Review of Art of the Devil 2 (2005) by Krista B — 20 Jul 2008

I was disappointed in this one, having rented it after seeing all the good reviews it had gotten. I think perhaps it suffered from "too many cooks" syndrome, as the fact that it had seven directors was strikingly apparent--the pacing and composition felt rather scattered and jumbled most of the time. Not to mention the fact that every time it felt like the film could have ended, it instead dragged on, almost as if each director wanted their own shot at an ending.

The screenplay itself had some rather ludicrous/unbelievable moments (how do you NOT notice you've just spooned an entire eyeball into your mouth?), but overall just wasn't scary. Especially not that damn chanting, which was by turns simply annoying at best, and downright comical at worst, sounding at times like that finger-lip flapping sound effect from old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Oh, and Thai cops must have access to freakin' teleportation technology, because they reacted nigh-instantaneously, following a phone call.

Overall, AotD2 tries to pack too much into its already-tedious running time, without any strong/believable characters to back it all up. If you're looking for a good revenge story, watch something like "Oldboy," and leave this subpar ghost story on the shelf.