I would say that it's unusual for these throw-away horror movies to be able to get the stars back for the sequel. This is even true of B-list actors or people who are really trying to get a foothold in movies from the doldrums of TV. There are situations where this isn't the case, but that is typically trilogies or duologies like Insidious and Insidious 2.
This movie starts off establishing Camilla Luddington as the heroine. She's a crime scene cleaner who is also dating a police officer (Scott Michael Foster) when she comes across a scene that may be a little too similar to the Judas serial killer from the previous movie. It is so similar, in fact, that the FBI profiler who is still in town from investigating the killer, played by Patrick Fischler, is called in to investigate.
After she calls Annie (the protagonist from the previous film) and leaves a voicemail, I wonder why they bothered to even mention it, as they clearly aren't going to... hold the phone. Caity Lotz came back for this movie. She didn't just come back, either. She came back to play second fiddle to Camilla and kind of mentor. It was nice to see her back, as she has decent acting talent and her return lends a certain amount of substance to this movie.
That said, the movie is slower than the first movie, there is less that is really explained, and they rely on the mystery of ghosts and possession and similar hokum to explain away the things that don't make sense. The problem is, there's a lot that doesn't make sense. One of the problems with giving ghosts this horrible, immense powers is that it never seems to make sense that they wouldn't just use them to slaughter the people they are torturing.
Camilla is the primary suspect for a good portion of the movie, and she kind of isn't sure if she's responsible for the killings, either. The fact that the spirits attached themselves to her brings up a whole heap of questions, and she and Caity run around trying to get answers for quite a while. There's a lot of rushing around, but there isn't a heap that is actually getting done.
Direction was okay
Acting was okay
Story was weak
Scare factor was moderate
Dialog was weak
Bottom Line: Direct-to-video quality that isn't as good as the middle-of-the-road movie it is a sequel to.
2.0/5