The Castle (2022) by Arish Sirkissoon

Director: Arish Sirkissoon

Year: 2022

Country: South Africa

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Taking a road-trip together, a pair of newlyweds are forced to stay at a remote castle in the countryside when they’re hit with car troubles, but the longer they stay there they soon come to believe someone or something is in the castle with them preparing them for a special occult ritual.

Review:

This was a pretty underwhelming genre effort. About the main positive here is the overall atmosphere of the castle where it takes place which is a nicely modernized take on an abandoned Gothic locale. Believing they’re all alone in a remote location as a means of escaping the elements while they try to fix their car, this one feels rather appropriate to setup which comes about the longer they stay there as the confrontations that emerge with the hooded figure appearing and chasing her around the castle grounds. As this sets up the idea of whether or not it’s all real until it’s way too late, this provides a fine setup for the big sequence in their compound where they begin to torture her and her friend that provides some of the only gore in the film as the unnatural presence gives this the only likable qualities.

However, beyond that, there’s very little to this one that’s enjoyable. The main drawback is a loose, rambling storyline that’s never all that interesting with things seemingly happening randomly with little structure or care. Everything feels improvised and played out as if they just came up with it all on the spot based on the location. None of this comes close to explaining what the actual threat here really is with all this randomized nonsense involving the lame backstory for the newlyweds going on the trip, the strange relationship between the cult members that have a lot of questions, and makes it all come off as if very little of this is genre-related in the slightest. Alongside the lack of anything visually impressive happening due to a generally cheap look, these factors bring this one down significantly.

Overview: 0.5/5

A dull and generally underwhelming barely-horror feature, this is a nearly worthless feature that doesn’t have much going on for it beyond just a few minor and hardly-that-impressive positives. Those who appreciate this kind of low-budget indie genre effort will be the only ones to like this while most others should avoid this one overall.