The Wicked Within (2015)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

When you're tired of The Exorcist and those James Wan Conjuring movies and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, where do you go? Well, here is as good a place to start as any. Nary a big budget ego anywhere in this project to get in the way of a simple, bare bones, Lifetime Movie-ish look at what might happen when a young blonde, suburban beauty gets possessed by a demon. They strap the poor girl to a chair the whole time, and listen to her growl and divulge their dirty little suburban secrets, and it is hilariously over the top and engrossing. The possessed girl's loopy performance is probably unique in the history of these possession movies, as she laughs and cries and roars her way into a performance that is sure to become a cult classic. There's a strange, end-of-the-world relevance to this little movie, its main strength being a script that someone like Robert Zemeckis or Ang Lee would have turned into a masterpiece of Kubrickian simplicity. But as it stands, it's a fascinating little peek at what happens when low budget Hollywood gets hold of another great script, and does the best they can to tell the story under the big budget radar. A worthy glimpse into the truth about the nature of mankind, and what lurks behind the façade of public hypocrisy we wear.

Seeing in the credits that most of the lead actors also served as producers of one sort or another, I was shocked when I checked their credits to learn that they are all trained actors with hefty resumes. I was sure that one or more were simply wannabe movie stars with more money than talent. Although a few of the lead actors were attractive, on the whole the cast was dowdy and unengaging. One of the lead males looked like Ross from "Friends" if he'd put put in a trash compacter then dressed in an outfit designed for a five year old boy. His haircut didn't help -- it looked like he had an accident with a Flow-bee. His thick Gaelic accent made him stand out even more, not in a good way.On balance the lead female characters were more likable than not, despite the ham-handed direction. The rest of the cast were just annoying, from the "sassy" psychic to the harpy of a mother and the poorly cast priest. With his unkempt shoulder length hair and grubby whiskers he looked like the guy who'd bring a keg and an eighth of weed to the party, not the gravitas of an exorcist.The script starts off on a fairly solid collection of clichéd story points but halfway through the characters go off on illogical tangents and there's little suspense throughout. (What man wouldn't be tempted to French kiss his wife after she'd been possessed for a day, complete with deep processed demon voice.) Character emotions change erratically and the horror comes in choppy doses, but there's no one to care about anyway. Eric Roberts collected a day's pay for his wraparound stint as a police psychologist. Whatever they paid him wasn't enough.

DON"T WASTE YOUR TIME.Lazy, lazy writing. It's too bad, this movie started strong with family drama, mystery and secrets which lost steam about half way through, becoming nothing more than a "Mysterious Evil Spirit With Unlimited Unexplained Power". It's almost a modern cliché now, evil spirits that can do anything they want with no limit or rules. If there's no way to defeat the spirit, no "it can't go into the light/cross water/stand up to love/etc., why bother? Just shoot every character in the head, no reason to give a crap about doomed, stupid people. A weak attempt at a double twist ending is the final insult to the audience. Pointless and stupid.

A bunch of friends / family are together at a gathering, things turn for the worse, and more sinister back story is uncovered after one of the guests becomes possessed. The group, then are left with the duty of figuring out what to do, and how to vanquish the demon that has possessed the one character. I feel as if this movie had a clichéd plot, that being the typical gimmick of a bunch of victims in one isolated area with a ghost / demon after them. Luckily, on the other hand, I also felt as if this movie turned the cliché gimmick into something above average. Combining a series of story twists, and turns, of which relied on the uncovering of more, and more deeper secrets revolving around specific characters in the film as the story progressed, I felt as if the film succeeded in rising the audiences' shock value as the film dose indeed give some intriguing character depth with every twist, and turn it has to offer, those said twists, and turns not being cheap and revolving around character, but with each twist manages to pull all the characters together, thus adding in the audiences' suspense, handing out some interesting thoughts toward the audience. The characters in this film, I felt was a bit of a con, more or less than a pro. The characters seemed a bit flat, and they didn't exactly have the audiences' rooting for them, rather then just seeing them as, what seemed to be boring, cardboard characters. I felt as if the one character, of which became possessed ( Of which won't be spoiled ) had an interesting personality, possessed or not. She seemed sympathetic, at points emotionally damaged, adding more audience questions. When possessed, the character ( That being the demon ) Has what seemed to be a mixed-bag of personalities, and even tricks up it's sleeve, offering some interesting personality, character choices, and depth. The film's dialog seemed decent for what it stood for - that being each character's state of panic, and emotional breakdowns. The characters' actors weren't bad delivering those lines / emotions, giving us some semi-believable acts. Nothing Oscar worthy, but enough to hold the ground.In conclusion, this film wasn't bad - in fact a decent horror film. I found it pleasant how the filmmakers turned a tired, clichéd plot into something above what it already was; the story additions of twists added audience tension, as well as interest. The film also succeeds to making said twists refreshing, and far from average. The characters may of seemed like cardboard cutouts at points, but once again, the film managed to keep it to a level where the audience would be entertained, and pleased. The demonic possession scenes weren't bad; it wasn't a film heavily reliant on the whole possession gimmick, rather than depth, once again a pleasant surprise. So in the end, this film was great. I personally think horror fans will like it, leading to the recommendation; Great, above average, depth reliant horror flick that'll please.