It was curiosity that drove me to this, and certainly not any worthwhile expectations. I watched 2018's 'Along came the devil' and frankly hated it, finding it dull and lagging even in the moments of would-be genre thrills; full of terrible dialogue, even the climax and ending, good on paper, couldn't make up for the rest of the preceding length. So why watch 'Along came the devil II?' Well, apparently I'm a glutton for punishment, and I'll watch just about anything. If nothing else it's nice to see that there's some continuity not just in the narrative, but in the people behind it, as filmmaker Jason DeVan returns, as well as some cast members. The thing is, even at its best, this is a very mixed bag, and it sort of loses track of itself.
It seems to me like the cast are making more of an effort here than they did in the prior picture, so there's that; maybe DeVan has just loosened the reins about to as to facilitate such progress. Perhaps with the benefit of having prior story to build off of, there's considerably more strange goings-on in the plot to keep viewers engaged. I like the sound effects, and the music, and the hair and makeup work is swell. I even think there are some solid ideas in the screenplay, and at select points - certainly more than I'd have anticipated based on the 2018 film - the horror elements are realized suitably well to elicit some earnest chills and thrills. Why, this sequel even boasts a measure of atmosphere as the runtime advances. In some key ways, I dare say this is a definite step up from its predecessor.
For whatever is sincerely done well, however, 'Along came the devil II' is also rife with other problems. What's peculiar is that while there's more happening in these ninety minutes compared to the first movie, there really isn't any more plot: we're rather presented with a loosely organized tableau of supernatural spookiness more than a concrete narrative. The central conceit, of possession and the emergence into the world of a demonic presence, gets bizarrely sidelined for long enough for us to forget it was there in the first place as a connection to the antecedent. The production design feels like a bizarre step down, and the production values generally - more vivid, on one hand, but on the other hand, more harshly glaring - and Jay Ruggieri's cinematography generally feels weirdly aloof and imprecise at many points. A preponderance of the dialogue and scene writing is blunt and heavy-handed, especially in the first two-thirds, lacking nuance; even the blood and gore feels overdone. Moreover, there a not insignificant part of the length that feels more like a conventional horror-thriller rather than a tale of possession and supernatural horror. Once it feels in the last minutes like we're back on track with a through-line from the first film - once again, though good and smart on paper, the ending is executed so brusquely that it just falls flat.
Against all odds I think this is genuinely better than the 2018 movie. It has some of the same flaws, and some new ones, but in the very least there's more here to keep our rudimentary interest, if not also actively engage us. Still, for it to be better - how much is that really saying? I'd love to speak more highly of this than I do, but more than anything I keep flashing back to the way that despite all effort to connect the two features in their narratives, that thread is dropped or at least invisible for no small part of the plot in this instance. 'Along came the devil II' seems to have been developed more completely before it went into production, and I appreciate that more care went into it - yet as both writer and director, DeVan illustrates gaps in his skill set that leave this wanting in too many ways. There are worse ways to spend your time, including this title's progenitor, but then, I'm not sure why you'd really be looking to spend time with this in the first place.
