So i saw this British horror flick this Wednesday and it's fair to say that I was surprised by how Britain can still pull off a good horror in an age dominated by American gore-fests and standard jump scares. But despite it's chills, it didn't really leave much of an impression on me hours later. The film has jump scares aplenty and some genuine chills, but doesn't really deviate from the standard "experiment gone wrong", supernatural schtick thats been re-hashed many times.
The film mainly concerns an experiment to force a malevolent spirit out of a young girl who is supposedly possessed by it. The experiment is led by an oxford professor (a brilliant performance by Moriarty himself, Jared Harris) and is see through the eyes of his cameraman (nice to see the cameraman as the hero for once) and the rest of his team. As usual, something goes wrong and the team are endangered, but the plot deviates from the usual slasher, gore-fest cliché which is great. The plot holds some great surprises, chills and some twists but mainly relies on jump scares to freak you out. Another thing is that there seems to be someone smoking in every single scene (just to remind you that you're in 1970s England). Not really relevant but just something I noticed.
All in all, the movie has some great performances and is very scary, but suffers from a re-hashed story and some clichéd slasher elements which is where the "forgettable" comes in. But through the murk, it has an essentially English feel to it and doesn't take itself too seriously.
The film mainly concerns an experiment to force a malevolent spirit out of a young girl who is supposedly possessed by it. The experiment is led by an oxford professor (a brilliant performance by Moriarty himself, Jared Harris) and is see through the eyes of his cameraman (nice to see the cameraman as the hero for once) and the rest of his team. As usual, something goes wrong and the team are endangered, but the plot deviates from the usual slasher, gore-fest cliché which is great. The plot holds some great surprises, chills and some twists but mainly relies on jump scares to freak you out. Another thing is that there seems to be someone smoking in every single scene (just to remind you that you're in 1970s England). Not really relevant but just something I noticed.
All in all, the movie has some great performances and is very scary, but suffers from a re-hashed story and some clichéd slasher elements which is where the "forgettable" comes in. But through the murk, it has an essentially English feel to it and doesn't take itself too seriously.