In 2010, The Last Exorcism was released and became a sleeper hit. Even though it wasn't a perfect horror film, it actually had some redeeming qualities including a unique take on a worn out genre and a great performance from newcomer Ashley Bell. The first one was creepy, fun and an enjoyable spin on demonic possession. The feature went on to gross $40 million domestically on a fledgling budget of only $2 million. Of course the studio wanted a sequel.
What made the original a stand out in the found footage film making trend is completely missing from the second movie. While Ashley Bell still out performs her cast mates, the film is lacking all the qualities that made the original so entertaining. It's the exact same thing that happened with The Blair Witch Project 2. They started the franchise one way, but then decided to abandon a semi-successful recipe for something we've seen over and over again. From the onset of the film you can tell something is off. Much like Paco Plaza did with [REC]3, they decided to abandon handheld shooting and aimed for a more standard style of filming. This automatically messes up the continuity of the two films and was a needless distraction.
The Last Exorcism II trudges along doing its best to squeeze in every horror movie trope but fails at every miserable turn. There is nothing scary about the movie except the terrible, cliched script. Other than a few typical demonic highlights, the movie has nothing to offer that you haven't seen before. Horror is supposed to scare its viewer, making them uncomfortable through the use of tension and violence. The only thing that's scaring me is that this might make some money on blu ray giving the studio the bright idea to green light another one of these movies.