

Which isn't to say that the movie couldn't have been better, there's a pretty good flick scratching at the surface of what we do see on our screens, but unfortunately no one involved in making Exorcism 2 has the talent to notice that scratching. If, for example, the movie had spent it's time trying to determine if Abalam was real or a figment of Nell's fractured mind than we may have been rocking out to the psychological horror movie of the year. Someone like Brad Anderson would have brought the necessary tension there. Of course you would have lost the teens, but since when has this overly concerned seriously horror film makers as opposed to the Studio Accountants. Or they could have built the movie up to a kick arse exorcism that brings the chills, adds the tension, and gives all sorts of options to assault the audience with. What we get is Abalam in love with Nell and a final scene which is more at home in a Ghost Rider movie.

There's a whole bunch of ideas in this movie that are left floating as writers Damien Chazelle and Ed Gass-Donnelly show they are ill equipped to write a major motion picture. While the flies are clearly a motif for Abalam, they remained unexplained and seriously appeared to be extras from the remake of The Amityville Horror. Equally the Cult members who are watching Nell, and who could have been worked into a fairly spooky concept, are left hanging like aging juvenile delinquents on New Orleans street corners. Anyone want to drive a nail through the convoluted and totally implausible final couple of scenes? If they had of got the final block right I would have been less inclined to write this one off, but they didn't as the Writers/Director/and Producers showed scant understanding of the structure of a horror movie.

Okay so the first movie had this cool ending, which fans of the genre will recognise as being indicative that Nell is actually possessed, precognition being one of the signs - Nell's pictures of the fate of Cotton and his crew, but unfortunately the same level of subtle winking at the audience isn't carried to the second movie. The handling to the demonic aspects of Exorcism 2 is so heavy handed that even the Catholic clergy must have been blushing. Why is it that sequels almost universally fail to recognise what worked in the original movie? Heavy handed exorcism tropes very seldom work out in a movie, the kids aren't interested in the trappings and you lose the older psychological horror fans. I'm not sure who thought the events in the sequel would be a good idea, but I suggest they go work on a Michael Bay Transformers movie which is more their speed.

I've got this notion that Producer Eli Roth has some insane idea that The Last Exorcism franchise could rival Paranormal Activity without having the talent to work out why PA is rocking the cinema box office. And the difference here is much more than Toby versus Abalam. The first PA movie asked a very simple question, do we know what is happening around us, in the dark, when we are sleeping. One of those universally held pressure points that the movie exploited to excellent effect. The franchise simply keeps coming back to the same phobia with audiences turning up to see what the next movie might bring us. The PA franchise is on a similar winning run to the Friday the 13th franchise, punters know what the movie is about but want to see what happens next. Yes its fast food horror, but fast food on occasion can make mighty fine eating.

Conversely The Last Exorcism is coming at us with backwoods Fundos and devil worshippers, anyone else seeing the immediately difference? Hint, one is at least plausible if you are Lorraine Warren the other is melodramatic backwoods swamp tales.

Almost forgot I was writing a movie review here rather than a comparison between horror franchises, back to the bait and tackle. If there's one thing going for The Last Exorcism: Part II then that would be the tour de force actress Ashley Bell (Nell) brings to the lead character. Bell pretty much carries the movie and delivers on the at times naive country girl who has been exposed to one of the more horrendous things imaginable. The Actress also delivers pretty good evil eye when required. The rest of the cast ham it up or go over dramatic as Director Ed Gass-Donnelly doesn't even show a modicum of ability to get anything from his actors.

In case you needed to ask, zero on the T&A front besides some motel room moaning, and gorehounds will need to chase something else up a tree.

There's been a bit of debate on the title of the movie, The Last Exorcism: Part II, which on the surface appears pretty bloody stupid. However the first movie involved Cotton's last exorcsim this one doesn't, though how this one is a last exorcism remains unclear and of not much interest.

I was reasonably impressed with the first movie, which dialled in the exorcism mythology in a sort of subtle blend, while heading toward one of the weirder final scenes you are ever likely to experience. I was singularly less impressed with Part II that jettisons any attempts at making a solid movie for easily digestible chunks of nothingness. As I've stated before, listening to horror fans isn't the best way to make a decent horror movie, here the movie makers seemingly took onboard criticism of the first movie without noting the positive comments. We simply end up with a hash that doesn't satisfy anyone, no recommendation avoid this stain on the dark genre.