Plot
In 1967, widow Alice is raising her two daughters, Lina 15, and Doris 9. To get by, she is the towns ‘spiritual medium’ able to talk to the other side… but in reality she is just a scam artist – using parlor tricks.
When she discovers the popularity of Ouija boards, she adds one to her act – but little does she know there is darkness within the walls of her house – and her daughter Doris becomes the conduit to its horrific history.
Direction
Directed by Mike Flanagan (who this is his first movie I have reviewed). I loved his use of camera movements, and how the camera moves as if it is following the line of sight of the characters.
His inclusion of such era adjacent moments in film (the film being set in 1967), with cigarette burns in the top right hand corner of the screen. If you’re a Fight club fan, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
His use of different lenses, such as the deep focus, is also sound, and I’m looking forward to checking out more of his work.
Cast
The cast include Elizabeth Reaser as Alice, Annalise Basso as Lina, and Henry Thomas as the school principal and towns priest, Father Tom. All are played very well, but it is Lulu Wilson who plays Doris who is the stand out.
She has clearly found her niche in the horror industry, starring in other horror films such as Deliver Us From Evil, and the now Becky Trilogy (a few more to put onto my watch list!)
Breakdown
Starting with the cold open – which has some incredible misdirects to who these people are. It introduces ‘psychic medium’ Alice, who is able to communicate with the departed. While some think she is a scam artist, others truly believe that she is able to help them move on from their loss…
We the audience then are shown that she is in fact just doing ‘parlor tricks’ with great showmanship. It is actually really fun to watch how these people can set up their surroundings.
Not long after this, when Alice decides to add a Ouija board to her repertoire – that it seems that Doris her 9 year old daughter begins to show signs of ‘possession’. From there, her progression of possession escalates quite quickly – which leads her big sister to get assistance from High School Principal (and the towns priest Father Tom).
There are some very scary and frightening moments, and director Flanagan took every measure to ensure his PG13 (or M15 in Australia) rating is effective. There are some great jump scares, some creepy nightmares (where characters mouths disappear), and Doris’ physical possession is quite creepy too.
As the movie goes on, there is an arc where Doris writes an entire book in Polish, which reveals a dark hidden secret within the walls of their home. Once, long ago there was a doctor who did ‘experiments’ on patients in the basement, and hid the bodies in the walls of the home (these are who is possessing Doris). I quite enjoyed how this was both written and explained. It gave the audience the reason why, instead of it being unsolved.
What I didn’t “love” was some of the final act, it felt like the family was punished for crimes that they didn’t commit. I liked how Father Tom was able to hold off the possession, which was seemingly due to his faith.
Killing off Lina’s boyfriend seemed unnecessarily cruel too, and seemed like it was only included because there needed to be more cannon fodder.
It was also quite sad that two of the *** spoiler but it is a 10 year old movie *** fatalities in the film were Tom and Alice. They had some genuinely nice moments together, that was strengthened by the fact they had both recently lost their spouses.
The ending in which Doris and Lina are (both?) in a mental institution due to what occurs isn’t clear (I’m assuming this is explained in Ouija – which takes place after this, but was released two years prior.
There are some solid use of make up and CGI, and I absolutely loved the 1967 look and feel. I really felt that I was in that timeline, and it had the look (hair, make up) and feel.
Overall
Even if it is ‘slightly’ by the numbers in terms of its horror content, what it delivers is sound, and does well.
I thought the performances were on point, especially from Lulu Wilson as Doris.
Terrific direction from Flanagan, with great use of the 1967 timeline and settings. A strong recommend.
4/5
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