Art of the Devil 2 [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

So ... was Art of the Devil 2 ("Long Khong" in Thai) scary? Hell, yeah! Enough gore to satisfy fans of Hollywood-type slasher movies, and peppered with generous helpings of ghostly apparitions and other supernatural elements to satisfy me. It has got to be the most graphic horror movie to come out of Asia so far, and I'll have to confess that there were very many scenes where I simply had to turn away from the screen or cover my eyes. I couldn't sit through the whole movie at one go - I had to pause it and do something else to settle my nerves several times. I'm very squeamish about seeing blood and am therefore not a fan of slasher movies - I would probably not have enjoyed "Long Khong" one bit if not for the fact that it is not simply a slasher movie but also a ghost story and a movie about black magic and the consequences of using it. Thailand has a reputation amongst Asians as the capital of the black arts, and possibly even the Thais themselves believe this, so it is not surprising "Long Khong" was such a massive hit in Thailand. Anyways, the Cliffs Notes version of the story goes like this - spoilers ahead. A once adored female teacher of a small-town high school is caught on tape by her stepson and his school-mates having an affair with the handsome but villainous gym teacher. The gym teacher confronts the group of friends, threatens them with a gun, and sexually molests several of them. In revenge, they seek the help of a shaman to cast a very nasty spell on the gym teacher, resulting in his very gory death involving some very nasty fish-hooks. Not content with that, the friends proceed to broadcast the tape in the school cafeteria, ruining the reputation of the female teacher for good and destroying her marriage - she descends into madness. The friends then graduate from high school and go their separate ways - the stepson being the only one to stay behind in the small-town. Two years later, they each receive a call from the stepson telling them that his father is dead, and inviting them to his funeral. The friends eagerly accept the invitation as an opportunity for a reunion, not realising that their journey home will end in pain, madness and death. For lurking in the background is a wronged woman who has waited two years for revenge, and she will do anything to get it, in very painful and inventive ways. For she has killed the shaman, eaten his flesh, and absorbed his dark powers into herself, and she is now ready to unleash unimaginable horrors upon those who wronged her. And the dark arts are not all she is armed with - her arsenal includes some rather sharp machetes, a syringe filled with tranquilisers, a blow-torch, a pair of pliers, an electric drill, a kettle of boiling water, a large jar of pickled mangoes, some large pots of chicken soup and fish curry, and very handy first-aid resuscitation skills (the better to revive near-dead torture victims with). And oh, how she's going to have fun teaching her former students new lessons in terror and pain ... One hour and fourty three minutes later, I'll never quite look at geckos (you know, those lizard thingies with that "gecko, gecko" call) the same way again.

This movie is ok. Not the best asian horror film I have seen. The movie starts off kind of boring. We see these kids getting back togther after awhile because one of the friends father has died. They stay with their old teacher who is actually one of the kids step-parent. In the past, the kids have a secret. While trying to videotape the gym teacher having sex with the step-mother they are caught and rapped. They take revenge by placing a spell on him. The step-mother finds this out and takes revenge on them while they are staying with her. Each death is quite gruesome. This film is a low quality thai movie. I love asian horror and this movie has its moments. It does not stand up to par with movies such as Infection, Tell me something, or even Premonition.

I was slightly disappointed by the first Art of the Devil but after reading Ernest Jagger's review I was in with no regrets. As he stated, there's nothing in this film that you need to have seen from the first, which is far better. The Ronin Team, which consists of seven directors, has done a good job piecing this film together. "Art of the Devil 2" revolves around a group of school friends in up-country Thailand. Tormented by a cruel, violent gym teacher, a man who's also having a flagrant affair with the stepmother, Miss Panor (who is also a teacher), of one of the young friends, the group devises a desperate solution: they hire a Cambodian witch doctor - whatever the reason for it, Cambodian black magic makes frequent appearances in Thai films these days - to place a curse on their tormentor. The witch doctor agrees to do their bidding, but issues a dire warning: karma will get you and so forth.

As horrific as this movie might been there are some slow areas surrounding this film for the reason for understanding and knowing the characters. Parts of it really wasn't quite necessary along with the overuse of flashbacks. It also doesn't have nearly the strength of story as the first, nor are its characters as likable. Where AOTD2 excels is at sheer brutality. Whereas the first sequel had a few nasty scenes, virtually all involving victims vomiting up unpleasant stomach contents (razor blades, eels, etc.), the sequel pulls no punches. Right in the opening minutes of the movie, I already caught myself cringing at the fish hook scene. The piece de resistance, however, is Miss Panor using a blowtorch to burn the skin on a man's legs to bubbling blackness, then wiping the dead skin off with a rag, which she then smells with a pleasant look on her face like she's just whiffed fresh-baked cookies.

Despite the fact that there are an awful lot of guys in this production there is only one at the director's chair, their combined vision was consistent and practically seamless. Altogether the pacing was good, scares came fast and furious, and there was no shortage of cleverness on their part. Flawed, yes, but very entertaining assuming you're the sort to enjoy a nice hot bowl of body parts.