Director: Dakota Thomas
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Plot:
After surviving a traumatic encounter, a widow finds herself forced to rebuild her life without a clue as to get by without her husband which forces her into a bedridden state, but as she tries to overcome her issues she finds a different force than she expected at the center of her state.
Review:
This was a solid if somewhat troubling genre/thriller. When this one works the best is the striking and often-times enjoyable psychological portrayal of her mental problems at the heart of the film. Considering the traumatic and genuinely unsettling incident that starts this off, the fact that her eventual emotional breakdown that we get to see at the beginning comes off as truly upsetting. From the refusal to acknowledge the incident one minute to looking over evidence reports in her possession, being completely distant for her daughters who are going through their own problems at the same time, and then snapping at the police officer trying to comfort her with the news of the killers’ potential capture, the fact that everything that goes on trying to process the incident brings us closer to her side with how everything’s melded together into the eventual obsession with the ouija board as a means of contacting him again is well-handled to get this going quite nicely.
As well, when this one goes for a series of twists and turns in the second half that drops everything on its head for a darker twist than expected, the film’s fun factor ramps up considerably. Initially supposed to be a typical home invasion effort with the returning killer showing up to finish the job, the supernatural intrusions that emerge here with the full reveal about what the ouija board represents and how the recent stalking being done against her isn’t being done by the figure they suspect. This brings about a highly enjoyable series of encounters involving the spirit coming through the house leading to some brutal encounters which offer up some stellar indie gore as the night progresses involving the physical torture of the two people in the house that’s all quite fun. Combined with a nice finish that features some highly intriguing ideas involved with the creature in the board, there’s a lot to like about it.
However, there are a few issues here. The biggest drawback is the film’s rather lackadaisical police investigation that manages to go nowhere at all. The initial meeting with the officer that informs her of his capture and thus her peace of mind is completely false, as the meeting should be informing her to check his identity and confirm their suspicions instead. This prevents the later scene with the mistaken identity which is revealed to be a fake that just wastes a lot of time the film didn’t need which leads to the other issue here with it being slightly too long for its own good. A series of scenes here featuring her coming into contact with the spirit of the husband playing around with her thinking it’s the criminal come back once more read like pure filler to stretch the running time despite the effectiveness of the scenes while a second-half revelation that comes out of nowhere just stretches te running time completely. While not completely detrimental, these do drag the film down slightly enough overall.
Overview: ***/5
An enjoyable psychological indie genre effort that has some minor issues with it, the fact that i’s a stylistic shift that plays off quite nicely will be the main selling point here. Those who appreciate the style and approach of this one will be the biggest appreciators of this one while those viewers who don’t like any of those factors will be the main ones against this.
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