Director: Liza Bolton
Year: 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural Slasher
Plot:
After arriving at a prestigious university, a woman falls in with a secretive society on campus that initiates her into their witch family like them, only to find that she's inadvertently released a powerful demonic entity on the group and has to use her powers to stop it and keep them safe.
Review:
Overall, this was a pretty decent genre effort. One of the finer aspects to be had here is the rather fine setup to be had with the whole affair taking place alongside some solid storylines. The usual rhetoric of the former accused witch burned at the stake and placing a curse over the area is a serviceable enough starting point, which carries over into the new girl arriving at the college and bringing about immediate interest from the others on campus and put through the initiation rites that puts them in danger once they realize what's going on by inducting her and her powers into their society. This is done quite well and manages to have a lot to like with this going alongside the various interactions around the campus.
That starting point allows the film to come off rather nicely when dealing with the escaped witch and the trials that ensue. Focusing on the idea that she's inadvertently released the figure during the numerous initiation rituals that take place, it finally allows for the stellar final half where the sinister entity arrives. While this is a rather underwhelming motive with a lackluster motivation for everything, that still manages to generate some truly effective and chilling stalking scenes as it changes rather nicely into a slasher film during this part. Utilizing the stealth of the killer striking unexpectedly within the nearly-impenetrable darkness of a heavy fog around the area, the tortures and action here are genuinely exciting which not only keep the excitement going but also feature some solid gore in the brutal kills to go along with a clever trick to stop it. These elements bring about a lot to like overall.
There aren't too many issues here but it does have some minor flaws. One of the bigger drawbacks is the films' laid-back pacing that focuses more on their sisterhood and bonding that it doesn't have a lot of time to really enjoy the witch's rampage. With this mainly relegated to the final half once it's been released, the time until then focuses on the group going through their ordeals bringing them into the fold which doesn't have a lot of action for the most part. It's really for the better since the majority of the scenes here are so badly illuminated with scores of fog around the woods where they're staying that it's nearly impossible to make out what's happening in a way that makes it just as frustrating as suspenseful for the characters. These factors are what tend to bring this one down the most.
Overview: ***.5/5
A highly enjoyable genre effort, this one manages quite a bit to like and only a few minor drawbacks to bringing it down which ends up keeping this one of the more enjoyable outings in the style even with those minor drawbacks. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of these low-budget genre outings or are a fan of this particular genre while those turned off by those factors might want to heed caution here.
Comments
Post a Comment