Ashley Bell’s fears come back to haunt her in The Last Exorcism Part II.The Last Exorcism Part II (2013)
Certified: 16
Duration: 88 minutes
Director: Ed Gass-Donelly
Starring: Ashley Bell, Julia Garner, Spencer Treat Clark, Muse Watson, Louis Herthum, David Jensen, Tara Riggs
KRS release
Nell (Ashley Bell) is a 17-year-old girl who has been through a lot. She had been possessed by a demon and her family is all dead as a consequence.
She is now living in a home for girls in New Orleans. Frank (Muse Watson), who runs the place, thinks he can help her start a new life.
He actually believes she was not really possessed but that her behaviour was a result of the way she was brought up.
Meanwhile, Nell makes friends with Gwen (Julia Garner), who is starting to fall in love, and Chris (Spencer Treat Clark) who seems to be in love with her.
That is when the weirdness starts to kick in. Some things look trivial but when her dead father Louis (Louis Herthum) starts showing up and warns her that the demon is back for her, things get really serious. She finds help from Cecile (Tara Riggs), a woman from the town.
This second film is overall better than the first instalment released in 2010. This one opts for a more traditional take than the previous release which had taken the route of the lost footage genre.
This fact may divide fans of the first film, however, Part II has a better suspense build-up, a greater number of scares and is propelled forward by performances that are quite convincing. Bell is the film’s ace in the sleeve as she seems to be genuine in her role.
Director Ed Gass-Donnelly brings the right tone and touch to deliver a well-composed and structured movie.
He manages to handle the all-familiar plot in a solid manner and still produce the obligatory jolt-inducing episodes. He combines this with a peeling away of Nell’s outermost layers to reveal her humanity and inner core which is then assaulted with the chaos.
The unusual exorcism at the end breaks from tradition and places Nell in a very unusual situation.
Whether we will get a third sequel and let the demon Abalam play his chaotic games once again depends on this low-budget film’s intake at the box office.