3/10
Great ending to an okay film
20 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
"Devil in the Flesh 2" is a really lackluster and disappointing sequel.

**SPOILERS**

After her affections are turned down, Debbie Strong, (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) escapes from a mental asylum and goes on the run, managing to wind up at Holmby College and winds up falling for English Teacher Sam Deckner, (Jsu Garcia) the writer of a book she liked. Settling in, she finds out about his girlfriend Carla Briggs, (Katherine Kendall) and plots to get together with him. As she endears herself to the other students of the campus with her fiery appearance, a string of murders around the school has the local authorities baffled. When her attitude starts to rub off on others, who make fun of her for the crush she has on her teacher, she lashes out and begins to take out her frustrations on those who stand in the way of her obsession.

The Good News: This here wasn't that bad at all. One of the film's biggest improvements over the first one is the fact that the body count is a lot bigger. Rather than a few deaths all at the end, this one puts in a couple here and there, really making the psycho seem a lot more ruthless than before. The kills are a little more brutal than before, further adding to the deranged feel of the killer. One is thrown a hair-dryer inside a shower and electrocuted, another has a wood with nails in it swung into the forehead, a syringe to the neck and a metal coil impaled in the back and coming out the front. In addition to the deaths, there's some slashings and stabbings, as well as a gunshot wound, really amp up the gore factor of the film. The only other part of the film that is above average is the final showdown, which has some really good stalking scenes utilizing some of the best suspense in the film. With the darkened hallways, noises and characters popping out of nowhere, it's one of the best scenes in the film, and aside from the kills, the reason to see this one.

The Bad News: This here is a really troublesome film. One of the worst problems is that everything is exaggerated to the point of gleeful self-parody. The victim whose identity the heroine adopts doesn't just meet an untimely end, the sequence includes a part where she yells out a series of profanities, then she accidentally gasses herself with pepper spray and becomes impaled on a metal coil, all in one swift gesture. This is way too over-the-top for what could've been done in a way simpler motive rather than this. As it is, it looks like the victim is a brain-dead klutz who doesn't know how to work anything, and this is just too over-the-top to really be anything more than that. Similarly, she doesn't just corrupt her mousy roommate, she introduces her to drinking, Internet porn, manslaughter, and bi-curiosity, all in one eventful evening. This is all conducted a little too much. Had it been spread out over a little further over the time period of the film would've been more believable. The way it's presented here, it makes her seem way too sleazy and pushy for someone who we are supposed to be the heroine. The other big nagging problem with this one is that there is very little done that would propel the romance forward. There's a chance encounter in the parking lot, a book meeting and one class session, and this results in the hardcore crush in the film. This really should've used more events to build things up. This one really should've been the introduction and then built up the romance from that, only for this one to just use the above set-up to carry the romance and ensuing jealousy. There's also a couple of really useless scenes. One is a silly erotic dream scene that seems all the more gratuitous for the distracting obviousness of the fact that she has refused to take her clothes off. It's quite obvious this is occurring, and it really ruins what is happening in the moment. The events at the end to regain the upper-hand in the romance are excruciating to watch, and don't have any real value to be there. All in all, this is a very uninspired sequel.

The Final Verdict: With a lot of problems and a couple of reasons for recommendations, this is a really lackluster sequel to a really weak original. This is really only recommended to those looking for some cheap sleaze or fans of the first one, otherwise this is a skip-able movie.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence, Nudity and several mild sex scenes
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