Director: Owen Egerton
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After being released from a mental asylum, a troubled young woman returns to her home and attempts to reconnect with her sister and her son, but when he continually mentions seeing the same childhood figure that sent her away realizes the being has returned and tries to stop him.
Overall, this one wasn't all that bad of an effort. One of it's better elements is the fact that the central mystery and folklore of the main spirit in the film is a genuinely creepy and creative one. The idea of what it sets the girl up to do that put her in the asylum, killing off the young girl in the flashbacks that continually get featured, is given a rather decent angle with the way in which she handles being outside the asylum. Visibly shaken by everything but still trying to get on with her life, the impact of the story continually crawling back with the more information they discover about it and the history of it with the son discovering her story and the connection to the fabled incident as kids.
That urban-legend storyline is enhanced with the initial attacks as one of the first few scenes returning back has her believe the being is stalking her in the bathtub or the various intermittent scenes where she continually believes someone’s stalking her around the house. When it gets to the finale and there’s more focus on the supernatural actions that are being conducted by the son who has been targeted by the entity, there’s a more direct sense of energy in the action here with the battles to get him out of the underground shack where she lives and focuses on the revelation that arises here that gives this a far more devious turn than expected. Overall, these here manage to hold the film up for the most part.
There are several issues with the film. The main facet holding the film down is the general lack of information concerning the titular being as there’s next to nothing about her. Beyond being the fabled stalker of a small town conjured up through a strange ritual, the film doesn’t make any kind of discerning quality over what’s going on with the main spirit and leaves her as a generally mysterious and unknown being. That we’re told she’s initially a guardian angel only to turn around into being a ravenous killer spirit that tells people to kill others for them. It’s not that original or ingenious and tends to raise more questions about what her purpose is than anything else, including the origin of the legend that starts her as well as the various conflicting backstories that emerge in the latter half.
Also hurting this one is the general sameness and overall familiar tone that emerges throughout the film. Once again, the feeling of any random internet story monster coming true and attacking random people based on a select story that’s been retold by the locals until it passes over into town fiction is a worn-out concept. There’s no real difference from this and numerous other similar setups over the years which is made all the more apparent with the lack of gore in the kills when they do occur that would allow this to signal being confused with an actual event so there’s not much else to the storyline there. These overall manage to lower this one significantly.
Overview: ***/5
A quintessential middle-of-the-road film with equal parts of enjoyable elements and problematic ones that emerge here to make for a soundly flawed by watchable effort. Give this a shot if you're into this style of film or looking for a safe and somewhat accessible genre effort, while those interested in more original or stronger material should look elsewhere unless nothing else is on.
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