Children of the Pines (2024) by Joshua Morgan


Director: Joshua Morgan
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural

Plot:
Gathering together for a school break, a young woman finds that her estranged relationship with her parents has only gotten worse when their dabbling in the occult has brought about a slew of extra issues on top of their previous issues and must uncover what’s going on to save them.

Review:

This was a fairly uneventful effort without much going for it. The majority of that comes from the utterly underwhelming and plain dragging storyline that drains any kind of life out of the film from the very start. While there’s an intriguing mystery at the core about the daughter returning to her family after a long hiatus away from them and attempting to reconnect while she stays there which brings her into their lives with a strange gentleman and his cult-like followers that have ensnared them, this is undone by just absolutely endless dialogue scenes involving the family attempting to reconnect while takes the form of conversations that don’t go anywhere. It allows for a solid series of mysterious revelations about the situation but is so bland that it never catches fire to provide much in the way of action.

There’s also the unfortunate issue where it’s hard to feel any sense of fear or chills from what’s going on. The formulaic use of the abusive family members to explain the strained relations that have to be mended doesn’t start this off on a good note, while the build-up of the cult comes about with so little fanfare that there’s very little interest in their purpose or point. Given that these features are part of what the storyline is centered around, the feeling of this one is more of a drama than an outright genre effort with a lethargic tempo that never introduces anything beyond cliches or non-thrilling storylines. While that’s the case, the rest of everything here comes off greatly with an impressive production design, a great final half, and a slick look all give this some generally great positives to at least hold it up to some positive points.


Overview: **/5
A somewhat underwhelming drama more than an outright genre outing, this one works fine as a general film but is massively underwhelming when looked at in the context of a genre feature. It's really more worthwhile to give it a shot if you're looking for that type of style or approach while those looking for something in the genre realm should heed extreme caution.

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