HELL HOUSE 2: THE ABADDON HOTEL (2018)

The first 'Hell House' entry was a pleasant surprise of found footage, creepy settings, Halloween haunts, and a nice combo of realism and paranormal that didn't go overboard...so where do you go from there? Try to expand the mythos? Try to have lightning strike twice with a new cast? They did just this;...get a new batch of video-hounds to record some creepy things and also determine what happened with the events previously. We get a differnet sort of narrative this time; with sequences going back and forth between this new batch of folks and news segments explaining what's going on as well as analyzing the events from the previous film. While most of the tricks that worked in the first outing are reused for this venture, they aren't quite as effective this go-round. Not to fault this flick specifically, it's just the typical sequel-itus that happens when things aren't as fresh as seeing them the first time. Same found footage, same clowns, same weird atmosphere; we also get a backstory into one of the leaders mentioned in the first outing which leads to the climax of this one. The first was going to be a tough bar to top, and while this is more of the same...just not quite as great. See it to get additional mythology exposure but temper expecations.

SLASH SCENE: Tully!

SLASH SCORE: 3.5/5