Reviews

If director Justin Wurzel was trying to make a movie that could be described as bleak, grim, depressing and dreary, he certainly succeeded. He also made a movie which could be described as dull, boring and tedious.

This film stretches out for nearly two hours and in that time there was no hint of a narrative nor of any fully developed characters, good or bad.

It looks as if the filmmaker was striving to create an art-film depiction of a suburban wasteland where anonymous faces are interchangeable and no one really matters; people drift in and out with no real purpose to their lives and are unable to see any purpose in anyone else's, and when neighbours start disappearing and there are whispers about what is happening, no one says or does anything to stop it.

It was in this environment that a group of dead-eyed wraiths lead by a Manson-esque psychopath, John Bunting, murdered twelve people over seven years and the scariest thing about this film is that it all really happened and was allowed to happen.

All of this should make for fascinating viewing. Unfortunately this film is so focused on tone, boring things like plot and character have been neglected. It's a series of events in dull lighting that may or may not correspond with each other. The who, what and why's of the actual events are never revealed.

Where did Bunting come from? Why were the others so in awe of him as to do his evil bidding? Who *were* the others? Who were the victims? How did all these people know each other? How were they caught? Who knows. I couldn't keep up.

Watch it if you want to throw away two hours of your life. Don't watch it if you don't (or if you love dogs).

Rev Cotton Marcus is a minister specialising in the theatrical, demon-fighting, fast-talking WWE wrestler/car salesman type of evangelism, all the while knowing that he, like so many others in his profession, is a fraud. He is unsure of whether he truly believes and is torn between his conscience and his pride at how great he is at his job. He decides to finally come clean and has a documentary crew follow him as he explains what he does, how he does it and how he feels about it all. They head to Ivanwood, Louisiana to document what will be his last exorcism, and it is there that the reverend's lack of faith and deceitful tactics come back to bite him in the ass.

I watched this movie with my fingers crossed that I would be scared stupid but that didn't happen. Despite some truly creepy moments, the movie never descended into the depths of hell ala The Exorcist or The Exorcism of Emily Rose which is not necessarily a bad thing. What it does instead is play with the audience's minds, causing the viewer to wonder what the hell is really going on. Marcus performs every trick in the skeptic's book before events raise niggling doubts about whether it really is all just smoke and mirrors or if there is something more to it. It continues in this vein, the back and forth between faith and science, belief and cynicism until the final minutes where it all becomes clear what was actually happening. The ending was plausible enough, leaving no loose ends but it was too abrupt, too brief and seems as if it was done more for convenience than narrative.

The acting was pretty good, which is not something you could say about many of these mockumentaries (Paranormal Activity lol). Patrick Fabian was brilliant as the smarmy, cynical, conflicted yet inherently good hearted Rev, as was Ashley Bell who played the lovable/sinister Nell, the girl who may or may not be possessed. In a smaller part was Caleb Landry Jones as Nell's creepy older brother who has you wondering if he's a good actor, a bad actor or just a naturally creepy guy.

In all I liked this film and despite some minor irritations (the ending, the cameraman still filming while running for his life, and someone please tell me why a doco would have creepy background music) would watch it again. It probably won't satisfy many hardcore horror fans who want blood, guts and Satan thrown in their faces but would appeal to those who sometimes like a little subtlety in their scares.