If you check out the reviews I write then you already know
that I am a die hard horror fan. I love everything from the big budget horror
flicks to the low budget garbage that is brought forth from major and minor
studios. So when I saw the trailer for this film I was immediately interested
in seeing it. Suffice to say this is one of those movies where they take the
best moments and put them together to form a trailer that entices you and then
delivers nothing that you expected.
Taking place at Oxford in 1974 we are presented with
Professor Jared Coupland (Jared Harris) who is in the midst of the study of a
young woman who may indeed be possessed. Then again perhaps it has nothing to
do with possession and everything to do with mental illness. In any event he
hires a young student to film the proceedings involving him and two other
students. Shortly after the film begins Coupland is angered when the university
refuses to acknowledge of fund his research. The team hits the road and takes
up residence in a house in the country. There Jane Harper is secluded in a
locked room where they attend to her needs and conduct sessions with her.
At one point while trying to help her they hold a séance
which of course angers what ever being it is that has control of her. Again is
it some creature, some demon, or is it simply the demon of her own mind and a
fertile imagination. As the film progresses there are clues dropped by Jane
that lead them to finding information that would have you believe it is the
former rather than the latter. But all bets are off as we witness not only the
problems that Jane has but the slow degradation of team investigating her.
This movie had great potential to become another solid movie
in the possession sub-genre but it loses sight of the things that would work
early on and clings to those that do not. The characters are less than
believable in many parts of the story and their actions make you wonder just
what criteria a professor who was actually attempting to discover a cure for
this girl used in order to get them to help. From the looks of things if a
student had a warm body, they were hired.
I completely understand the use of the slow burn when it
comes to horror films. Some of the greatest moments have come with the gradual
development of characters and scenes that held you in a trance like state only
to finally pay off your patience with a grand scene at the end. This film holds
you in mild suspense only to offer little in the way of payoff later on. Even
the ending feels like a let down after all that has been seen earlier.
Supposedly based on a true story the movie uses the current
favorite technique in horror films, the first person found footage film. I
think they need to come up with a new name for this rather than "found
footage". That carries a negative connotation to it having been overused
in the past decade. Maybe they should have a specialized logo that reads
"SELFIE-VISION" instead. For me I'm tired of movies filmed with
jumping cameras, off camera action and surprise shots that no sane person would
be standing there taking rather than running for dear life. Move on people.
Find something different.
In the end this movie may not be the worst horror film ever
made but it certainly struggles to try and get there. Some may enjoy the film
and the pacing that it uses. For me I had a struggle of my own trying to stay
awake while watching it. The good news is that the ending doesn't leave room
for a sequel. Then again the way supernatural serial killers always seem to pop
back up after having been trashed, smashed, pummeled, pounded, stabbed,
slabbed, kebobed, keel hauled, run over and shot means that film producers
could find a way to continue this story. The only saving grace was that it
didn't do that well at the box office. I hope they realize there's a reason for
that.
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