So the story goes.
The girl from American Horror Story who looks a bit like Benedict Cumberbatch is the only survivor of a cult mass suicide which happened in the eighties.
So what's the best thing to do to get over watching so many people die under the influence of a mad man? Why, you take a documentary team to the actual place that hasn't been touched by hand in a long time, film all the events there, and not just that, stay there as well. Because that's good counselling........
Another Blumhouse release, another damp squib for the horror genre, and to be brutally honest, if it wasn't for the fact that Jessica Alba is one of the main stars, I wouldn't have given this a second look (I'm an Alba fan, and not for her acting skills), as it just looks like a sort of sequel to the found footage film Th Sacrament, which was released a couple of years ago, and miles better.
So it ticks every single box in the 'something bad happened here a while ago, let's go and film there' sub genre.
People walk off to get something from somewhere along way away.
There are ghostly images when camera footage is being played back.
People see things, that no one else can.
Certain people start to act weird.
And there's always that strange old man who is standing at the gate for reasons unknown.
And the film is as boring as it sounds, which is a shame. Because Joanou has made some wonderful movies (State Of Grace is a classic), and the flashback sequences are pretty effective.
And then there is Thomas Jane. For some reason, Jane has been channeling Michael Hutchence in his last few films, and as his parts are all set in the eighties, he performs in excess to his requirements, and the white suit just adds to his pantomime take on the cult leader.
And this is the fundamental problem with the film, if you can't take the antagonist of the narrative seriously, then the rest of the film is pointless.
Yes, there are the jump scares, and the weird people standing in corridors who weren't there before, but we've seen this a thousand times before, and it doesn't get effective with each film, and the jump scares are more annoying than thrilling.
We have the obligatory twist come the end, but you'll be as bored as Alba, I'm sure she was yearning for Sue Storm, so she could disappear........
The girl from American Horror Story who looks a bit like Benedict Cumberbatch is the only survivor of a cult mass suicide which happened in the eighties.
So what's the best thing to do to get over watching so many people die under the influence of a mad man? Why, you take a documentary team to the actual place that hasn't been touched by hand in a long time, film all the events there, and not just that, stay there as well. Because that's good counselling........
Another Blumhouse release, another damp squib for the horror genre, and to be brutally honest, if it wasn't for the fact that Jessica Alba is one of the main stars, I wouldn't have given this a second look (I'm an Alba fan, and not for her acting skills), as it just looks like a sort of sequel to the found footage film Th Sacrament, which was released a couple of years ago, and miles better.
So it ticks every single box in the 'something bad happened here a while ago, let's go and film there' sub genre.
People walk off to get something from somewhere along way away.
There are ghostly images when camera footage is being played back.
People see things, that no one else can.
Certain people start to act weird.
And there's always that strange old man who is standing at the gate for reasons unknown.
And the film is as boring as it sounds, which is a shame. Because Joanou has made some wonderful movies (State Of Grace is a classic), and the flashback sequences are pretty effective.
And then there is Thomas Jane. For some reason, Jane has been channeling Michael Hutchence in his last few films, and as his parts are all set in the eighties, he performs in excess to his requirements, and the white suit just adds to his pantomime take on the cult leader.
And this is the fundamental problem with the film, if you can't take the antagonist of the narrative seriously, then the rest of the film is pointless.
Yes, there are the jump scares, and the weird people standing in corridors who weren't there before, but we've seen this a thousand times before, and it doesn't get effective with each film, and the jump scares are more annoying than thrilling.
We have the obligatory twist come the end, but you'll be as bored as Alba, I'm sure she was yearning for Sue Storm, so she could disappear........