I did not care for this movie, at all. It tried to be scary, it tried to be mysterious and all it ended up doing was being annoying. While the first movie told a cohesive story about one person going missing, this sequel decides to tell several disjointed stories about a group of people that have no real relation to one another, and it is probably the most disappointing sequel in some time. The first film left us wondering if anyone was going to head out into the desert in search of Gary, and understandably so. Gary had a huge online following that wanted to know what happened. Instead what we got is a story about a woman named Minerva, whose story only takes up a fraction of the film, while we see many other missing persons introduced in ways that really made no sense. I understand wanting to "up the ante" with a sequel, but when you give your audience the exact opposite of what they expect from one, it really defeats the purpose. It's almost like the person who directed this saw what worked in the first film, threw it out the window, and just added more for more's sake, and for me, it just didn't work. The movie relied on too many stupid decisions made in pitch darkness, and these days, that is not an excuse to skimp out on a decently told tale. (side note, why does every horror movie like this have to be so damn dark? A lot of horrific stuff happens in broad daylight. Why are directors so afraid to show it?)
In the first film, I actually cared about Gary and took a huge liking to him as a person and was concerned about what happened to him. I couldn't care less about anyone being presented in this sequel because I wasn't given enough time to. (Out of the hour 15 minute runtime, Minerva got the Lions share, but there were others that were shown or mentioned that really didn't add much to the story.)
Gary's story is unfinished and deserved some closure. In a story like this, the sequel should have worked to take what made the first one worth watching, and made sure that those elements were front and center. Unfortunately, they are nonexistent in this film. I really had hopes for this series, but after being so sorely disappointed by this movie, I just don't care about what happens next, and trust me, there is more in store. I will not be watching part 3.
As an aside, I looked into the director and realized that he is responsible for one of my worst reviewed films of all time, Reaptown. Now I understand why this movie failed as spectacularly as it did. What a shame.
