mojoguzzi-879-68498
Seeing in the credits that most of the lead actors also served as producers of one sort or another, I was shocked when I checked their credits to learn that they are all trained actors with hefty resumes. I was sure that one or more were simply wannabe movie stars with more money than talent. Although a few of the lead actors were attractive, on the whole the cast was dowdy and unengaging. One of the lead males looked like Ross from "Friends" if he'd put put in a trash compacter then dressed in an outfit designed for a five year old boy. His haircut didn't help -- it looked like he had an accident with a Flow-bee. His thick Gaelic accent made him stand out even more, not in a good way.On balance the lead female characters were more likable than not, despite the ham-handed direction. The rest of the cast were just annoying, from the "sassy" psychic to the harpy of a mother and the poorly cast priest. With his unkempt shoulder length hair and grubby whiskers he looked like the guy who'd bring a keg and an eighth of weed to the party, not the gravitas of an exorcist.The script starts off on a fairly solid collection of clichéd story points but halfway through the characters go off on illogical tangents and there's little suspense throughout. (What man wouldn't be tempted to French kiss his wife after she'd been possessed for a day, complete with deep processed demon voice.) Character emotions change erratically and the horror comes in choppy doses, but there's no one to care about anyway. Eric Roberts collected a day's pay for his wraparound stint as a police psychologist. Whatever they paid him wasn't enough.
GL84
Following a tragic car accident, a family trying to grieve over the death of one of their children who was involved learns that one of them has become possessed by a demonic being looking to torment them and causes them to rely on a priest to battle the evil.This was quite an enjoyable and highly surprising effort. One of the better elements present here is the fact that this one really does manage to work with the slow-building plot line rather nicely without really upsetting the film really working out a rather great way this goes about bringing the different details of what's going on here. Starting off with the freaky occurrences with the knife at the dinner table and the possession sequence in the bedroom, this turns out rather fun as it transitions away into the actual possession enables for the more lively as she turns against the family and begins not only tormenting them with the secrets and how the different physical torments she concocts makes for a really enjoyable time overall since this really makes the film pick up the pace with its action. Content to play it more low-key rather than going full-bore with the possession. There's plenty of great scenes here with the séance they conduct which comes off rather well with the demonic voices and blood-spurting around the room making for a great time along with all the different torments, the different confrontations along the way that makes for a great showcase of the demons' strength and vindictiveness and gives this one some pretty enjoyable moments throughout here with her attacks. As it slowly gets into the actual exorcism and the attempts to get her cleansed while she goes out on the rampage against the others it makes for a really exciting time here leading to some really fun action as they all continually stumble across her victims and kills piling up around the house which adds an extra urgency to the actual exorcism attempt, while all together having these help the film's pacing by having such great scenes play out in delivering a great bunch of action in the second half to counter-balance the somewhat slow beginning. That is one of the film's few minor problems, in that there's not a whole lot of action happening here in the first half which makes this tend to feature a somewhat lapse beginning where it doesn't quite get off to the start it really should. Focusing on the interspersed scenes of the psychiatrist that goes nowhere and the revelation of the investigation after-the-fact don't offer up any kind of emotional resonance that's being set-up with the storyline about the possession taking place due to the death in the family, a thread itself that isn't all that well thought-out since it's still a mystery why this one takes on the possession as it does here when being tormented would've been far more feasible so that doesn't really solve much of the problems here. The last problem with the film tends to revolve around it's rather confusing decision to keep almost all the deaths off-screen rather than up-front on-camera. Quite often throughout here they tend to stumble upon the mangled bodies of a friend and it leaves a big gaping hole as to why it never showed that occurring on-screen rather than doing it in this manner. Still, this one was quite a bit of fun.Rated R: Graphic Language. Violence, suggested Rape and strong adult themes.
postalpro
I don't even know where to begin - I started watching totally blind, no reviews read and no word of mouth. It just doesn't make sense - establishing some things as facts and then from scene to scene acting as if no revelations or oddities had occurred.Seems a waste of a good chance for the team to make a solid movie, most of the elements are there but it falls apart due to horrible storyboarding/writing/editing (could be any of those things... or all of them).2/10 just because it begins quite well.
InDyingArms
A bunch of friends / family are together at a gathering, things turn for the worse, and more sinister back story is uncovered after one of the guests becomes possessed. The group, then are left with the duty of figuring out what to do, and how to vanquish the demon that has possessed the one character. I feel as if this movie had a clichéd plot, that being the typical gimmick of a bunch of victims in one isolated area with a ghost / demon after them. Luckily, on the other hand, I also felt as if this movie turned the cliché gimmick into something above average. Combining a series of story twists, and turns, of which relied on the uncovering of more, and more deeper secrets revolving around specific characters in the film as the story progressed, I felt as if the film succeeded in rising the audiences' shock value as the film dose indeed give some intriguing character depth with every twist, and turn it has to offer, those said twists, and turns not being cheap and revolving around character, but with each twist manages to pull all the characters together, thus adding in the audiences' suspense, handing out some interesting thoughts toward the audience. The characters in this film, I felt was a bit of a con, more or less than a pro. The characters seemed a bit flat, and they didn't exactly have the audiences' rooting for them, rather then just seeing them as, what seemed to be boring, cardboard characters. I felt as if the one character, of which became possessed ( Of which won't be spoiled ) had an interesting personality, possessed or not. She seemed sympathetic, at points emotionally damaged, adding more audience questions. When possessed, the character ( That being the demon ) Has what seemed to be a mixed-bag of personalities, and even tricks up it's sleeve, offering some interesting personality, character choices, and depth. The film's dialog seemed decent for what it stood for - that being each character's state of panic, and emotional breakdowns. The characters' actors weren't bad delivering those lines / emotions, giving us some semi-believable acts. Nothing Oscar worthy, but enough to hold the ground.In conclusion, this film wasn't bad - in fact a decent horror film. I found it pleasant how the filmmakers turned a tired, clichéd plot into something above what it already was; the story additions of twists added audience tension, as well as interest. The film also succeeds to making said twists refreshing, and far from average. The characters may of seemed like cardboard cutouts at points, but once again, the film managed to keep it to a level where the audience would be entertained, and pleased. The demonic possession scenes weren't bad; it wasn't a film heavily reliant on the whole possession gimmick, rather than depth, once again a pleasant surprise. So in the end, this film was great. I personally think horror fans will like it, leading to the recommendation; Great, above average, depth reliant horror flick that'll please.
