Director: Chad Hendricks
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural Slasher
Plot:
Hosting a party with her friends, a teen decides to partake in a viral internet challenge where they summon the spirit Bloody Mary, and when they play the game and decide to host some friends at the house they find the game has worked and the summoned spirit begins killing them one by one.
Review:
This was a fairly solid and enjoyable take on the urban legend. One of the better elements here is the use of necessary updating done to the popular legend which makes it much more of a topical boogeyman. That it still keeps the familiar setup about the connection with the mirror and the summoning ritual involving the repetition of the name while also featuring the ties to modern influencer culture with this being presented as a challenge of sorts due to the urban legend that’s surrounding the disappearance of those who’ve taken it up makes for a rather solid time here. It effectively crosses over into a more modern audience through this since what transpires here is closer in terms to what influencer culture would attempt with the old-school story while still honoring the roots of everything quite nicely, and with it serving to introduce to the main friend group as well who take this up the story for the film is a better than anticipated one.
That setup allows the film to work incredibly well when it goes for the exploits of the reawakened creature coming for her and her friends. Following the ceremony that summons her and the arrival of their friend group that hangs out as a get-together, the situation comes together quite nicely as the various scenes of the figure popping out of nowhere engaging in a vicious, brutal sudden shock ambush gives this an entertaining series of scenes featuring the great effects for both the deformed killer and the various kills. It all leads to the fine finale where the discovery of the bodies left around the house and the realization that the game has genuinely summoned the spirit, providing the kind of enjoyable confrontations here involving the resolution of the various storylines, some graphic practical effects, and a fun resolution to bring everything together. These all give this one a lot to like.
There are some factors here that hold this one down. The main drawback here is almost exclusively limited to the attempts at comedy that take place here which are almost certainly not funny. It’s quite obvious to see where they come about as the film stops cold to try to partake in unwanted attempts at humor throughout here where the film figures sitting through endless scenes of people thinking they’re engaging in road-head, complaining to their friend that they hear something that’s not there, or a figure going to the bathroom commentating on the struggles of the experience are gut-busting concepts that require plenty of screentime. Even the comedic tinkling sound effects used here aren’t in the slightest bit fun and the comedy here is generally lacking. The other real detriment is the obvious means of trying to drag out the running time in the finale by playing a lot of this out in slow-motion when it doesn’t need it, and with the low-budget here do hold this one back.
Overview: ***/5
Far better than expected but not without some issues, there's a lot to like here with just a few issues found to bring it down and leave it as a fun enough genre effort. Give it a shot if you're intrigued by this one or are fans of this style of indie effort will have the most to like here while most others out there should heed caution with it.
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