I'm not gonna lie, 30 minutes in, I was going to turn the movie off. After a great intro sequence, the movie falls into spending way to much time getting to know the characters, which (let's be real) is usually the dullest part of any movie. But just when i was about to call it quits, the editing team flipped a switch and allowed the action to finally start, and when it started, I literally went from 0-60 and didn't let off the gas for a minute.
The movies plot was actually easy to grasp at first, and the farther along you get through the movie, the more complex it becomes. It starts out being about a killer who is facing death row, and evolves into a movie about cults and demonic possession and chosen ones and blood pacts, although much different from the ones most of us are used to. By the end, it was a completely different movie than how it began.
While the acting is competent from the majority of the cast, their likeability is all over the place. You feel sympathy for some, and completely despise others, but when their time comes, a few of them die in truly gruesome ways. (I mean, as a lifter, one of the deaths was a gym nightmare visualized. I actually cringed watching it, and I'll probably have nightmares about it tonight.) The special effects worked well and weren't overdone, and you won't see any overused possession tropes anywhere in this movie. But you really don't find out exactly what's truly transpiring until about 45-1 hour into the movie, so stick with it. I promise, it's a story worth investing your time into.
Coming off of a year with so much horror, and a lot of it being utter TRASH (I'm looking directly at everything associated with Blumhouse this year), this movie was a great little surprise that actually made me really glad I sat down to watch it. I'm a pretty difficult to please critic of horror, as it's my favorite genre and I really have no tolerance for low effort additions to the genre, but the people responsible for this film really understood the mission, and achieved it with flying colors. I really can't wait to see what's next from the two guys responsible.
If you liked movies like Netflix's Eli and SMILE (my favorite horror movie of the year), I really think this will be right up your alley. It's slow to get going and could have used some more editing, but once it gets going, it really becomes a hell of a ride (no pun intended). A truly solid and commendable effort for everyone involved.
The movies plot was actually easy to grasp at first, and the farther along you get through the movie, the more complex it becomes. It starts out being about a killer who is facing death row, and evolves into a movie about cults and demonic possession and chosen ones and blood pacts, although much different from the ones most of us are used to. By the end, it was a completely different movie than how it began.
While the acting is competent from the majority of the cast, their likeability is all over the place. You feel sympathy for some, and completely despise others, but when their time comes, a few of them die in truly gruesome ways. (I mean, as a lifter, one of the deaths was a gym nightmare visualized. I actually cringed watching it, and I'll probably have nightmares about it tonight.) The special effects worked well and weren't overdone, and you won't see any overused possession tropes anywhere in this movie. But you really don't find out exactly what's truly transpiring until about 45-1 hour into the movie, so stick with it. I promise, it's a story worth investing your time into.
Coming off of a year with so much horror, and a lot of it being utter TRASH (I'm looking directly at everything associated with Blumhouse this year), this movie was a great little surprise that actually made me really glad I sat down to watch it. I'm a pretty difficult to please critic of horror, as it's my favorite genre and I really have no tolerance for low effort additions to the genre, but the people responsible for this film really understood the mission, and achieved it with flying colors. I really can't wait to see what's next from the two guys responsible.
If you liked movies like Netflix's Eli and SMILE (my favorite horror movie of the year), I really think this will be right up your alley. It's slow to get going and could have used some more editing, but once it gets going, it really becomes a hell of a ride (no pun intended). A truly solid and commendable effort for everyone involved.