Director: Serik Beyseu
Year: 2025
Country: Russia/Kazakhstan
Alternate Titles: Otrazhenie tmy; Succubus
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Arriving at a remote retreat, several couples are greeted by the staff of the retreat and go about their series of tasks that are geared to heal their strained relationships, but when they start noticing odd behavior from the others are forced to deal with a demonic threat lording over everyone.
Review:
Overall, this one was a watchable if somewhat frustrating feature. One of the few enjoyable aspects here is a decent enough main storyline that has the potential to be much better, yet still offers a lot to like. Providing a necessary framework for the group to arrive at the remote retreat as an excuse for everyone to work on their relationships together, it works well enough for what it's trying to do. Getting a chance to witness the various couplings and how they're intended to come together as a result of the program, there's a decent enough main story at work here before introducing the concept of the demonic figure that the operators of the facility control. This introduction and how it manifests on the others by imitating its victims to then turn into other variations of its kind through dark ritualistic ceremonies that are taking place on the island is a solid enough idea that offers up some intrigue before letting loose with the rampaging Succubus in the final half. These scenes are mildly interesting with the figure skittling around the wooded landscape to pick off victims in some chilling sequences.
That does speak highly to the extravagant production design and look of the film in general. There's quite a lot to like about how this one comes off with its Gothic presentation and general appearance, with the facility located in a striking woodland forest, with it coming from the design of the dead trees, overgrown bramble, and immense layer of fog surrounding everything, making for an intriguing and chilling location. That allows for the fine visuals that come from the sightings of the creature hanging around the outskirts of the woods or coming across the hallways of the retreat, sneaking up on victims to take full advantage of the stellar production quality on display. Likewise, the finale in the ornate forest home of the Succubus where the spirits of it's past victims are kept until they're ready to strike back when the special method being used to stop the creature is put into action as the spectacular imagery of the twisted and gnarled forest where it takes place being just as important as the action of the scene. These factors give this some solid points.
Outside of this, though, the film is a disjointed and underwhelming mess. The main drawback is that while the setup works to get the couples to the island retreat, it does nothing with them. There's only one mention of who the couples are and what they're at the retreat for, so other than the main girl, you forget their names immensely quickly. It doesn't help that an awful dub-track rather than proper subtitles was released, or that the majority of the male cast look so similar it's hard to tell them apart, and who's been converted by the Succubus. The purpose of the trip is quickly forgotten as none of the couples really do anything that warrants them getting back together, as the majority of their scenes together revolve around heatless erotic moments depicting the couples hooking up with each other. However, far too many of these scenes are too brief to generate any kind of steamy resolve and lack the quantity part to make everything exciting as well, so that it ends up oddly feeling like an erotic-tinged genre piece that doesn't want to commit to these qualities in the long run.
The other issue here is that the main demonic entity is egregiously mixed up with what the figure is supposed to be. Repeated mention is made of what the figure here should be, as the series of interactions is supposed to offer up a dark entity that feeds on people's deepest desires and carnal impulses. That means the full tends to revolve around just getting everyone into bed with each other, so there's not much special about it being present in this scenario. With the demon's influence not being terribly important to the story, with everyone acting differently from how the influence is supposed to play out, that renders the fear qualities of this one to be quite low overall. Combined with one of the most unnatural and soulless English dubs, which makes for a heartless quality to the material, which becomes far more off-putting as it goes along, these end up being huge detriments for the film.
Overview: **.5/5
Filled with some unfortunate, detrimental factors that ruin a potentially fun film, this one is a bit more disappointing than it should’ve been, as there are some intriguing aspects that are still featured. Viewers with an interest in the kind of material or who aren’t bothered by the negatives will have a lot to like, while most others out there should heed caution with this one.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
Comments
Post a Comment