Director: Chad Archibald
Year: 2025
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
After meeting a special client, a special spiritual therapist and her daughter are drawn to the case involving a strange demonic entity that’s latched onto her, and when they set about trying to save her, they incur the wrath of the demonic entity, who now targets the figure.
Review:
Overall, this was a fairly solid and enjoyable enough genre effort. Among the better features here comes from the strong and generally impressive setup that provides a different take on a formulaic concept involving the entity haunting a specific individual. The idea of the daughter being able to see the truth about a person’s negative or demonic aura and trying to use that as a means of ensuring whether or not they offer help to that individual makes everything come together with far more depth and urgency than normal. That allows for the series of questioning and pleading to take the case to transpire in the first half, as the reluctance to get involved based on their past history dealing with these kinds of issues compares nicely against the desperation to help the family, as the daughter is being subjected to a strange disease that draws their attention to her. Being able to transfer the ability to see the entity with a searing touch that burns an imprint on their skin allows the ability to see the truth, and offers up some intriguing aspects to the traditional storyline.
This brings about a lot of fun with the different interactions involving the specific entity haunting everyone. The initial encounters serve nicely as a means of getting some solid jumpscares involved as the creature appears out of nowhere to startle someone, as it’s standing right behind the victim while they try to perform a ritual of some kind and not expecting it, resulting in some solid shocks. Other times, including the various sequences showcasing the transfer of power onto others where the afflicted will grab an innocent bystander and allow them to see what’s going on which usually results in a gruesome supernatural burning sensation to take place, offers up some strong visuals as well, and the big encounters in the finale where she has to venture in to the realm of the demonic spirit to save her daughter after she’s been taken captive is quite fun and generates some eerie visuals amongst the eerie ruins of the creatures’ homeworld. Given the incredibly effective and chilling design of the creature as well, there are some likable factors within here.
There are some issues with this one that hold it down. The main drawback on display is the slow-going and sluggish first half that takes an eternity to get going, with everything here trying to understand the mystery surrounding the girl who comes to them for help. Getting so many different people involved at the very beginning, oftentimes before we even know their names, on board as the curious details of the situation slowly present themselves, is a bit much to take on when very little has been established. To then stop all that and engage in various protocols and procedures, from interviewing and questioning authority figures and others in the chain of command above them to proceed with the case makes it somewhat sluggish, trying to get past the red tape and get to the people who need help, especially when they are also somewhat reluctant to get help after they initially presented it. This makes for an overlong and unnecessary running time, trying to eventually get everything together, with the film feeling like it could’ve been trimmed down considerably at various stages with this setup. Otherwise, there’s not much to bring this down.
Overview: ***.5/5
An impressive and likable genre effort if only slightly flawed, this one has quite a lot to enjoy as the few small problems on display aren’t enough to detract too much from those positive points. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre effort or who are curious about it will have the most to like about it, while most others out there should heed caution.
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