Director: David Espinoza
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Possession
Plot:
Moving into a new house, a man and his family start to believe that the continued strange noises and behavior they keep experiencing belong to a supposed ghostly figure inside the house conjured by former residents and has now possessed his wife, forcing him to try to save her.
Review:
For the most part, there’s not a lot to like with this one. One of the better features here is the rather intriguing slow-burn build-up of the supernatural activities within the house. Going from the incident in the basement while they’re moving in regarding the daughter being trapped inside by the locked door to the complaints about hearing noises in the walls or footsteps running in the distance, there’s a decent slow-burn build towards something happening within the house. That these are kept in a realistic realm and not overly showy or noticeable if you weren’t aware of what’s going on from the start which is incredibly appreciated due to the elaborate build-up that unravels over the course of several days which allows for the integration of these classic scenarios as well as other factors like her strange behavior and mood swings around them. With the switch over into a fine possession film as the angle becomes more obvious going into the finale that gives this a positive ending for once, which is what’s enjoyable about this one.
However, there’s more than enough negatives to hold this one down. The biggest issue is the fact that so much of the film’s running time is concerned with utterly moronic behavior and decision-making that makes them susceptible to the danger. The decision to play with the ouija board is completely obvious as there’s no reason to play with it and the failure with how to use it is apparent the second they start using it. As well, it’s presence and her mysterious obsessive desire to guard it against the others by moving it around and secretly using it never strikes them as the slightest bit curious as all, which goes hand-in-hand with their cluelessness about her mood swings. The fact that no one seems at all concerned about her wild and over-the-top personality changes, forcing them to do something and forgetting it a minute later, actively going from sweet to raging near the point of violence which are clearly influenced by other forces and not her. That the extremity of her actions and their duration for as long as they occur don’t tip them off sooner that something’s going on makes them out to be rather lacking in that department.
The other issue to be had here is that so much of the film’s running time doesn’t make it come close to resembling a horror film that this struggles to keep the interest at times. That comes through in the utterly unrealistic manner that the hauntings and eventual possession are built up, as the extended amount of time it takes to deal with the voices the daughter hears or deal with the normal rigors of moving into a new house just carries on their lack of noticing the obvious. However, their ignorance goes so far to the point that these ideas never get treated with a horror atmosphere, as the family seems inconvenienced about the idea and try to go about their lives for as long as they can before to get to where they need a priest. Even the introduction of a backstory introducing the occult and possible sacrificial rituals conducted at the house aid this idea of something going on with in the house doesn’t sway the film all that much back to the genre. In the end, these here end up doing the most damage to the film.
Overview: 0.5/5
There really isn't much to this one beyond the slickness of the production and some minor elements that emerge from its build-up as this one has a ton of other issues that hold it back. Really only go for this one if you're a forgiving, low-budget indie enthusiast or a fan of slow-burn possession stories, while anyone else should heed extreme caution with this one.
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