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| A self-ironic poster for Ed Gass-Donnelly's The Last Exorcism Part 2, which fails because it may make people believe that they are in for a spoof comedy |
This is a follow-up to the successful found-footage possession horror movie The Last Exorcism (2010), which also starred Ashley Bell (Novitiate (2017)).
Films are much about the expectations they raise, and how those expectations are met, and my expectations for The Last Exorcism Part 2 were not high, to put it mildly. The title in itself is laughable. Any 'Last' something obviously shouldn't have a Part 2
The corny poster design is in line with this concept, which would make one expect a horror comedy.
With these thoughts I embarked on watching the film, and I was positively surprised to find that it has a (mostly) coherent plot. And is set in New Orleans, with the obligatory parade, and a visit to the zoo, which looks awesome.
And the premise for the plot is even a fresh angle on possession films:
The formerly possessed cult young woman is moved to a home for troubled girls, whom she connects with, and she tries to come back to normal life and pays attention to the home leader's atheism, and even gets a strange boyfriend, but, lo and behold; the demon is still there.
The troubled girls' home isn't really used for any of the many things that it might have been used for horror-wise, and you never get to know any of the girls, (in fact, they don't seem like troubled girls at all.)
The romance is stale and lacks chemistry and energy. Bell has an interesting look and possessed act that holds our attention for most of the film, even if she's 26 while playing a 17 year-old, and even though many of the scare scenes disappoint. They are not that scary and/or are not staged right. Despite the indication in the poster, the film doesn't have any new sensational effects or particularly grueling scenes. (Besides one scene in which the girl floats to the ceiling while asleep and sexually aroused.)
The beginning of the film was confusing to me; it seems that the girl suddenly appears in the home of a young couple? After which this scene seems to have no relation at all to the rest of the film. Then there are the flashbacks, which are too many, and not the old-fashioned kind of flashbacks that tell us something specific, but mostly the more modern kind with flashing lights and screaming so that audiences that have not seen the first The Last Exorcism (...) will only gather that the girl has already been through something horrible in her past. (And why else would she be at the troubled girls' home in the first place, we might interject with some reason.)
SPOILER Then comes the central exorcism scene that the girl willingly agrees to. This is a kind of black magic-inspired exorcism, in line with the New Orleans setting. It has by this point been established that the demon loves the girl and therefore does not want to leave her. But in the exorcism, the trio of mystics throwing around salt and other things intend to say mystic words and then lure the demon out of its beloved subject to live, instead, in a wild chicken that they have brought with them for the purpose. This questionable plan understandably fails.
The ending is not scary and a major let-down for anyone mildly invested in the film.
But with the proper, incredibly low expectations, you will not be too disappointed by The Last Exorcism part 2, which however definitely lets down the expectations of self-aware humor set by its title and poster.
The film is written by Damien Chazelle (Grand Piano (2013)) and co-writer/director/editor Ed Gass-Donnelly (This Beautiful City (2007))
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Watch a short trailer for the movie here
Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 25 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 5 times its cost)
[The Last Exorcism Part 2 was released 28 February (Russia) and runs 88 minutes. Shooting took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release Jack the Giant Slayer, holdover hit Identity Thief, new release 21 & Over and holdover hit Snitch, to a 7.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 15.1 mil. $ (60.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Brazil with 1.5 mil. $ (6 %) and France with 1.2 mil. $ (4.8 % ). Though successful commercially, the film's gross is far from the 1.8 mil. $ first film's 67.7 mil. $ gross. Gass-Donnelly returned with The Determinist (2014, short) and theatrically with Lavender (2016). Bell returned in Sparks (2013). The Last Exorcism Part 2 is rotten at 15 % with a 3.58/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Last Exorcism Part 2?
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