Aura (2018) by Steve Lawson

Director: Steve Lawson

Year: 2018

Country: United Kingdom

Alternate Titles: The Exorcism of Karen Walker

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Moving into a new house together, a married couple looking to settle the family drama with everyone that allows them to come upon a camera that captures people’s auras, and when they try to bond with his troubled sister during this time find a deadly entity inhabiting her that must be dealt with.

Review:

This was a fine if somewhat flawed genre effort. One of the finer features here is the ability to utilize a rather cliched premise and setup that offers a rather decent changeover into a solid supernatural feature. With the whole idea of the original move into the house to try to settle the family issues just before they deliver their baby and come to terms with the family legacy involving the bizarre camera that can capture the aura of people’s souls in the developed picture, there’s a rather fine supernatural setup in play here that offers up the kind of grounding for what happens throughout here. Having to interpret the meaning behind everything with the tarot card reader that is instrumental in helping this one get clearer and defined by beginning him into contact with the troubled relative that sets everything in motion, the main storyline for this one works rather well.

This sets up the rather strong second half where the sister’s arrival and series of bizarre encounters that follow shortly afterward make for a rather intriguing series of encounters. The creepy behavior she shows from the very beginning with the stares and nervous tics provides plenty of proof that she’s not well even before it starts to dig into the more overt physical interactions which are full of the usual low-key incidents that grow progressively more troublesome over time. As this grows into more supernatural antics that require the return of the medium to help guide them through the scenes not only discovering the condition afflicting her and how it’s all leading into the big finale where the exploits of the possession come full-force into a generally fun time putting more action into this one during these scenes. These all provide a lot to like here.

There are some drawbacks to be had here. The main drawback with this one is the generally sluggish pacing that provides this one with quite a familiar route in regards to what’s happening. The family drama that takes place with how the couple has come together and are preparing for their upcoming birth sets up a traditional series of sparks that keep things at a pretty slow pace, much like the slow discovery of the troubled sister which sets about the important possession angle that allows the use of the camera to come into play. This part at least picks up the pace against the sluggish opening but it’s just all overly familiar instead with the material here being the bigger culprit due to having to hit the necessary mystical setpieces detailing the discovery of the figure haunting her and how to combat it which takes quite a lot to overcome as that all hit the hallmarks of the style more than anything. These are what give this one some factors to bring it down.

Overview: ***.5/5

A rather intriguing genre effort with a few drawbacks present, there’s still more than enough to like here that it manages to hold itself up quite nicely even with those issues. Viewers who appreciate this kind of genre entry, enjoy the indie presentation provided here, or are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here while most others out there should heed caution with this one.