Is this the greatest horror ever made? No.
Is it the worst? Absolutely not.
So it's not the most groundbreaking film, but it's a pretty good sequel to the original film. Let's look at some of the previous efforts in comparison: one will a doll's house, another with an old clock, not to mention the asylum one... all absolutely terrible, with tenuous links to the original story. With this film, it's set in the house (and a pretty good replica it is too) the floor plan is based on the actual house rather than the film version, which perhaps has confused viewers of the original version as the interior was very different, it uses apparent news footage of the Defeo murders, and heavily refers to the book and films made about the supernatural history. This is an absolutely deserved sequel.
The story isn't bad. Some will say that there wasn't enough horror and scares, and that it focused too much on the family, but but for me that made it more successful. The comments about the possession happening too quickly I think is a bit of a misunderstanding. My view is that the events of the film took place over a longer period than immediately evident.
The only real criticism I have is about Jennifer Jason Leigh. Having watched her in a few films over the last few years, she has an air of boredom about each role, with not a huge range of emotion displayed on her face.
I would be interested in seeing what the film was supposed to have looked like before it was cut, but while I think some of the criticism has been about the visual effects (seriously, watch the scene with the bats in 'The Doll' of you want terrible effects!),y feeling is that the cut elementay have included more of these which may have been a detriment to the end result.
Watch with an open mind. It's not half bad.
Is it the worst? Absolutely not.
So it's not the most groundbreaking film, but it's a pretty good sequel to the original film. Let's look at some of the previous efforts in comparison: one will a doll's house, another with an old clock, not to mention the asylum one... all absolutely terrible, with tenuous links to the original story. With this film, it's set in the house (and a pretty good replica it is too) the floor plan is based on the actual house rather than the film version, which perhaps has confused viewers of the original version as the interior was very different, it uses apparent news footage of the Defeo murders, and heavily refers to the book and films made about the supernatural history. This is an absolutely deserved sequel.
The story isn't bad. Some will say that there wasn't enough horror and scares, and that it focused too much on the family, but but for me that made it more successful. The comments about the possession happening too quickly I think is a bit of a misunderstanding. My view is that the events of the film took place over a longer period than immediately evident.
The only real criticism I have is about Jennifer Jason Leigh. Having watched her in a few films over the last few years, she has an air of boredom about each role, with not a huge range of emotion displayed on her face.
I would be interested in seeing what the film was supposed to have looked like before it was cut, but while I think some of the criticism has been about the visual effects (seriously, watch the scene with the bats in 'The Doll' of you want terrible effects!),y feeling is that the cut elementay have included more of these which may have been a detriment to the end result.
Watch with an open mind. It's not half bad.