May The Devil Take You: Chapter Two, original title Sebelum Iblis Menjemput: Ayat Dua is an Indonesian horror movie released in 2020, directed by Timo Tjahjanto. While trying to move on after the events of the first movie, the survivors have to face another supernatural drama.
Hello, there! I’m dos Santos, and this is Ulven Reviews, with Movies and series from all over the world and all eras. Today we’ll talk about May The Devil Take You: Chapter Two, beginning with a plot summary, through the review, and finishing with a symbolic Rating.
You might wanna check the review of May The Devil Take You before watching this one. Here we go!
Alfie (played by Chelsea Islan) and Nara (played by Hadijah Shahab) are the only survivors of the horrors of the first film. They’re trying to go on living normal lives, but Alfie still experiences demonic visions.
One morning, Alfie awakes and finds a group of masked people in the apartment. She acts quickly, and with a baseball bat, she gets to Nara but is soon overwhelmed and restrained by the invaders.
The sisters are taken to a very old-looking place, where one of the invaders, Jenar (played by Shareefa Daanish), tells their story:
A couple made that house an orphanage where the children were treated well until the wife’s death. At that point, there were only seven children there, and the husband Ayub (played by Tri Hariono) made their life a living hell. It was unbearable to a point where the children had to kill him.
The children involved were Jenar herself, Gadis (played by Widika Sidmore), Budi (played by Baskara Mahendra), Martha (played by Karina Salim), Leo (played by Arya Vasco), Kristi (played by Lutesha), and Dewi (played by Aurélie Moeremans).
After more than a decade, Dewi has a horrific and supernatural death, so the remaining six resort to Alfie and Nara, who already survived a similar curse, to solve theirs.
Let’s begin the review without spoilers, and later, near the end, we’ll get into the spoiler realm. However, when the moment arrives, I’ll give a warning so you can skip it if you so desire. Now, without further ado, let’s go.
May The Devil Take You: Chapter Two, like its predecessor, has a very underwhelming plot that lacks creativity. There’s this group of people cursed by an evil entity, so the whole movie runs in the course of one night, where they have a violent struggle to get rid of the curse. A.K.A. more or less The Evil Dead and the likes.
Also, this time they decided to go full We Are Not Alone and use several cliches and elements from other movies (Not as bad as We Are Not Alone, though). The most blatant is the possessed’s crackling body and the disturbing movements copied from Hereditary, which already were slightly derivative from February.
Another thing I dislike is the lack of humor, which would benefit the movie a lot. We have eight characters taking part in the story, yet none of them have something funny to offer at all?! I think at least one of them could serve as comic relief.
While we’re on the topic of characters, let’s talk about them. Nara and most of the orphans are just there. They’re not bland, and each has their own personality, however, not to a point as to make them compelling.
There were two of them I liked more than the others. One, I’ll only talk when I get to the spoilers. The other one is Budi, who was the one that showed more personality and engagement in the story, especially the bond he creates with Alfie.
Alfie annoyed me more this time. I already thought she was too grumpy in the previous film, now it was tiresome, her only reaction was anger. If she gets sad, she responds with anger. If she gets scared, the same thing, and so on. I would like to see more depth from the protagonist of the movie.
Chelsea Islan’s acting was not my favorite as well. But I don’t know if it’s her fault or if she was instructed to do the weird shit she does, like trembling like crazy when the entity first manifests itself.
Everyone else is alright. Some had more to show, like Baskara Mahendra and Shareefa Daanish, while others not so much, like Lutesha and Hadijah Shahab (but she’s a kid, so…).
Most of the technical aspects are excellent, so I will begin talking about what I didn’t like as much. The computer-generated fire is really bad. However, I saw on the Corridor Crew channel here on YouTube that it’s really hard to make believable fire, so we can give it a pass.
The score is inferior to the first movie. There’s even one time (when they’re going to the house where everything took place if I’m not mistaken) that they went Nordic with the music. In the middle of an Indonesian horror movie, and they throw some Wardruna-sounding song, what the fuck?! I love Wardruna, but definitely not here.
The cinematography is slightly better than the first one. Most of the good things present in the first remained, like the smooth camera movements, colors, and especially that shit when they attach the camera to some object, creating a very pleasing effect.
The thing I dislike in the first movie was the instances where everything was so dark that we couldn’t see a thing. I hate it, and fortunately, in Chapter Two it was fixed, everything is well lit and visible.
Another improvement from the first to the second was the location. Both the surroundings of the mansion, as the interior of it are much more open, eliminating the claustrophobic feel. Visually, the building is more compelling, as well.
Now, we’ll begin with the spoilers. That’s your warning.
My favorite character and performance was Widika Sidmore’s portrayal of Gadis. She’s really bland in the beginning until we realize she’s fucked up and evil. We have this change of a fragile woman mentally and physically to a strong and insane threat. Her performance is really on point most of the time, and the thing I liked the most about it was her manic laugh.
I already talked about Budi and his bond with Alfie. To me, it was clear that this relationship had some aura of romance, but they never seal the deal. He is the only one of the orphans to survive, and he leaves with Alfie and Nara, maybe a new family forming, who knows.
By the way, I like the ending more than I thought I would, based on the rest of the movie. Alfie’s encounter with Moloch was great, even though it resembles a scene from 2005’s Constantine. I loved Moloch’s appearance, it’s much more elegant than the creepy imagery of the rest of the movie.
That’s about it, end of spoilers.
May The Devil Take You: Chapter Two is weak when it comes to plot, but I really like the little details. It’s around the same level as Chapter One, some things got better, and others worse. So, like the previous installment, I’ll give May The Devil Take You: Chapter Two 6 Moons.
Crítica dos Ratos 