Movie Review – The Last Exorcism Part II
It has always been my belief that neither the word “last” nor any of its derivatives should ever appear in a movie title. Ever. Putting “last” in your film title invites sequel opportunities, which makes the title oxymoronic at best and laughable to the point of asphyxiation at the absolute worst. Case in point: The Last Exorcism Part II.
Ashley Bell reprises her role as girl-next-door-contortionist-occasional-target-of-demonic-possession, Nell Sweetzer. She’s trying to rebuild her life months after the events of the first film. Blessedly, it isn’t shot in the found-footage format of its predecessor, but is a classical narrative, in the loosest sense of the term. Nell can’t really remember the exorcism-cum-slaughter that occurred a couple of months ago and has moved away from Ivanwood. But, that tricky devil didn’t get the memo, and soon, Nell is playing one-person Twister with the best of them.
From beginning to end, this film is just a disaster. In no particular order, a dude slits his own throat, a father tries to kill his daughter, people who clearly died in the first movie are inexplicably brought back to life, a dozen people fall into full-body seizures, a house full of girls get burned alive, and someone literally rides off into the sunset. Trying to keep track of this film’s frenetic pace is headache inducing, and trying to make sense of what you watched is just bloody well impossible.
I tried really hard to like this movie. I’m a fan of Eli Roth’s work, and I’m always game for a good demonic possession flick. The problem is that it’s so fundamentally wrong. I don’t even know who I could recommend this movie to – I have no idea who this movie is being marketed to. Fans of gratuitous amounts of violence, demonic possession, or the masochistic fetish that you must have to put yourself through the torture of going to see this film in the theatre are all guaranteed to be nothing less than in a murderous fury by the time the credits roll. If getting that angry about stupid shit is your idea of a good time, then skip the movie; we’re hanging out, instead.
Kyle Leitch
A&C Writer
Photo by Kyle Leitch
