Director: Antonio Negret
Year: 2025
Country: Ecuador/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Possession
Plot:
Arriving in a remote Ecuadorian village, a missionary and her husband try to get started on their mission to convert the locals of the indigenous tribe, but when her son displays signs of possession, she is forced to deal with unanswered parts of her own faith to battle the demonic entity within.
Review:
This is a decidedly underwhelming and not that worthwhile feature. The only thing that really works well for the film is the atmospheric setup that allows this one to bring about a fine attempt at introducing the local customs and folklore into a standard genre setup. With this playing as finely as it does within the confines of the normal village life, where we get to explore the implications of their visit and conversion attempts working at odds with the old-world value of being able to combat the possession, the setup gets to showcase the different lives they lead before and after the incident. As the traditional setups on display are focused on the usual tell-tale signs of possession, including abnormal sleeping patterns, constant state of sickness, violent outbursts, and flashing eyes, there’s a fine hint of the village life that soon contradicts the religious beliefs she has about the possession in the final half to take effect.
This extended series of confrontations offers up some of the best parts of the film, where it spends a great deal of time going through the different rituals and tactics needed to control the possessed. With the first encounters proving that the more traditional forms of exorcism aren’t going to be helpful and that there’s nothing her religion can do against the particular force, this forcing of the local forms of spiritual combat flies nicely in her face against the teachings they’ve been sent there to perform. The ensuing crisis of faith that goes alongside the action presented here is a lot of fun and gives these likable factors.
Beyond this setup, though, there’s just not much to be had with the film overall. While not an overtly detrimental drawback, most of the film’s troubles lie squarely in the problems regarding its sluggish pacing and tempo, where the slow, dragged-out scenes intended for dramatic effect cause several big issues. Rather than try to build up an atmosphere of dread and suspense as what it feels like is the intent behind them, the sluggish conversations and interactions between her and the locals as the possession starts being more obvious is a general sap on the energy created, where the film runs on far longer than it should’ve trying to get to these points.
They play out slower than they should by generating the kind of lethargic confrontations and overly dramatic which makes everything more involved than it needs to be, which, when combined with the formulaic content of the material present, makes for some routines to settle in. The idea of going through the motions of detecting the possession, trying their normal means of looking into what’s causing it, and failing, forcing her to turn to her faith before all hope is lost, makes this feel far more redundant than normal for the genre, so it comes off as tying familiar tropes into an unexpected location. While there’s some leeway given here, considering the background of the presentation, it’s still not enough to hold this one up overall.
Overview: **.5/5
A watchable enough if problematic attempt at the genre, this has enough to be worthwhile enough for what it is, although it’s let down more by its flaws than expected, to the point of being slightly underwhelming. Those with an appreciation for this kind of content or who are curious about this one will have the most to like here, while most others should heed caution.
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