"The Last Exorcism 2" would like you to know that the following things are totally evil:
New Orleans, blues music, heavy metal, parades, street performers, red boots, radios, old blues singers, boys, sex (both heterosexual and homosexual), thin hotel walls, flies, morphine, drugs, TVs, and chickens.
I could make a joke about how they also would like you to know the word "Last" is evil as well because it apparently doesn't really mean anything when the first movie makes a decent amount of money.
The amazing bendable Nell (Ashley Bell) is back from her first failed exorcism which (we believe) involved a demon baby being thrown into the fire. Or something. Who knows? While the first "Last Exorcism" was entertaining, creepy, and memorable it did not end in a way that made all that much sense. Luckily (said without a hint of sarcasm), the second "Last Exorcism" also is just shrugs at you when you try to make sense of it. The plot involves Nell being found in an unnamed couple's house and being taken into a mental institution. Eventually she is moved to a women's shelter. While there, Nell begins to think her demonic possession didn't really happen. She starts a new life in the city where she has a job, multi-ethnic friends (two unnamed African Americans who talk about sex! a blonde possible-lesbian with curly hair who loves generic rock music!), and even takes a shining to a boy who works with her. All is not well in what is arguably the most evil city in the United States/world. Nell starts seeing visions and having sexy dreams. Could she truly be haunted by a demon? Might she simply be going through puberty at age 17? Either way it is going to be creepy sexy/sexy creepy.
Don't take my silly plot synopsis as a knock against the film. "The Last Exorcism 2" is cheesy, B-movie fun. It is akin to the horror films of the 80s with their small budgets, no-name actors, odd locals, and poorly-filmed deaths. You can almost see the VHS box art that you walk past and laugh thinking "Wait... how can it be the SECOND LAST Exorcism". You would rent it on a whim along with movies like "Troll 2" and "Chopping Mall". It is almost as if director Ed Gass-Donnely knew he was making a goofy horror film. There are several laugh-out-loud moments that seem to be intentional. Things happen for no real reason and they lead up to a climax that will have you wondering what in the world is happening off-screen. It might be the first movie to make me ask "Did... did that character become a tiger... who can set things on fire?"
Ashley Bell again does a good job with the character of Nell. We genuinely care about her and can totally see her as a confused small-town girl. She isn't given quite as much room to play around with her character as she had in the first one. While the film film showed the extreme normality and extreme creepiness of her character, Bell spends almost the entire movie repressing any true feelings. It is not just another showcase of how she can contort her body.
"The Last Exorcism 2" is not without faults. It does drag for the first 30 minutes as it tries weakly to create tension and spookiness out of the New Orleans location. There are a handful of CGI additions to the film that seem tacky and cheap. It would also have been better for this movie to have visible wires holding objects and people up. The film would have had a charm much like that of 2009's low-budget cult film "The House of the Devil". That movie went so far as to show the roots of 80s horror films that it even had a limited edition VHS pressing. It makes you wonder if "Last Exorcism 2" would have benefited more from more of a wink and a nudge to the horror audience.
While "Last Exorcism 2" doesn't rise to the heights of a movie like "House of the Devil" or "Drag Me to Hell" or even attempt to match the genuine creepiness of the first film, it is an entertaining silly 80-minute movie that would be right at home in a cheesy horror movie double feature.
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