Director: Jaron Lockridge
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural Slasher
Plot:
After the death of her husband, a grieving widow trying to get past the incident turns to a friend who practices black magic in order for her to see him again, but when the spell goes awry and he returns as an avenging spirit out to avenge his murder sets out to kill those who killed him.
Review:
On the whole, this is a pretty solid indie film with a lot going for it. Among the better elements of this one is the straightforward and simplistic story, which isn't original or creative in the slightest but serves this one well enough for this kind of film. The initial introduction with the failed home-ownership scandal and eventual home invasion that kills off the husband gives this a fine starting point, while the resurrection method of bringing in the witchcraft-practicing neighbor who casts the wrong spell to bring him back to life is all well and good at getting the body back to enable the resultant spree. None of this is handled originally or with any kind of creative spark but as a means of propelling the film along it's all quite likable enough.
This setup allows for the film to bring about a rather solid series of stalking and killing scenes as the whole revenge motive is brought to the forefront. Featuring a simplistic but effective look for the killer as he goes about his work with the oppressive overcoat, demonic stare, and booming voice, there's enough here to work with the type of film this is as he goes about appearing randomly at the houses of each of the responsible parties to take them out in brutal fashion. Taking the impetus of attacking and killing each of the victims as well as their family members as a means of seeking revenge for what happened, that adds a lot of intrigue to what's going on even if there's not much to the scenes as a whole. Throwing in a decent enough twist in the finale to help this out a little more, these elements are all enough to make this far above average.
There are a few issues that bring it down. One of the main factors is the aforementioned lack of creativity or originality present since this one pretty much runs through the well-worn ground without much in the way of differentiating itself from the pack. Taking on the core concept of the wrongful death being undone with a miscast spell that turns the victim into a demonic serial killer seeking revenge on those that originally wronged him is such a common trope that it's hard to get invested in this type of storyline as it's been done so many times over it's hard to bring anything resembling a fresh spark to the concept. That's the case here, handling the material well enough for what it is but simply being a carbon copy of dozens of others doesn't help it stand out much. This goes hand-in-hand with the obvious low budget, with the lack of action, guerilla-style production, and overtly obvious dearth of blood or gore in the kills which are just out-of-focus or off-camera which aren't too detrimental but do hold this one back.
Overview: **.5/5
A solid if unspectacular effort that treads down well-worn paths, it doesn’t do anything overtly bad beyond refusing to do anything new which should be treated as a personal preference issue more than anything. Those who are unbothered by its issues or are fans of this type of style might like this the most while those who are turned off by this should heed caution in favor of others who do this type of setup better.
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