Every good idea this sequel has to offer winds up taking a backseat to the most obvious cat-in-the-closet “BOO!” moments imaginable.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The film ends up cheapening its sense of empathy in its final mad rush to subject audiences to every incarnation of the jump scare imaginable.
Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein
The new installment is, at best, a serviceable creep show, one with far more chills than thrills.
The Hollywood Reporter by Justin Lowe
Reliant on suspense rather than gore, this is functional middle-brow psychological horror and screenwriter Joe Croker finds plenty of tired haunted house tropes he’s happy to recycle in adapting material from Susan Hill’s original novel.
Harper’s well-appointed sequel has strong performances even if the Woman becomes a supporting character in her own tale.
A much bolder, braver horror sequel than most. Except for a wispy ending, it’s a match for the first.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
This inevitably doesn’t have the charge of the first story, but it is still interestingly weird and dreamlike, and quite disturbing. A commercially driven sequel, sure – but still effective.
Director Tom Harper (“War Book”) defaults too often to gotcha scares, which is disappointing.
A handsomely made but dramatically inert and not very scary sequel.
Time Out London by Tom Huddleston
It quickly devolves into predictable shock tactics, drippy wartime romance and scenes in which the characters leaf tremulously through Victorian photo albums and spout exposition.