Director: Fede Alvarez
Year: 2013
Country: USA/New Zealand/Australia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Possession
Plot:
Gathering at a cabin in the woods, a group of friends attempting to rehab a friend learn the area was used to cure demonic possession and accidentally free a trapped demon that possesses them one-by-one and forcing the survivors to get away alive.
Review:
Frankly, this one was one of the best remakes and an even better stand-alone effort. One of the film's best parts here is how much action this packs into here, as there are a lot of scenes here featuring either the possessed charging after them or being attacked by them. The chilling opening, from the woodland abduction and chaining up in the basement before the actual manner of driving out the infected occurs makes for a fine intro to this one, as does the initial escape attempt from the house where the driving rain forces the car out into the pond and shows the demon rising and stalking afterward into the twisting, disorienting woods for another confrontations that's especially chilling.
As well, the gradual build-up of her possession instead of the relapse following this encounter is not only genuinely frightening but builds the action really well. Starting with the running water in the shower and the revelation of what happened to the others around her, this sets up a solid base here for one of the film's highlight sequences in their first encounter with the possessed as the attack with the shotgun, the vomiting ungodly amounts of viscera onto the friend before being locked in the basement and then battling the now-possessed and deformed friend in the bathroom gives this on an incredibly strong and chilling scene filled with some solid jumps and brutal action. Likewise, the attack here by the bitten friend is even more brutal than the action in the locked basement, where she becomes possessed and forced to dismember herself from the counter, and now begins chasing the ones left throughout the cabin in some really brutal, vicious battles really adds nicely to this one.
Even more impressive here is the finale, which here is the film's best part with the initial cleansing attempt and subsequent revival, the encounter back in the house leading to the demons resurrection in the area where a thrilling, brutal and quite exciting sequence plays out here with the demon leading her throughout the leftover areas and into the woods into a thrilling, utterly bloodbath-soaked carnage that really lets the blood flow here quite nicely from the wounds but also raining blood on the entire sequence. Along with some truly outstanding demon make-up that gives them a truly inhuman look and attitude that fits perfectly with their mangled features, these are the film's positives against the few small flaws here.
The film's biggest problem here is the fact that it resorts to such cliché and predictable manners of tormenting here for the possessed, who resort to the old standby of demonic cursing to tease and torment the survivors here that the taunts aren't even creative enough to mean anything and don't even fit the tone of the movie at all, being so lazy. This also could've done a little more here to set up the contents of the cabin, which just comes out of nowhere and doesn't feel all too logical. Beyond these, this one was an absolutely amazing entry.
Overview: *****/5
One of the best in the genre, this isn’t just a top-tier remake, but it’s also a remarkably solid standalone film that is just slightly notches below the original in that regard. Those with an appreciation for the concept, who are curious about it, aren’t bothered by its flaws, or who are fans of the franchise, will have a lot to like here, while very few out there will be disappointed by it.
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