Director: Juliane Brock
Year: 2020
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Following news of a family member's passing, a young woman agrees to join her sister and her boyfriend at their ancestral estate to finalize matters only to become aware of a familial curse that brings the dead back to life forcing them to try to get away from the house and stop the curse.
Review:
There was a lot to like with this effort. Among its better features is the rather fun build-up which serves to mix old-school sensibilities with a more modern approach. The opening backstory detailing the family legacy involving the tyrannical leaders and their descent into madness is a fine touch, offering a great starting point by getting a worthwhile motivation for the curse as well as setting about how the rules are set in place. Seeing this type of setup play out in a more modern setting once that shifts to the present day allow for a nice blend of tactics to get this going off in the right direction as the reason for the family to visit and fall under the curse brings about some impressive chills due to this storyline.
As well, there's a lot to like with the exploits of the curse coming to pass with the zombie-like behavior of the undead. Although it takes a while after the strong opening, this one gets going incredibly well once they start attacking as the first ambush by the possessed in the house starts off with a fantastic jump-scare. From there, the non-stop nature of the pace here generates highly enjoyable and frantic encounters throughout the house and surrounding buildings all come off incredibly well with the ravenous swarm running after the group in fun chases requiring a clever and unique series of tactics to fight back and escape. With the scares getting rather brutal and showing off the creepy look of the creatures while setting off the clever finale, the film comes off with a lot to like about it overall.
There are some issues to be had with this one. The main issue here is the incessantly stupid behavior they engage in that has very little sense of realism portrayed. The brazen inability to accept what's going on simply by repeating the impossibility of what's happening or failing to adhere to warnings about the behavior which will alert their presence serves to feel the recipient's stupidity and desire for their death than anything else as there's no reason for that kind of behavior. As well, there's a moronic sidestory about the true nature of the house's worth which comes about for no reason other than to further the same characters' likable storyline that didn't need to be there. Alongside some pacing issues getting going, these are the films' main flaws.
Overview: ***/5
Far more fun than it should've been due to some enjoyable horror scenes and a general setup that provides for some exciting old-school chills, these are more than enough to offset if not overcome the few problems associated with this one that holds it back slightly. This one is mostly recommended to fans of the style or are curious about it while most others that don't go for these factors should heed caution.
This review ran as part of our 2023 Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out the rest of our month-long celebrations including various reviews and interviews:
Comments
Post a Comment