- Directed by: Pierre Tsigaridis
- Written by: Maxime Rancon, Pierre Tsigaridis
- Stars: Rebekah Kennedy, Emily Goss, Ranan Navat
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCLwO5C4F-E
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A demon set free really messes with people over a lot of years. We thought this one was hit and miss. It’s well made, with some good creepy bits and suspense. There are also some places that drag and don’t do much for us. The Horrorguys are split on this one. Kevin gives a moderate thumbs up, and Brian didn’t care for it much at all.
Spoilery Synopsis
We are told of the five forms of childhood trauma, and then we go to Egypt in 1910. A man is walking across the desert, and he doesn’t look to be in very good condition. As he collapses, he unwraps a figurine and says a prayer over it before burying the evil thing. He then stabs himself in grief over his son that the demon in the statue took. He dies as the credits roll.
We cut to 2003 in Pasadena. Little Mikey calls 911 about his mother, who is scaring him. We soon see that this is no normal domestic abuse situation as she scurries around after him and pees on the floor. Yeah, she’s demon-possessed.
We see Mikey on TV as an abducted child, as he and his demonic “mother” watch the news. The sheriff shows up in response to that 911 call and he insists on coming inside; he knows something is wrong. He finds a tub full of blood, and it’s all very weird. Then he moves down to the basement and finds several bodies. The crazy woman charges at him, and he shoots three times. Then it goes badly for the sheriff.
One year earlier, an angry man hangs up the phone and unwraps that statue we saw in the pre-credit sequence. John picks up the phone and talks to Steve, who says there’s some way to use the idol to open a mystic portal – you must not take the head off. The instructions say to keep it away from children. Volpaazu preys on children and then spreads like a disease. Steve clearly believes all this, but the idol is worth $5o,ooo, and he needs the money.
What does John do? He immediately opens the idol and breathes the smoke contained inside. He then goes out to the living room and tells his daughter Alice to go to bed. Then he rapes his other daughter, Abigail. We see that Abigail’s mouth looks just like the one on the demon we saw earlier. After, he swears her to secrecy. Later that night, John sneaks into Abigail’s bedroom and pukes demon-juice into her mouth, converting her as well.
Abigail runs off in the middle of the night. He calls his ex about the missing daughter, and she’s not pleased. We cut to Abigail, alone in an old house, giving herself a coat-hanger abortion. She calls Alice and tells her to never come looking for her. John then shows up to torture her some more, but we see that she’s really doing it to herself; John isn’t real. “John” says the demon wants a little boy since Abigail killed his child.
We cut to another little boy who wanders into a dark place near the park. Crazy Abigail is in there, and she kills the boy. “He wasn’t the one,” says John. “You’re gonna have to keep looking,”
Back in 2003, Abigail argues with the demon in her head about what the demon wants to do to Mikey. She then kills herself, leaving Mikey alone with it. There’s a lot of cat-and-mouse between the demon and Mikey.
We hear a news report about the police finding Abigail’s body and all the rest of the children. John hears the news report and kills himself.
Twenty years later, grown-up Alice writes a book and does interviews about the situation she lived in. She passes on a message to Mikey and apologizes for what he went through. It’s Halloween, and she goes home to trick-or-treaters. She watches the interview show, and Mikey hasn’t been right since he was rescued. The show also includes an interview with Steve, who talks about the artifact and how it’s still out there. Alice gets weird phone calls and has nightmares.
She wakes up to find a little boy in a ghost costume, except it’s not a boy under that sheet. She comes to the conclusion that it’s Mikey. “You’re not safe anymore. It’s out there again,” he says. “I don’t want to be the chosen one. The chosen one for the darkness.” He wants Alice to be his new mommy, his new protector. “I’m so sorry I brought it here.” We then get a flashback to Volpaazu and little Mikey.
Alice’s boyfriend drives up and sees Mikey, still in the sheet, in Alice’s yard. Mikey stabs the boyfriend repeatedly.
Jennifer Novak, the TV show host, wants to get Alice in for another interview, but when she gets to the studio, everyone is missing. Mikey is there, and he’s killing everyone. Alice shows up to talk him out of killing Jennifer.”I’ll be your mommy,” she says. Mikey starts to strange Alice, but then Jennifer stabs him in the head.
Brian’s Commentary
I’m mixed on this one. A lot of what goes on in Abigail’s house in the first hour is really good, but it’s also a little drawn-out. The final half hour, with adult Alice, is just a mess of stuff that felt thrown together and cheap. The first hour was a decent demonic possession/haunted house movie, but the final third was a cut-rate, poorly made slasher. The two did not fit together well.
Stinker!
Kevin’s Commentary
I kept being reminded a little bit of “Skinamarink,” and that’s not a good thing. Though there is a little more explanation in this movie than that one. And it’s interesting how it progresses through time showing what happens at each stage of things. There is the emotional trauma factor, but also really a demon at work. It’s creepy with some scares, and well made, but lots of dragging spots.
The real lesson here is that if you get a warning not to pull the head of a cursed statue because it’s confining an evil force that you’ll let out, don’t pull the head off.
I’d just call it pretty good.