Director: Sam M. Bell and Jessica Hunt
Year: 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Witchcraft
Plot:
Heading out for an assignment, a television show host and his crew decide to record a new episode of their series focusing on a family of supposed witches, but the longer they stay there the more they realize the family has ulterior motives for bringing them to their house which turns their trip upside down.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this one. One of the better selling points found here is the general setup of the film focusing on the group and their initial interactions before and after arriving at the house. The car-ride over to their house features a perfectly engaging introduction to the group as we get an idea of the film crew and their personality which focuses on their general exasperation with this type of pieces and wanting to do better yet still being competent and professional in their jobs. As the discussion focuses on the nature of what they're doing there and how they're going to parlay their past experience into their new assignment, it creates a highly intriguing setup that carries over into the actual interviews with the family.
That becomes the film's main selling point in the gradual build-up and reveal of their intentions towards the crew. Starting out as much more mysterious and hesitant than usual until they finally open up and using their gullibility against the crew, seeing the way they manage to play off that for their own devices is rather impressive. The fact that the early spells are performed with an innocence involving merely showing how the spells are to be performed but taking a malicious undercurrent with the hidden purpose behind them gives this a slowly-encroaching air of menace once that becomes the case. As the spells become more serious and physically damaging in the guise of fixing a wrong committed against them, things grow in suspense as they realize what's happening with the increase in black magic being used against him which makes the final half more fun knowing it's all being set up from the beginning in the name of revenge. These all manage to hold the film up.
There aren't too many issues here. The one main problem featured here is the main instigating incident that causes the whole revenge to get started, which is nothing wrong with the event but seems to be far too extreme for the kind of film this is. Rather than building up to the event, it just drops us into the situation with the slimy characters instead which doesn't have the same payoff as if the film had given this more of a special significance which makes their retribution rather shallow. That also leads into the other issue which is a rather rushed and confusing finale that glosses over everything in such a quick fashion that it doesn't maintain the same catharsis it should've had which is a slight dissatisfaction. Otherwise, there isn't a lot to dislike with the film.
Overview: ****/5
With a few minor and barely detrimental issues that don't really affect the film much in the face of some really impressive positives, this is a highly enjoyable effort that really becomes chilling the longer it goes. Fans of the creative crew and their previous work, found-footage aficionados or those who are intrigued by the setup should give this a shot quickly while others who don't won't enjoy this kind of film.
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