The 3rd Eye 2 (2019) by Rocky Soraya

Director: Rocky Soraya
Year: 2019
Country: Indonesia
Alternate Titles: Mata Batin 2
Genre: Ghosts

Plot:
After her sister's death, a woman goes to work at a friends' orphanage where she meets another teen with her ability at seeing ghosts and spirits, which they are forced to put to use when it becomes apparent a malicious spirit is haunting the area seeking revenge and must put a stop to it.

Review:

For the most part, this was quite an entertaining sequel. A lot of what works best for the film is the reliance and focus on some rather chilling and dark shock scenes that build quite a creepy atmosphere. A fine encounter between the two in their home at the beginning gives this a jolting start alongside the idea of what happens here killing off one of the major characters, while the confrontations around the orphanage are far more chilling. The investigation into the strange note she drew in her notebook sends them on a chase through the darkened library looking for clues to its meaning, while an outright chilling double-encounter where she and another child come face-to-face with different ghosts in separate rooms features fine suspense and great shocks. Likewise, a rather chilling action scene featuring the ghost tormenting the owners of the orphanage and eventually turning its wrath on the building itself throwing furniture around, knocking pictures off the wall, or threatening to bring the entire structure down all in front of children for a big, extended sequence. This allows for rather strong pacing keeping things interesting as the abundance of creepy ghost encounters keeps the film going.

Also rather fun is the return of the supernatural elements that were present in the first entry. Introducing a new character with the same powers as her sister allows this one to keep up the idea of being able to see ghosts and spirits around them using their Third Eye powers in a new setting while still offering the chance to keep up with the familiar elements in the storyline. Returning to the themes of retribution and revenge on the family member responsible for their death by haunting their place of death much like the original did, the slowly-unraveled mystery of the haunting allows for the two to utilize their powers of foresight to see what really happened to the characters to help speed the process along. As well, the return of the psychic from the first film to assist in astral projection and return to the spirit world full of bright colors and ravenous ghosts makes for a great continuation and cohesion into the universe which is greatly appreciated. All told, these here hold the film up as being enjoyable.

However, there are several major flaws with the film. The first issue is that much like the first entry, there's far too much emphasis on utilizing cliched jump-scares that are far too obvious in their setup. The first film featured way too many scenes of ghostly figures walking by quickly in the background or popping up unexpectedly and charging at a character, a trend which is repeated continuously throughout here. As well, another in the film is an annoying habit of having hands reach out from underneath beds or dressers pulling objects underneath only to disappear upon investigating the incident, which happens several times throughout the film and really wears out its welcome the more it's used. However, none of these hurt the film as much as the overlong and dragged out finale that feels like a repeat of the first one offering the return to the spirit world, overdrawn special effects work, and a last-second twist that sets up a potential third film which is unnecessary and feels like overkill by dragging out the running time ten to fifteen minutes too long by including this retreaded material. It's enough to lower the rating enough from the good elements presented beforehand.

Overview: ***.5/5
A slight but noticeable step down in quality from part 1, this one suffers in several areas but still manages to offer up the kind of enjoyable elements that make for a watchable effort. Those who enjoyed the first one should give this a go as well as fans of this style that takes heavy influence from American works while those that are turned off by this type of film should heed caution.

This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.