The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Our faith in the en vogue supernatural-horror genre is near its end. In the hands of relatively unknown and inexperienced Canadian director, Ed Gass-Donnelly, and novice screenwriter, Damien Chazelle, The Last Exorcism Part II is, as expected, neither scary nor worth your precious time.

For those who are unfamiliar with the original, don’t despair; the film starts off with a quick recap of the events of 2010’s, The Last Exorcism.

Part two opens with dishevelled Louisiana country girl, Nell Sweetzer (Bell) – who in the first part is the victim of a demonic force named Abalam – squatting on the kitchen floor of a random private residence in New Orleans.  Completely unaware of her surroundings, or how she got there, the authorities quickly step in and take Nell to a shelter for troubled teenage girls, where a quick diagnosis proclaims Nell as a delusional victim of some random cult abuse.

Over the course of a few months, Nell starts to adapt to her new life well. She takes on a job as a housekeeper at a nearby motel and even strikes up a relationship with co-worker, Chris (Treat Clark). However, strange dreams, and full blown hallucinations, soon begin to haunt her making Nell question whether the demonic powers of Abalam are still at large. 

At this point, Gass-Donnelly decides to break away from the confinement of the first-person handicam viewpoint – heavily practiced in the original – and takes on the more traditional third-person point of view. The found-footage effect has already long outstayed its welcome and the move from the director is commendable, but this daring shift doesn’t count for too much when you don’t have a substantial storyline to back it up.

What’s the biggest problem? Well, everything really.  From the wafer-thin plotline, piled with cheap scares, to the random, superfluous characters who needlessly complicate and stifle the film, Bell is the only saving grace of this otherwise dim-witted production.  Breathing life into the story, Bell is a commanding force whose acting abilities – like everything else that went into this production – could have been put to much better use.

On the whole, if you’re into cheap scares and don’t really give a hoot whether the story really makes any sense, then go for it.  If not, stay far away; it might convince the producers to refrain from making a third part.