The Last Exorcism Part II Review

Director: Ed Gass-Donnelly.

Cast: Ashley Bell, Julia Garner, Spencer Treat Clark, David Jensen, Tarra Riggs, Louis Herthum, Muse Watson, Erica Michelle, Sharice A. Williams, Boyana Balta.

Running time: 88 minutes.

Certificate: 15.

Synopsis: After the events of the first film, Nell Sweetzer is found alive and taken to a psychiatric care home to help her deal with her post traumatic stress. But how much does she remember? And is the demon Abalam still looking for her?

THE LAST EXORCISM should be remembered as an awesome found footage exorcism film as opposed to the poorly constructed and non-thrilling THE DEVIL INSIDE. It did everything right, including giving us a fantastic protagonist that we grew to care about as he battled with his faith and the horror that gradually crept its way into the narrative. With its great use of the found footage format, it was a huge surprise and one that was highly deserving of a sequel. Well this is certainly a sequel, but one that doesn’t do much to measure up to its predecessor.

THE LAST EXORCISM PART II takes the bold step of dropping the found footage format altogether. This could have been a great chance to throw off the confines of such a genre and explore the mythology in much more detail. Ironically, the film seems even more insular despite having the freedom to go where it wants. Ashley Bell gives a brilliant performance yet again, but she wasn’t the focus last time. Preacher Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) was, and it was through him and his camera that we got to know Nell and her family. Part II keeps all the attention on Nell and as a result, isn’t as interesting. Playing with the idea of a dark past doesn’t quite work when the last film showed us everything. It also stays restricted to a small area, most notably a familiar house with less character than Nell’s family farmhouse that appears to be a recycled horror set.

It may be unfair to compare the film to the last entry, but even on its own it’s a regular possession tale that is interchangeable with countless other horror titles. The scares are forced and predictable, with fake outs, dream sequences and everyone thinking the protagonist is crazy – one has to wonder why the film is so terrified of entering new territory. Assuming the audience is familiar with the prequel, all they’ll see here is a story that we’ve seen before. We know all about Abalam and the possession, yet the film takes so long to get to the point where the last one left off. It’s all a bit one step forward and two steps back, apart from the final few minutes which finally show us something new and dangerous.

Bell deserves a lot of credit for jumping from the naturalistic found footage style of acting into a traditional performance that doesn’t seem out of place. She works as both the naive and innocent Nell and her possessed alter ego, with her jittery subtleties clearly demonstrating the fear with which the girl must live. Elsewhere, the cast are barely memorable, with Nell thrust into a house full of girls from 80s music videos, and some elderly doctor bloke who doesn’t seem to do anything. Even when characters discover video of Nell contorting on YouTube, the plot plays it safe and has all the side characters shrug off the event.

Although the film struggles through its running time with a competent level of production, it will fade from the consciousness of all who see it. It’s not a film that deserves hate, but it’s just a shame that a film spawned from something so fresh can’t squeeze in a single memorable scene, scare, or funny bit of dialogue.

THE LAST EXORCISM PART II is released in UK cinemas today.