Charismata

A rookie female detective cracks under the pressure of dealing with a constant stream of misogyny from her douchey colleagues while hunting an occultist serial killer who turns his supernatural(?) powers against her. I enjoyed this.

The good

Like the other Brit film Kill List from a few years ago, there is a weird, gritty-yet-off-kilter vibe running all the way through this. Like David Lynch directed an episode of Cops, but in England. I liked.

Sarah Beck Mather is just superb as the lead. One of the best female horror leads in a while. In the first scenes she looked as bitchy as the men, but you soon see that this is a shield she puts up and she's already close to cracking.

The bad

Pacing problem. The first part was very slow and the gloriously fun last part seemed rushed. If they took 10 minutes from the start and added 10 to the end then the movie might have been outstandingly good.

The ugly

After using some really effective practical effects for most of the run time, the last minute was full of schlocky low budget horror CGI.

Overall. Not quite as good as Kill List, but still pretty good and well worth your time.

Charismata is billed as a psychological horror from co directors Tor mian and Andy Collier. As with all independent productions you're never sure what to expect but I have to say that with Charismata I was pleasantly surprised. Even after the first few scenes the quality of cinematography, colour grading and acting performances assured me that I was about to experience a polished offering.

The storyline revolves around Rebecca Faraway (Sarah Beck Mather) a homicide detective working with her partner Eli Smith (Adonis Anthony) on a series of gruesome sacrificial murders. As the investigation progresses she begins to experience an increasing amount of disturbing visions and hallucinations leading her to question her own sanity. After being asked to take a back seat on the case she independently digs deeper to try to find a link between her visions and the prime suspect, property magnet Michael Sweet leading to a cat and mouse chase with an occultist mad man where the line between reality and insanity becomes more and more unclear. With good to great cast performances and an unobtrusive but excellent score Charismata in not without its faults but they are far outweighed by its positives.

In an absolute vacuum, with no other reviews or movies to go on, this gets a 9/10 easily.

The acting is very good, the film is well made and there are bits of humor throughout.

I'm really tough on movies and I thoroughly enjoyed Charismata as a great way to pass a Saturday afternoon.

Actually wanted to like 'Charismata', and yes there was the intention to judge the film for myself after watching it and even more intention to judge it fairly. Both have always been the case with me when it comes to reviewing a film. The idea was attention-grabbing, psychological horror has worked brilliantly numerous times on film and it didn't look too bad, so there was potential.

Potential that could have been lived up to far more. 'Charismata' was not a waste of time but it is a long way from a must watch from personal opinion. Didn't regret watching it and didn't find that my intelligence was insulted, something that cannot be said for some other films seen recently, it just doesn't come together as much as it could have done.

Lets start with the good things. 'Charismata' is very promising in its early stages, it does draw one right in, sets things up promisingly and has an eerie vibe. It's a decent looking film, with the setting giving off the right amount of unease and the photography has atmosphere, the bleakness suiting the tone of the film well. The music is haunting and not too obvious or intrusive.

Generally the acting was better than average and even quite good from some, few over-compensate and nobody looks uncomfortable or robotic. Sarah Beck Mather carries the film beautifully. There are some welcome moments of levity, some creepy unsettling atmosphere and the questioning of Faraway's sanity moments were intriguing and suspenseful.

However, while the characters don't annoy mostly there could have been much more development to them. Jamie Satterthwaite's character came over as a caricature and it grated at times like when we first meet him. The script is an overload of awkwardness and the direction is at best lethargic. The low budget does frequently show, especially in the less than polished though thankfully not overused visual effects. 'Charismata's' biggest issue is the story. There is not enough tension, suspense or dread, with the scares infrequent and more often than not are rather routine and obvious.

'Charismata' is dull too often despite starting off so well, with less prolonged pauses that just stalled everything and some scenes that could have been shorter or even trimmed. The psychological element does intrigue to begin with but lacks surprises and there are moments where it's vague and silly. The writers should have come up with an better ending than the pointless cop-out not-knowing-how-to-end-the-film-like one in the film and the build-up to it was silly.

In conclusion, has good things but doesn't come together. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Don't get fooled by the reviews and awards. This is another over-hyped horror by the studio. So many of these always. It only gets hype because hipsters think its cool to like any film that is foreign that's all. I know that this is English language but you will have to watch it with subtitles when the accents are so heavy. Sometimes I couldn't even understand what they are saying. Some english cops chase a killer who is also a demon. It's okay. Not scary and boring most of the time. 2 good scenes and okay acting or I would score it even less. Cheap looking. If you want to watch great foreign horror you should watch J-Horror instead. They do it so much better. I will make a list.