Review: THE INVOKING 2

The Invoking 2: Paranormal Events (2015)

Written By Jesse Baget, Trevor Botkin, Jamie DeWolf, Jay Holben, Julien Maisonneuve, Matt Medisch, Corey Norman, Haley Norman, Patrick Rea, Jamie Root, and Dave Shepherd

Directed By Jamie DeWolf, Jay Holben, Corey Norman, Adam O’Brien, Patrick Rea, and Jamie Root

Starring Andrew Flemming, Jessica Fratus, Chara Victoria Gannett, Allen Lowman, Meghan McNicol, Erik Moody, and Andrew Sawyer

The Invoking 2: Paranormal Events is an anthology of terror involving a series of five individual ghostly encounters as follows:

Highway 116: 3:36AM – Story #1 shows a man driving down a dark road when he sees a hitchhiker and he decides to stop. He attempts a bit of small talk with his new passenger to no avail as she sits silently in the passenger seat. When he asks where she is headed, she only points ahead. Eventually, the driver sees a car accident and stops to see if he can be of some assistance. The driver of the car that was in the accident has been thrown through the windshield and is lying in the grass. As he approaches the victim, he realizes that she looks exactly like the hitchhiker that is sitting in his car.

Wavel Hill, WV 11:52PM – Story #2 is of a man named Chad who is a horror film maker and woman named Sarah Davis snooping around inside of the vacant Wavel Hills Sanitarium. Conversation arises of a former nurse that worked in the hospital named Mary Weaver who was pregnant and gave birth in the facility. Believing that the nurse’s baby was the devil, the doctor murdered the baby by slitting its throat as soon as he/she was born and even before the umbilical cord had been cut. As a result of this horrific event, Nurse Weaver committed suicide inside of the sanitarium. When discussing this incident, it is quickly realized that the doctor who committed the murder of the newborn was the great grandfather of Sarah David. After this troubling discovery, guess who shows up to spoil the party?

Killington, VT, August 24, 2014 – Story #3 is a one woman show involving a young lady named Sarah who seems to suffer from some pretty serious mental issues. In the beginning of this tale, she is having a telephone conversation with a man who stresses the importance of her taking her meds. Well, she decides to flush said meds down the toilet instead. This proves to be a pretty terrible idea. She begins hearing things in her apartment making her believe that she is not alone. Unfortunately, it seems that she is actually being tormented by the one person that it is impossible to get away from; herself.

Dartmouth, MA May 9, 2003 – Story #4 involves a serial killer named Phillip Davenport, alone in a hotel room. He begins getting knocks on his door, but when he looks through the peephole, there is no one there. He complains to the front desk that someone from the cleaning staff is harassing him. However, he learns that the staff has left for the night. So, who is at the door? He begins getting business card-like notes slid under his door containing disturbing messages that clearly indicate that whomever it is outside of that door knows exactly who he is and what he has done. A bit of time passes and a note is slid under the door telling him he has a gift waiting for him outside of the door. He opens the door and sees a silver cloche. What is under the cloche? Who is outside of this door?

Solon, ME, June 13, 2013 – Story #5 takes place at a lake house and involves two young couples, Chrissa and Tristan, and Jess and Derek. In the middle of the night (3:00am), Chrissa hears what seems to be scratching inside of the walls. When she wakes up the next morning, she has Derek check to see if he can find out what the scratching was, but he doesn’t see anything unusual. When he goes outside to gain access to the attic, he notices a bat house and just assumes this is what Chrissa was hearing. We soon learn that Chrissa has a few issues which require medication and that she has previously overdosed. We also learn that her boyfriend, Tristan, has cheated on her with Jess. This sends both Chrissa and Derek into an uproar and Derek decides to get in his car and leave. While sitting on the beach and arguing over the cheating incident and the “spilling of the beans”, Tristan and Jess hear a scream coming from the house. They run inside and find Chrissa bleeding as if she has harmed herself. In a panic, Jess calls Derek and pleads for help. What does Derek find when he returns?

Philadelphia, PA 9:30PM – Bonus Story/Possibe Cliffhanger? This was very brief, but very creepy and cool. We see a young lady named Melissa Crowe calling 911 to report that there is a masked man in her front yard holding a knife and leering in her window. As the 911 operator is telling her that a car is on the way, the camera pans out and we see the man standing in the house right behind her. End scene, credits roll.

This was a really cool movie. There are several horror anthology films out there and I thought The Invoking 2: Paranormal Events was every bit as good as any of them. It contained five very creepy stories that all strongly stand alone. If I had to choose a favorite, it would be Story #3. I really like the dripping tension that carried all of the way through this short. Sarah seemed deeply disturbed and I enjoy that type of horror a lot and that is something that isn’t always easy to pull off. I thought the acting was strong throughout the entire movie by everyone in the cast, the CGI effects used on Story #2 were really effective, and the practical effects in Story #5 were really strong as well. The sets/locations were all pretty simple but were maximized and very effective, which strongly supports that a huge budget is not necessary in order to make a solid movie. I strongly recommend The Invoking 2: Paranormal Events – it was a disturbing, fun watch. Check it out.