ALONG CAME THE DEVIL 2 / CERT: UNRATED / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JASON DEVAN / STARRING: LAURA SLADE WIGGINS, BRUCE DAVISON, MARK ASHWORTH, CASSIUS DEVAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (VOD)
There is something endearing about low-budget horror films. Ingenuity is pushed to the limit and the effort earns a lot of goodwill. Along Came the Devil 2 is visibly strapped for cash, yet it shows so little imagination it comes across not as plucky, but as dull and exasperating.
A sequel to Exorcist knock-off Along Came the Devil, only a couple of the actors from the original return and none of those are the main ones. The follow-up focuses on Jordan Winbourne (Laura Slade Wiggins), older sister of Ashley, the protagonist of the previous chapter who was possessed but the devil. Not some random demon, but the devil himself (slow day in hell, one presumes).
After receiving some alarming text messages from her sibling, Jordan heads back to her hometown to locate Ashley and their aunt. She encounters the local priest (Bruce Davison) –who answers to everything obliquely – and her long-lost dad, a recovering alcoholic with a violent streak. As Jordan tries to put together the events that preceded her arrival, the devil plans another attack against her family. Seriously, you would think Satan should have something better to do with his time.
There is a critical problem in Along Came the Devil 2 that handicaps the entire film: if you saw the first movie, the time Jordan takes to figure out the situation (nearly an hour and she still doesn’t get the full picture) is painfully dull. For those who didn’t watch the original, the setup seems stretched beyond reason just so that the film can reach feature length.
ACTD2 perks up in the final thirty minutes, but even then the scares are sparse and uninspired. The film comes short in internal logic (the devil is impervious to bullets but not sharp objects?) and all but abandons the religious element that had been the original’s saving grace. The plot and dialogue are boilerplate at best. At worst, you have exchanges like “she has the same demon…” “you mean, personal demons?”
The acting is passable, but nothing to write home about. Poor Bruce Davison is saddled with an inconsistent character that at a critical moment chooses to get drunk instead of helping. Davison is allowed to ham it up though, and his excesses become the one watchable thing of this venture.
Writer / director Jason DeVan has the chutzpah to end the movie by setting up part three. It’s not hard to imagine ACTD2 making its meager budget back and triggering another sequel. Whether he should is an entirely different question.
