The Last Exorcism Part II

Picking up where the first film left off, this tedious sequel drops the "found footage" format for a visually straightforward narrative that barely rises above the scarily conventional. After gaining internet fame as "Crazy possessed girl in woods", Ashley Bell attempts to recover from her ordeal in a New Orleans halfway house. She receives ghostly warnings from her deceased dad, and it seems that the demon Abalam is still determined to seduce her to the dark side. If only we cared. Director Ed Gass-Donnelly slowly builds up the menace with false frights and sudden sounds, but unfortunately the audience is ahead of him every step of the predictable way. There is some novelty in the spiritual warfare that erupts between Catholicism and voodoo, implying that belief itself, not religious denomination, is what counts in the exorcism ritual. However, too much meandering around and a lack of genuine creepiness doom this tepidly spooky experience.