Trying to get her career going, an aspiring novelist tasked with trying to find a suitable topic for her next book wants to try a ritual attempted by others which resulted in them summoning a genie, and when her friends start to act weird following the incident comes to believe they've done the same.
This was a decent enough follow-up if a bit lower than the original. One of the better features here is the solid starting point that brings about a fun way of connecting the two films by going through a similar setup. As both films deal with the idea of trying to find a means of enhancing their life experience while looking for story ideas and stumbling upon the concept at play with the genie conjuring being the way to go about that, this serves well enough at getting the group established and set about with their issues before the ritual takes place. That comes off nicely as a means of getting a sped-up version of the scenario at the very beginning so that the being can start its tricks following up the eventual reveal as the fast-tempo and cruelty in those tricks keep this one moving along. There are a few issues here that bring this one down. Among its biggest drawbacks is a factor gathered from the setup where it feels like a retread of the original with minimal changes to the story. It's pretty much the same setup about a person looking for a bit of life experience and coming upon the genie as a way to do that only to then get in over their heads over what's been summoned. The main difference with this one is that it is far quicker to bring the genie about and unleash it upon the group as there's very little research into the ritual, what it's all about, or even explaining how she came about the proper procedure to do so which makes everything feel rushed and underdeveloped as a result. That leads into the second issue here where she comes off as such an unlikable and unbelievable lead that it's hard to care what happens. As the central setup is rushed through to the point that it never really makes sense why they're doing it, the main girl comes off as so unbelievably rude to her friends who've been given a fair bit of build-up beforehand making it seem like a rather strained friend group. With her fame being unlikely to be a first-time writer and having the success she claims to have from the very start, a constant series of fiery confrontations about their relationships with each other making her selfishly ungrateful, and no one doing much to change this perception, the fact that nothing is interesting happening despite tons of plot reveals is a big drawback to be had. The other big problem with this one is the wholly misguided and underwhelming main genie who's entirely laughable as a main threat. The same issues with the immobile mask carry true here as the wide-open mouth dangling about as it tries to talk to others is just the wrong kind of cheesy for this one while the voice changes to what sounds like the genuine actor's natural voice kills any fear in him. This is not a threatening being in the slightest and he takes away a lot of the suspense that's supposed to be generated with this one. Given that hardly any of the tricks involved cruel twists to their fates until the last half also causes this to lose a lot of steam as hardly anything creepy or chilling happens, all of which come together and result in lowering this one overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
