A Haunted House 2
ZERO STARS
Directed by: Michael Tiddes
Written by: Marlon Wayans & Rick Alvarez
Starring: Marlon Wayans, Jamie Pressly, Essence Atkins, Gabriel Iglesias, Missie Pyle, Ashley Rickards, Affion Crockett, Steele Stebbins, Rick Overton, Hayes MacArthur, Dave Sheridan, Cedric the Entertainer
Comedy/Horror - 87 min
Written by: Marlon Wayans & Rick Alvarez
Starring: Marlon Wayans, Jamie Pressly, Essence Atkins, Gabriel Iglesias, Missie Pyle, Ashley Rickards, Affion Crockett, Steele Stebbins, Rick Overton, Hayes MacArthur, Dave Sheridan, Cedric the Entertainer
Comedy/Horror - 87 min

Marlon Wayans is mocking you; he thinks your taste in movies is so bad you will actually give him money to watch what he calls a movie. Last year, Wayans shot A Haunted House for peanuts and made a decent return. In today’s Hollywood market, this means sequel. Now that he knows he has a money-producing angle, Wayans decided to not even try. In A Haunted House 2, he throws together some jokes referencing last year’s horror films and knows some of you are going to be gullible enough to pay money to watch it.
There is nothing fresh here. Every joke, one-liner, and plot device was already used in 2013’s A Haunted House. Granted, that movie was also awful, but Wayans at least tried to make his audience laugh and rightfully skewered the silly found footage gimmick from the Paranormal Activity franchise. Here, the Paranormal Activity cameras are back but there are also elements from The Conjuring, The Last Exorcism Part II, and Sinister woven in.
I feel I am being too kind here. Unlike the first film which somewhat stuck to a storyline of a haunted house and possession, the new film is just a series of God-awful skits. Within the first 10 minutes, Wayans has another five-minute sex scene with a doll just like his episode with the stuffed animal last year. I can’t believe he thinks humping inanimate toys is so funny he includes it in two movies.
Another copycat move is Wayans’s character, Malcolm, moves in with another woman. This time, it is not the girl who brings the demon into the relationship; it is more the house they move into already has three or four evil spirits hanging out in it. The girlfriend, Megan (Jamie Pressly), also brings her two kids along who each pick up their own ghoul. The teenage daughter, Becky (Ashley Rickards), takes hold of an old box that provides way too many references to the obvious double entendre. The 10-year-old boy develops a relationship with an imaginary black friend who drinks vodka and likes to say “biotch.”
This is an interracial relationship and even though every character at some point says that it is 2013 and interracial relationships don’t matter anymore, that does not stop Wayans from making a joke every few minutes referencing it. It is hard to say if Wayans prefers racial jokes or sexual jokes more; both types are awkwardly forced down our throats and are never funny. Gabriel Iglesias is Malcolm’s Mexican next-door neighbor and I feel I do not even have to tell you the amount of Mexican jokes that comes with.
A Haunted House 2 is far raunchier than its predecessor and that is shocking considering how far Wayans went last time. It is not the extent to which Wayans goes, it is how awful all of the jokes are and how flat and lazy everything feels. Knowing he has easy money to make has poisoned Wayans’s ambition. He was great in the first two Scary Movies when these spoof comedies were somewhat original. Now, he has sold out and takes what is left of his audience down with him.
Please do not see this movie. It sets itself up for A Haunted House 3 and if you do not pay to see this tragedy of a film, maybe he will stop. Honestly, do Marlon Wayans a favor and tell everyone you know that A Haunted House 2 is the worst movie this year.
There is nothing fresh here. Every joke, one-liner, and plot device was already used in 2013’s A Haunted House. Granted, that movie was also awful, but Wayans at least tried to make his audience laugh and rightfully skewered the silly found footage gimmick from the Paranormal Activity franchise. Here, the Paranormal Activity cameras are back but there are also elements from The Conjuring, The Last Exorcism Part II, and Sinister woven in.
I feel I am being too kind here. Unlike the first film which somewhat stuck to a storyline of a haunted house and possession, the new film is just a series of God-awful skits. Within the first 10 minutes, Wayans has another five-minute sex scene with a doll just like his episode with the stuffed animal last year. I can’t believe he thinks humping inanimate toys is so funny he includes it in two movies.
Another copycat move is Wayans’s character, Malcolm, moves in with another woman. This time, it is not the girl who brings the demon into the relationship; it is more the house they move into already has three or four evil spirits hanging out in it. The girlfriend, Megan (Jamie Pressly), also brings her two kids along who each pick up their own ghoul. The teenage daughter, Becky (Ashley Rickards), takes hold of an old box that provides way too many references to the obvious double entendre. The 10-year-old boy develops a relationship with an imaginary black friend who drinks vodka and likes to say “biotch.”
This is an interracial relationship and even though every character at some point says that it is 2013 and interracial relationships don’t matter anymore, that does not stop Wayans from making a joke every few minutes referencing it. It is hard to say if Wayans prefers racial jokes or sexual jokes more; both types are awkwardly forced down our throats and are never funny. Gabriel Iglesias is Malcolm’s Mexican next-door neighbor and I feel I do not even have to tell you the amount of Mexican jokes that comes with.
A Haunted House 2 is far raunchier than its predecessor and that is shocking considering how far Wayans went last time. It is not the extent to which Wayans goes, it is how awful all of the jokes are and how flat and lazy everything feels. Knowing he has easy money to make has poisoned Wayans’s ambition. He was great in the first two Scary Movies when these spoof comedies were somewhat original. Now, he has sold out and takes what is left of his audience down with him.
Please do not see this movie. It sets itself up for A Haunted House 3 and if you do not pay to see this tragedy of a film, maybe he will stop. Honestly, do Marlon Wayans a favor and tell everyone you know that A Haunted House 2 is the worst movie this year.
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