Maria, played by Sarah Wayne Callies, is a grieving mother who cannot get over the horrible death of her son, Oliver. Until a friend tells her of an ancient temple where she can go with her son’s ashes, lay them at the door and say a final goodbye to his spirit, but the door must remain closed. Deceived by the voices she hears there, Maria opens the door, setting something evil free into the world of the living.
Without a doubt the most frustrating thing about this movie is that with the right director and editing it could have been absolutely terrifying. But no! God forbid we have a camera shot longer than 7 fucking seconds so that we don’t lose our precious meme watching vine making audience! The potential that has been wasted here is just jaw-dropping.
And what are we left with? A long series of recycled “freaky” moments and overly loud noises supposedly put in place to pass as jump scares. The imagery is enough! The imagery is haunting, sometimes even scary and disturbing. The jolts aren’t needed! I mean, what the fuck is it? Laziness? A lack of confidence? - aka - studio interference?
Sarah Wayne Callies turns in a sympathetic heart-breaking performance. But then again if this movie is what came after being killed off one of the most talked about TV shows of 2016, you’d cry your fucking heart out, too! Hopefully returning to Prison Break will cheer her up. Strangely enough, the usually reliable and engaging Jeremy Sisto as Sarah/Maria’s husband, Michael, doesn’t feel all that present in this role. It’s not really a great part for him, and he must be getting bored of playing all these ‘Dad’ characters lately.
LAST WORDS:
Another potentially spine-tingling classic destroyed by tampering studio exec hands it seems…