You just can’t keep a good series down, even if the law of diminishing returns had begun to rear its ugly head on that prior entry. The unsolved murders of the Carmichael family back in 1989 draws a group of cold case investigators to the huge home and, after four nights, some bad shit happens to amateur sleuths Margot and Rebecca. If you’ve seen any of these flicks before, you know that their footage is found and viewed. The manor is a town over from the Abaddon Hotel and mention of an antique store which recovered some items from the building is touched upon. They also remark that the youngest daughter had dreams of being a filmmaker and recorded home footage before she was slaughtered in her bed. We get a nice bit of creepy history involving the murders, with the experts explaining the case and the spooky shit that went on following the homicides. The team behind these Hell House flicks always know how to establish one hell of a mood. In a locked room, a couple familiar clown mannequins are discovered by the two women. Margot’s little brother, Chase, arrives to help them out and the investigation is underway. Margot has an incident in her past where she almost fell into the clutches of a dangerous man at a carnival which explains where her fascination with crime came from, Rebecca has started a new grown-up job and may be on the way out of the cold case game and Chase has some troubles in his life which is why his sister invited him out to help. We see the ghosts before they do, showing up in the background of shots being all dead and spooky. A grandfather clock from The Abaddon is discovered at the antique shop and secret compartments are found within. Those compartments are filled with juicy material which the two gals eagerly scoop up and abscond with. There’s film footage from the youngest Carmichael in there among a bunch of cryptic notes and the mystery deepens. Giggling, moving objects, phantom footsteps, shadows where they shouldn’t be and full-bodied entities get everyone excited… and terrified. Chase urges caution and starts pushing to leave, Rebecca is weighing the terror of the shit that’s going down but is juggling that with her love for Margot and Margot seems further inspired by the chaotic horrors slowly boiling over which tie into her encounter all them years ago at the carnival. Gasp! Shit falls apart because of course it does. It may not reach the heights of the original but it’s definitely got more going for it than the sequels (which I still found entertaining).
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