Don't Look at the Demon

There are horror movies, and there are horror movies, and this is just another horror movie. Been there, done that. Still, for a relatively unknown Malaysian filmmaker, it's an ambitious effort and features non-local actors in the lead roles. Writer-director Brando Lee throws in everything one might have seen in other horror movies, from ghost hunters to haunted houses, possessions and occult rituals to hidden rooms with conveniently working film projectors. The story, while entertaining, is lazily developed, indulging in too many cliches and coincidences, and allowing for too many gaps in the plot. On the plus side, however, the acting is above par with Harris Dickinson giving the best performance; the film is beautifully shot and the special effects are quite impressive. And i dig the surprise ending.

After hearing of a new opportunity, a team of American paranormal researchers looking into a supposedly haunted house for their show's latest episode finds the house to be far more terrifying than they imagined and must face their personal demons to be able to rid the house once and for all.

There's quite a lot to like about the film. Among the better qualities on display is the fantastic supernatural atmosphere generated throughout here which provides for an engrossing overall setup. An initial encounter with a local medicine man performing a ritual on a tormented woman provides a great start to everything with the ritual generating a strong shock with its conclusion by allowing for an easy entrance into the supernatural world to follow that the explorers carry on throughout the rest of the film. The backstory of the couple's haunted house with the history of strange occurrences to the past residents, bizarre incidents to the clothing or paintings they own, or the recap of events that take place at the house provides a great false start with the explanations to their queries. The suddenness of it all exploding in their face and bringing about the genuine supernatural activity which ties nicely into the setup provided. This carries over into the stellar supernatural action in this one. Focusing on the typical kinds of sequences involving a deformed ghostly being appearing unexpectedly behind someone or strange noises blaring out of the shadows, this doesn't really bring much new to the table until things start becoming physical. With a harrowing attack on the homeowner where they're repeatedly bashed against walls or a later sequence where a team member is possessed and begins taunting the rest of the group in a haunting fashion. The final half, featuring all manner of possessions, occult rituals, revelations about the nature of the house's haunted history, and a series of brutal encounters to keep everything in check, all score incredibly well with a thrilling escalation of events. Everything comes together nicely with some requisite bloodshed and heroics to offer quite a thrilling resolution that ends on a high note providing quite a lot to like. There are some flaws that bring it down. Among the biggest issues here is the outright bizarre behavior of the team once they arrive at the house and start contacting spirits. The first attack occurs the first night they're there and her initial reaction is to leave without bothering them anymore despite their experience with the paranormal. Further encounters that result in a physical beating or possession amount to nothing for their personal safety, and instead are mostly forgotten about in favor of continuing the show. Since these point to a past trauma to overcome as the main point, the lack of urgency over the interactions present comes off far less impactfully with that lack of concern over what's going on. This is repeated several times in their confrontations which makes for an even bigger issue and can make this one feel less impressive. The cliched nature of the storyline and presentation here will also have to be dealt with as it plays by the book quite frequently but is overall not enough of a detriment as the other issues.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence, and Brief Nudity.

A medium hopped up on benzos.... A new female crew member who happens to be a tramp... a producer who's sleeping with the medium... and a couple camera guys who probably punch refrigerators at college parties to see who can make the bigger dent in the fridge.... and a monk who can or can't save the day... now add a demon presence and safe to say... idk wtf I'm looking at anymore. Production was all over the place... I'm not sure the writers ever met each other for this movie. Seems like they were in different universes when they wrote this. Horror my ass don't waste your time and the lead actress annoyed me with the way she looked... comb your hair lady wtf.

This film had great potential. It was good but had some blank spots. They could have used more suspense. Harris Dickinson carries the whole movie. The movie wouldn't be worth anything without him. I am now a big fan of Dickinson. They could have used more medium psychic content. They could have used other psychics to help the storyline some. They could have done a better job with the actors in Malaysia. The ones from there got on my last nerve. This needed more back story and more suspense buildup and more use of psychics and more use of righteous over evil. Harry Dickinson is very sexy in this. He is going to be a huge star in america.

My hat's off to Brando Lee and team! Fiona Dourif is one of my new heroes! I secretly hope for at least one sequel with Fiona's character (Jules), as a troubled medium who travels around Asia helping folks with paranormal problems with the aid of local Buddhist monks!

Well, it could happen!

This movie had everything I deem necessary for its genre. I daresay even a bit on the brutal side for my taste, but it comes with the territory when you're a horror movie buff.

Covering Jules' past, present, and future, Lee took this story a lot of places, with a successful degree of unpredictability. What would otherwise have been a fairly simple plot, a number of complexities arise, which was very satisfying to watch.

As a practicing Buddhist, I enjoy watching what directors do with the storyline when injecting Buddhist elements, even if they aren't necessarily true to life. This turned out to be an important dimension to the film.

Great acting skill from the three female cast members in particular.

Really fun movie!