Anna 2

I wish I woulda known it was some sort of sequel to Anna. However, I definitely enjoyed it cuz I walked into it knowing it was low budget and probably hilarious. It did not disappoint in the comedic aspect. Then suddenly, shit takes a turn!! I didn't really know where the plot was going, but enjoyed the ride getting lost.

I really enjoyed this gem. The characters are all likeable and there is a lot of humour, at times campy. The settings are very low budget, but filmed well. There are actually a few intense horror scenes/scenarios, and the monster effects were awesome! Definitely recommend.

Devil's Fairground aka Anna 2, is obviously a low budget horror film. It could've been better, but too slow a pace and no logic really ended up dropping the score for me.

Plot

Starring Justin Duncan, Gerald Crum, Mercedes Peterson and John Charles Dickson. The Stars of two competing and colliding paranormal television shows converge on an abandoned haunted amusement park which ends up being the epicenter to hell. They are now all trapped - in an all out war against pure evil.

Cast

Gerald Crum is all I knew, and that's only because I inexplicably keep watching Crum brothers movies.

Verdict

Anna (2017) was a bad movie in this guys opinion, it suffered with overwhelming flaws and most of those pertained to the limitations imposed from the lack of budget. What the action took place the lights went out and what could have been entertaining was ruined by this.

Sure the film had some bad writing, hokey acting and was a bit of mess as well, but it had some charm and a level of comedy that elevated it above your usual independent horror movie that over reaches.

For some reason I was quite looking forward to Anna 2, I figured they'd have learned from their mistakes and amassed more of a budget. Oddly the film suffers from exactly the same issues, but has less charm and comedy which were the two things that made Anna (2017) bareable.

The story is a horrendous mess, the movie just seems to flit from confusing scene to confusing scene, like a messy arthouse film with no coherence. That would be bad if said scenes looked the part, but the darkness, lack of budget and senseless cutaways really damaged the film.

Anna was bad with charm, Anna 2 is just BAD.

Rants

I've always gone by the simple stance of, if you can't afford to make something then don't. The Crum Brothers could have kept it simple but they insist on overeaching and it results in films like this. Do a found footage with a twist, they're cheap. Make a zombie movie with some character, they're cheap. Make a romantic comedy for all I care, but stop making movies you clearly can't afford to pull off.

The Good

Follows the last film adequately

The Bad

Too dark Plot is a mess Incoherent and confusing.

Following their previous supernatural encounter, a pair of amateur paranormal investigators hear about a potential investigation in an abandoned amusement park and set out with old friends to look at the location, only to realize they've accidentally stumbled into the literal depths of Hell.

This one ended up being a marginally better sequel with some enjoyable elements. One of the more entertaining features here is how this one brings out a rich history to set up the present. That there's a lot of animosity and hard feelings that are brought up with the two teams being former colleagues and a split in their organization resulting from their immature behavior that was set up in the first film which is some fine continuity and helps to sell the reluctance in getting together. There's also a lot to like with their investigation once they start to work together, from the interviews with the local to their first encounter inside the room with the possessed girl who begins to display far more deadly powers and tricks than they expected, especially once they start encountering the supernatural actions like walking on the ceiling or reacting strongly to Holy Water. That also leads to the film's best aspect in the investigation of the main park. The supernatural antics here are driven up to a wholly absurd level with the team encountering demons and monsters almost from the moment they arrive. A fantastic encounter in the nearby lake featuring one character tormented by the spirit of her aborted child who turned various figures into vicious monsters is merely the start of the fun with this one, taking the other characters to even more terrifying extremes. Watching the literal demons emerge and torture them in graphic, brutal manners as they're dragged around the park, cut into and bleed profusely or interact with the demonic creatures that are shown later on in frenzied final half. With the series of endlessly dark and chilling scenes throughout here and a truly warped reaction to the events that are played out, these here are what hold this one up rather nicely. However, even with all this, there's still a major, overriding factor here in that once again the main characters nearly ruin the film with their antics. Once again, the feeling here is supposedly based on the film treating them as heroes but they're anything except heroes, which the film had a good grace at least to point out with the initial refusal to work with them but they still come off with the same feeling of the first entry. There's plenty of utterly moronic remarks and comebacks featured here once again, and the entire film is centered around their once again throwing people into a situation beyond their control and ultimately ends with their death due to their ignorance of the situation. Thankfully, this feature doesn't run as continuously as it did in the first one so it's not as detrimental, and along with the lackluster finale due to the apparent low-budget, these here do lower this one overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.