The Last Exorcism Part 2

If someone mentioned the name Eli Roth, most people would probably think of Hostel. At the time upon the release, he got a lot of publicity and critisism, about his movie about americans being butchered in a Hostel, located near Bratislava. Personally i enjoyed it, for the most part. 2 more sequels followed, wow....what a surprise. But it was not until Eli Roth decided to change path, and work as a producer on the low budget motion picture The Last Exorcism, where he really hit the right spot. Together with talented director Daniel Stamm, they managed to create an exorcism movie, that looked very different from many others in this genre, and still managed to deliver something fresh. Let´s not forget to mention the lead actress Ashley Bell, she was fantastic as the posessed girl Nell. The movie became a huge box office hit, and critics applauded, i was one of them. Finally an exorcism story we could be proud of watching. A while after all the success, rumours about a sequel started to circulate round the internet. And now it is finally here. This time Daniel Stamm did not stay as the director, instead Ed-Gass Donnely took over. Quite an interesting choice, since he directed the decent Small Town Murder Songs with Peter Stormare, where he did one of his best characters in a very long time. So, with a talented director taking on a sequel of a acclaimed motion picture, does The Last Exorcism Part 2 manage to find the right balance to be a worthy sequel, or is this another proof what happends when you become desperate ?

Nell Sweetzer ( Ashley Bell ) is taken to a hospital. After being found squatting next to the refrigerator, a decision is made to help her. She is placed in Frank´s Home, a place where Frank Merle ( Muse Watson ), help teenage girls with problems to get back on their feet. Nell gets a job, cleaning hotel rooms, and seem to be doing better. She even have a boy named Chris ( Spencer Treat Clark ), who says he likes her. Nell feels better than ever, finally she have some new friends, and possibly a new boyfriend. But suddenly strange things begin to happen again. At a costume parade, she notice masked men is watching her. As more events are happening, Nell begin to feel that the demon Abalam may have come back.

It is such a shame. Ashley Bell once again delivers a solid performance on screen, but this motion picture is way too predictable and ordinary to be happy about. I was hoping that director Ed-Gass Donnely would give us a interesting story of how Nell can go on with her life, but this is way too simple to be a sequel. Some interesting ideas are here, but not very effectively put together. I am very dissapointed. I really enjoyed the first motion picture, and Ashley Bell is a very talented actress indeed. Too bad they could not give her something better to handle than this. I suggest you watch the first one, it is without a doubt one of recent years better exorcism movies released. I really hope Eli Roth does not produce a third one, if he does he better make sure we get something better than this.

Rating: DD