Director: Jenn Wexler
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Stuck at school over Christmas break, a group of students at an all-girls college with several other members of the faculty are alarmed that a series of ritualistic murders seem to be pointing in their direction, and when the campus is invaded by the same psychopaths must try to stop them.
Review:
There were some positive aspects to like with this one. One of the better features here is the generally solid and fun setup that provides this one with quite a lot to like about it. The main setup of the cult members going around doing the series of invasions and various intrusions that show them on a direct course of action to arrive at the school and set out trying to set about the final stages of the ritual in their path. The arrival at the school which is in the process of shutting down while on holiday allows them to come in and take over the school which is a solid enough starting point for the first half.
This setup provides a fun launching pad for the film to twist itself on its head for what the actual purpose of everything is. With the intruders thinking it’s all about them summoning the demonic being and its aftermath, a fantastic twist about their purpose for being there and the ritual behind it all turns the film into a different kind of feature together with it turning into a different entity than they expected appearing and bringing this into a series of demonic temptation and corruption setups that are pretty brutal and graphic with some surprising gore and bloodshed to give the film some likable factors.
The film does have some stumbling blocks that hold it down pretty well. The main issue here is the highly underwhelming and generally confusing main twist that causes a lot of questions to be raised about how it plays out. Setting up one of the characters in the manner this does to be revealed later on is a solid enough ploy that manages to come as a surprise, but doing so also highlights a special flaw in this delivery when it’s pointed out on-screen how that’s impossible to have occurred in the manner depicted. It’s not given any forethought and seems to be included more for the shock value than anything.
The other issue on display here is the massively scattered pacing that features some rather challenging material. Starting nicely with the furious introduction to the psychos and their quest, the start/stop method of carrying on the invasion of the school taking them hostage and setting up for the actual sacrifice ritual whips around between urgent and relaxed so it lasts until around an hour before this one gets going with the main gist of its plot. This is enhanced by a series of rather flimsy series of character changes regarding how to carry out the mission so it changes things up enough to hold this one back.
Overview: ***/5
A likable but overall middling genre effort, this one is certainly likable and worthwhile enough but has some big issues present which keeps this one from reaching what it could’ve been and misses out as a result. Those who are curious about this one or are fans of this approach will have the most to like here while most others out there should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment