The Manor (2021) by Axelle Carolyn

Director: Axelle Carolyn

Year: 2021

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Witchcraft

Plot:

After suffering a stroke, an elderly woman is sent to a nursing home by her family to finish her life, and while trying to make friends with the various occupants of the facility she soon comes across a deadly conspiracy with the staff of the nursing home that may put her in grave danger.

Review:

This was a rather fun if somewhat problematic effort. Among the more enjoyable aspects here stems from the way the setup here works  to provide not just a suitable supernatural haunting but a wholly impressive take on the nature of aging. With the early setup focusing on her advancing age and the pitfalls that come from being at that point in her life intent on knowing that the series of visions and hallucinations she’s having are real but all the medical professionals are instead looking to diagnose more traditional forms of memory loss for the incidents, this one brings about a rather pointed commentary on the way older generations are treated. With the incidents largely ignored under the belief that it’s simply delusions brought about due to her age, this setup offers the kind of sympathetic touch towards her that only gets enhanced by the treatment of the other guests that shows them to be the stereotypical spunky individuals that are more in touch with what’s going on than they let on.

This all goes alongside the special supernatural features that are in place here to help create a fantastic setup. The initial incidents and encounters that take place at the house the second she arrives, featuring the spectral figure arriving in the dark of night and trying to take over the guests’ bodies that manage to work well enough for the chilling nature of the scenes alone offer up a lot to like even without bring up the storyline connections coming into play. The scenes involving the figure coming out of the shadows and coming towards the trapped victim who are usually strapped down in bed for the night to start the sequence on a creepy note which is then brought about with the revelation of what’s going on involving the truth about the staff at the facility which offers a highly original take on the concept first introduced in the first half before becoming incredibly shocking and surprising with how it plays out. These are all pretty much enough to provide a lot to like with this one.

There are a few drawbacks here to hold it down. The main factor to be had with this one is the series of real-world medical and legal issues that have to be ignored simply for the setup to work here. With no supernatural force in play to ensure she would come into their grasp or keep her there, the series of medical and legal jargon thrown out here to keep her in the facility amount to so much misguided terms and conditions that are sorely unrealistic to how it would really would in this situation. It skips over what would truly do this to instead pull off some bizarre choices to keep her there and just come off quite lame. The other factor here comes from the film’s stilted pacing that relies far more onn cliches and predictable setups to hold off the genre action as it takes quite a while for the whole plot to come about and most of the issues here surrounding it are based on the need for secrecy so it all feels familiar in addition to being quite sluggish. They’re not detrimental but do hold this down.

Overview: ***.5/5

An enjoyable feature with quite a lot to like and only a few drawbacks, this one manages to bring about a lot to enjoy with a few minor factors bringing it down just slightly. Those who are intrigued by those one or are fans of the creative crew will want to give this one a shot while most others out there should heed caution with it.