Review: ALONG CAME THE DEVIL 2 (2019)
I haven’t seen Along Came The Devil, but from what I can tell it was a low budget rip off of The Exorcist that didn’t impress a lot of people. Still, it must have done something right, because writer/director Jason DeVan and distributor Gravitas Ventures are back with Along Came The Devil 2.
Along Came The Devil 2 opens with an impressive jump scare and a nice bit of gore before getting into the plot. Jordan (Laura Wiggins, Rings) returns home after getting a strange call from her sister Ashley who was the focus of the Devil’s attention in the original. When she gets there however she’s met by Reverend Michael (Bruce Davison, Itsy Bitsy, Willard) and her estranged father Mark (Mark Ashworth, Assassinaut). They tell her that Dr. Carraz (Ahmed Lucan) has taken her and Tanya, (another character from the first film), out of town for treatment.
Staying with her dad and his new wife it doesn’t take long for Jordan to notice odd goings-on. Her stepbrother Xander (Cassius DeVan, The Girl) has a habit of talking to an invisible friend. He also seems to have picked up quite the potty mouth, asking Reverend Michael “What the fuck are you doing?” when he sees him spreading salt around the family house.
Granted I’d probably ask him the same thing, but I’m not a young boy from a devout family either. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Devil has come back down to Georgia and he’s still looking for some souls to steal.
No matter how bad the original was I can’t imagine it being as dull as its sequel. After the opening scare, the first hour is all talk. Apart from a couple of brief flashbacks we’re told, not shown, everything. Some of the creepy goings-on would certainly have helped keep the film interesting. A breakdown in church complete with bleeding from the eyes, somebody having their tongue bitten off, etc. Instead, we’re very blandly told about them.
Finally, at the hour mark, we get a couple more good scares and I was hoping Along Came The Devil 2 would at least go out on a strong note. And, after a couple of weak scares, it does suddenly remember it’s a horror movie. It even tosses a fairly graphic, (for a mainstream film), dose of necrophilia at the audience.
Along Came The Devil 2 ends with an obvious setup for a third film. The problem is that’s also where it should have been by the halfway point of the film. If a third film happens and is more like the last act it could be worth a watch. But this one takes way to long to get to the horror.
Gravitas Ventures will release Along Came The Devil 2 in theaters and on VOD and Digital on October 11th. You can get details on the film’s Facebook page.