Director: Stephen Cognetti
Year: 2018
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After the disappearance of their friends, a documentary group looking to investigate the goings-on of the previous people who disappeared return to the supposedly haunted hotel to find out for sure only to become embroiled in the same deranged series of encounters that befell the other group.
Review:
For the most part, this was a decidedly decent if somewhat underwhelming follow-up. One of the stronger aspects featured here is the opening half which devotes an incredibly enjoyable amount of time to setting up the aftermath of the original. The fact that there's a hint of realism featured here as to how the media would handle such a situation with the talking-head TV shows and investigative pieces that look into the history and people involved. This gives the film a solid base to tie into the previous entry as the second half delves into the new group entering the hotel and getting stranded inside. There's a generally creepy air throughout the hotel as they engage in their filming and find the area just as creepy as before with the endless corridors, never-ending maze of dead-ends, and mind-games that shouldn't be there including the reappearing props or power changes that are quite prominent at the location.
As well, the encounters with the ghosts are rather enjoyable and creepy, managing to work in some great moments here. The hitchhikers encounter the one spirit on the highway and take her to the hotel where they have a chilling encounter there is a fantastic start to this, while the mysterious figures in the photographs and video footage are incredibly creepy when they manage to just pop up unexpectedly to freak them out. There's a rather enjoyable air of relentlessness at that point where it just sends ghouls and various figures they know shouldn't be there which adds a lot to the film as a whole. Most of the creepiness comes from the deranged look of the ghouls which are quite creepy, and overall these are more than enough to hold this up over its few main flaws.
The film's biggest issue is the finale where it's a major letdown from the previous entry as the full revelation of what the entity's looking for and how they're there are just lame and not all that impressive. It's just underwhelming to know that's the full extent of their purpose for being invited and really just smacks of being an afterthought which isn't the case with the original which had a more pronounced and effective atmosphere. It's also rather complicated in its set-up as to the cutting back-and-forth to the interview segments in the studio and back to their exploits in the hotel itself which is distracting with seeing them alive and then being tortured split seconds later, making the overall presentation if not the setup being quite disorienting. Otherwise, there's not much else to this one.
Overview: ***/5
An enjoyable enough follow-up with a lot to like about it, this one is a bit of an underwhelming entry compared to the entry before it while still being quite fun on its own. Those who are intrigued by this type of presentation, are big fans of the found-footage genre or are fans of the genre will have the most to enjoy here while most others out there might want to heed caution.
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