Director: James Klass
Year: 2017
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Heading out to the countryside, a man and his family move into the local lake-side cabin to start a new life together but the longer they stay there come to find the house haunted by demonic spirits, forcing him to become possessed and them down for a Satanic sacrifice.
Review:
This was a pretty enjoyable effort when it wanted to be. Among the more enjoyable elements here comes from the solid and chilling setup involving the escalating curse. That the discovery of the book and the weird events occurring behind him gets this going rather nicely, much like the imaginary friend being involved and the strange voices throughout the house gives this all a rather chilling feel when added to the backstory about the follower and his hold over the house. There’s some great work with this setup to give the film a great base to work with as it builds upon these elements quite well.
As well, there’s a lot to enjoy about the corruption and temptation that occurs by staying at the house. The main scene here, from the discovery of the book and resulting séance while he’s being pleasured by the spirits inside the house, creates a highly creepy atmosphere similar to the later scenes of the babysitter being stalked through the house. This all leads to the fantastic final half where everything gets turned around into a series of frenetic encounters with the possessed entities and some chilling stalking involving them trying to get away from the demons which is a great setup to the heart-wrenching and brutal conclusion. These give the film quite a lot to like.
This one does have a few problems. The main issue associated here is the wholly underwhelming storyline that has several big problems associated with the setup. There’s very little reason why this one rushes through everything the way it does since there’s no build-up to what they mean, namely the discovery of the journal in the shed. Considering the implications and discoveries made inside, this one doesn’t introduce it or its contents at all, instead merely dropping it with no clues or context and expect it to be understandable, much like the fate of the original family which is a huge plot point just dropped as if it meant nothing.
Moreover, there’s a problematic factor with the film resorting to the same cheap jump-scares over and over again. It’s incredibly tiresome to have the same scenes of the camera cutting to the demonic entity standing in the room maniacally laughing or roaring in the face of their victim with the distorted filter on their voice. The last issue, which isn’t truly detrimental, is the overlong finale that hits the appropriate heart-wrenching touches yet runs on a good few minutes longer than necessary which makes the film go on more than necessary. These are the main drawback factors for the film.
Overview: **.5/5
Given a great build-up and some fun action involving the possessed figures here, this one is quite fun for this type of film and is enough to overcome the few minor flaws present. Go for it if you’re a fan of the creative crew, appreciate this style of film or curious about it in general while anyone who isn’t into this should heed caution.
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