Director: Joshua Sowden
Year: 2024
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Witchcraft
Plot:
While working late at work, a woman and her co-workers at an abandoned building working as the security detail are concerned that her visions and hallucinations are getting worse, eventually forcing them to the realization that the witch she's been hunting might be close by.
Review:
This was an intriguing but somewhat problematic entry at times. Among the better elements featured here is the grand setup and execution of the mystery at hand which has a lot going for it. The main backstory involving the series of incidents and supposed interactions with the witch on its rampage across the community in the past gives this a fine starting point with the whole thing pointing her to the proper point of contact between the two different characters at some point in their journey. When it starts to get a bit more literal and physical with the various visions or different interactions that are quite impressive in how they gain in intensity over time, there's a chilling enough atmosphere featured in this one to give the kind of impact to the final half where the series of confrontations are far more intriguing. Dealing with the witch and her powers as she tries to prevent the duo from carrying out their plans through psychological or physical torment, there's quite a lot to like with how everything comes together including the intriguing enough method of finally defeating the creature. These all manage to have quite a lot to like about it.
There are some issues here that do bring this one down slightly. The biggest issue here is the unfortunate concessions to its budget as these are quite obvious and featured throughout here. The desolate settings, one-location focus for the majority of the running time, and minimal characters make for a somewhat obvious low-budget feel here that also helps to explain how the movie's low-key approach could be a potential turn-off. This one takes quite a while to figure out where it's going as the other outside elements are in play here which run through the team at the security patrol hanging out and bonding over their job which is all deliberately placed there to avoid going for any kind of grandiose spectacle. That also causes the film to be a bit sluggish in tempo as we wait for everything to make sense, and when it does this one picks up slightly, but it's the getting there that hurts this one which all combine to bring this one down overall.
Overview: ***.5/5
An immensely effective and enjoyable enough genre effort, there’s a lot to like here which manages to hold it up over a few minor drawbacks that bring it down. Those with an interest in the subject matter or who appreciate this kind of indie fare will have the most to like here while most others out there might want to heed caution.
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