Director: Andrea M. Catinella
Year: 2024
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Hearing of a potential show idea, the crew of a paranormal investigation show heads to a remote island rumored to be covered with creepy dolls to look into the cause of mysterious incidents there, only to learn the entire concept was a ruse to allow a distraught father to steal their soul for his daughter.
Review:
While this might be a better entry than the original, it’s not a high bar to climb. The wholesale change to the storyline offering up the idea of the crew coming to the island so that they can be eliminated and the host can be used to host the soul of his dead daughter, comes as a solid change of pace from the original. Rather than the ghostly interactions and haunted nature of the original, the change to a more grounded and human protagonist attempting occult works brings up a different tone and concept for the sequel. Even though this storyline itself might be a highly cliched and unoriginal setup, the infusion of this idea against the still creepy location and environment makes for some intriguing enough elements within here.
However, there’s still not a whole lot here to enjoy. Much like the original, the pacing here is an abject trainwreck with some of the most glacially-slow dialog scenes trying to spell out the history of the island, the concept of their show, or the scenes around the island trying to hook up with each other that it never manages to build any kind of energy or enthusiasm for what’s happening. Given the inherently stupid nature of the plot involving the human sacrifice and the various occult means at play involving the attempt to prepare everyone for their quest, the film just plods along with much of anything happening at the expense of the genuine genre thrills due to the lack of kills or gore on display.
That also accounts for the rest of the issues with the storyline here, which are just nonsensical and mean practically nothing here. There’s little reasoning behind the need for the helper to be wearing the plastic doll mask that they chose, which makes that character redundant even more compared to the other assistant putting in the work to carry out the sacrificial ritual. The whole purpose of everything is so lame and lackluster that it never comes close to being reasonable enough to work as a worthwhile motivation. As well, with the comically inept confrontation scenes offering no real energy or enthusiasm, completely moronic concepts for how they’re supposed to play off, and a confusing ending that doesn’t explain much, there’s a lot of issues to be had with this one.
Overview: */5
A slight improvement on the original if still heavily flawed sequel, this one has a lot of issues that hold it down from the rest of the genre efforts out there, as it still manages to include quite a few of the same issues as the other film. Those with an appreciation for this style or the creative crew are the only ones who should give this a shot, while most others out there should heed such extreme caution as to outright avoid it.
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