Despite the title of my review, I don't think this was that great...or good.
25 minutes in and I was wondering why I was still watching:
1) Typical setup with the single mother raising two children after her spouse dies
2) The older daughter is the typical sluttish rebellious teen that's angry at everything
3) The younger son, the subject of the movie, is the quiet traumatized child
4) They move into a dilapidated abbey/diocese that was left by the dead spouse - they're having it renovated
I could keep going, but already the tropes are stacking up, and so is the nonsense. In that first 25 minutes, the mother is walking around this castle-like building barefoot in her underwear, despite the fact that the building is under renovation, thus dirty and possibly dangerous. This is just the minor dumb stuff though.
The pacing is so off, that again, in that first 25 minutes we're rushed into the younger child's possession, subsequent hospital visit with an MRI, spinal tap, and other nonsense before they send him home after labeling him a possible psychotic...all in one day apparently.
Another issue - the film isn't horror. In fact, it doesn't know what it wants to be. There are splashes of comedy throughout the movie, as if they weren't sure if they should take the subject matter seriously or not. The comedy was detrimental to the overall seriousness of the subject matter itself, making you doubt what you were supposed to be feeling, thus the point of the entire movie. Ironically, however, or not, the humor makes this mediocre film a bit more palatable, as it distracts you from the nonsense otherwise taking place.
If they had gone with a strictly serious tone, but better writing, or leaned more into the humor, then this could have been better. As it is, it just seems like they didn't know what they wanted to do - almost if they were setting this up for a franchise run. Where, instead of a typical action movie, they were shooting for a religious themed movie with cheap thrills - like exploding bodies...
25 minutes in and I was wondering why I was still watching:
1) Typical setup with the single mother raising two children after her spouse dies
2) The older daughter is the typical sluttish rebellious teen that's angry at everything
3) The younger son, the subject of the movie, is the quiet traumatized child
4) They move into a dilapidated abbey/diocese that was left by the dead spouse - they're having it renovated
I could keep going, but already the tropes are stacking up, and so is the nonsense. In that first 25 minutes, the mother is walking around this castle-like building barefoot in her underwear, despite the fact that the building is under renovation, thus dirty and possibly dangerous. This is just the minor dumb stuff though.
The pacing is so off, that again, in that first 25 minutes we're rushed into the younger child's possession, subsequent hospital visit with an MRI, spinal tap, and other nonsense before they send him home after labeling him a possible psychotic...all in one day apparently.
Another issue - the film isn't horror. In fact, it doesn't know what it wants to be. There are splashes of comedy throughout the movie, as if they weren't sure if they should take the subject matter seriously or not. The comedy was detrimental to the overall seriousness of the subject matter itself, making you doubt what you were supposed to be feeling, thus the point of the entire movie. Ironically, however, or not, the humor makes this mediocre film a bit more palatable, as it distracts you from the nonsense otherwise taking place.
If they had gone with a strictly serious tone, but better writing, or leaned more into the humor, then this could have been better. As it is, it just seems like they didn't know what they wanted to do - almost if they were setting this up for a franchise run. Where, instead of a typical action movie, they were shooting for a religious themed movie with cheap thrills - like exploding bodies...