By Melissa Antoinette Garza
The film opens with the recently deceased Rosalind Leigh (Vanessa Redgrave) narrating her last will and testament. Leigh’s voice can be heard professing love for her son Leon (Aaron Poole) who has been estranged for years seemingly due to his atheism and her devout belief. Despite the physical and emotional distance existing between them, she leaves her entire estate to him.
Leon fulfills his mother’s last wishes by moving into her old house which is filled with not only angels and religious statues but unnerving pictures and dolls among other artifacts. It also, to his surprise, contained all of his artwork which she had purchased, unbeknownst to him.
He begins to investigate his surroundings as it becomes apparent that his mother’s religious fervor had led her into a cult known as God’s Messengers. Sadly, though this is mentioned and revisited several times in the movie, nothing comes of it. The cult is not shown as incredibly overzealous. In fact, the cult is really not shown at all. It is mentioned in exposition by both a visitor who shows up randomly at the house and from Rosalind as she narrates her will.
Another aspect that is completely overlooked is Leon’s father. In the beginning, a newspaper clipping is shown and there is a hint that suicide may have been the cause of death. Initially, I thought this may play into the estrangement between mother and son, but that simply isn’t the case.
That said, there are moments that are creepy. When Leon moves in, odd and unexplainable things begin to occur within the home. It starts off small and almost insignificant. Objects move, seemingly on their own, and Leon starts to have visions including that of an apparition which is always lurking in shadows yet has bright eyes that can still be seen glowing through the darkness.
Statues like the Virgin Mary and other religious figurines that are typically comforting to those that are Christian are often made unnerving.
Though never one of faith which stirred the estrangement between him and his mother, he begins to believe that Rosalind is trying to warn him.
Sadly, the payoff is ridiculous. It ends on a very pretentious, absurd, and nonsensical M. Night Shyamalan style twist. There are so many holes in the conclusion that one has to just laugh which is the exact opposite emotion the director was going for. The last scene attempts to pull on the heartstrings of the viewer but fails miserably. Instead, the audience is more-so inclined to react in a perplexed manner, not because the movie makes one think but because it brings forth wonder as to how the last scene got the green light.
There have been (arguably enjoyable) films in the past that have had quite stupid endings. Hide and Seek (2005) and The Happening (2008) come to mind. Still, at least one could contend that the conclusion of those movies were possible in the world that was created by the scenes that led up to it. That is not the case here.
Here, every moment prior to the last two minutes contradicts the final sequence and the twist. Some have tried to interpret it differently which is really the only way for those who enjoy the movie to make sense out of it. More power to them. Others, have actually called this “intelligent” which is where I draw the line. The movie really wants the audience to believe that it’s intellectual. In fact, it is one of the dumbest movies that I’ve seen all year. Despite all the other interpretations and attempts to make it more than it is, I see the conclusion in the manner it is presented. The spirit of Leigh spells out the absurdity in the clearest of terms. I can’t or at least choose not to suspend my disbelief to create an alternate ending which would make the silly twist sound. Maybe if the movie was better as a whole, I’d forgive the conclusion, but at best it is mediocre suspense film with an agenda. For those intent in finding a Christian themed horror entry, though far from perfect, both The Life Zone (2011) and The Visitation (2006) are superior. To be clear, philosophically, I don’t agree with either production, and I am far from conservative but I can still appreciate Christian theological art. This however is just trash.
That said, Aaron Poole seems to really be trying with what he had to work with. There was so little interaction that Leon had with other people and so few scenes shown where he just missed his mother that he didn’t really invoke sympathy. Still, Poole wasn’t phoning it in and really gave a great performance for a character not really worthy of it.
Overall, there were a few creepy scenes but none that amounted to anything. The whole film is only slightly over 80 minutes long and perhaps if it dropped the ending and was longer, the movie could have been something intriguing, especially if it looked at the cult in more detail.
I really can’t recommend this title. Despite it being free on Netflix and very short, it’s really just an irritating waste of time.
Scared Stiff Rating: 3.5/10
