Director: Raymond Wood
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: The Millbrook Summoning
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to film a follow-up documentary, a burgeoning filmmaker and his friends set out to look into the history behind a supposedly cursed nearby, and when they finally arrive at the location realize the local legends hold a darker secret than expected and must try to get away alive.
Review:
This one wasn’t too bad of a found-footage effort. Among the better qualities here is the opening setup that tells of the reasoning for their film and journey. The idea of looking into the history of the remote town and its grisly heritage as a means for getting access to the area in order to explore the site of a supposed cult happening on the grounds works as a fantastic premise here. The early scenes of them going around filming locals for the documentary under that pretext and then sneaking in their own personal agenda looking for the truth about what happened thee offer a lot to like and get this going on a strong start.
From there, the experiences of the group turn up and become quite chilling. The interview with the preacher acting completely creepy and chilling as they hear him go through records of the towns’ history with a blank, emotionless tone sends this one into some exceptionally creepy scenes where the group decides to go through a local cemetery trying to find the answers to their questions. Following up on that is the creepy walk-through of the blackened church hoping to find more answers but instead leads to some big jumps as they’re forced out of the building without finding anything.
That leads into the genuinely terrifying final half where they investigate the factory and come upon the Satanic cult. These scenes are full of great action detailing their performance of the summoning ritual and the chaos that arises, from the manic dashes through darkened hallways full of robed cult-members to witnessing them doing their own rituals or trying to get away while the otherworldly chanting is heard from close-by. These scenes are all enhanced nicely by the found-footage aspect where the sudden moments of them popping out has more impact leading into the cruel finale that ends this on a high note and has quite a lot to like.
This one does have a few flaws though. The main factor against this one is the utterly wrong-headed and moronic means to keep the shoot going on. Several times, from almost getting caught red-handed by the preacher trespassing to the freakouts on the trip about the broken van or the physical breakdown in the woods, serve as fantastic chances to quit and move on but yet the only reason the story can attempt to bring up the keep going is a hackneyed, underwhelming response that really wouldn’t work. In addition to this stupidity, the subplot about the cheating couple is unimportant and doesn’t make us like them more, all making for the film’s flaws.
Overview: ****.5/5
A highly enjoyable and impressive found-footage effort that has plenty of enjoyable aspects and a creepy finale but has a few minor logic questions that hold this one back overall, this one is a highly worthwhile effort overall. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of these found-footage efforts or find this intriguing, while those that are turned off by either the flaws or the film’s style overall should heed caution.
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