The Old Ways

Interesting atmosphere, acting and great soundtrack. It doesn't really scare and sometimes there is too much drama for what is expected, but it still ends on a positive note.

Cristina Lopez is an American reporter who has travelled her ancestral town near the city of Veracruz in Mexico. Here she hopes to write a story about the local folklore. After going to a cave she was told to avoid she is held in a small hut. Here she is told that she now has a demon inside her and that getting it out will be difficult, dangerous and painful. A local bruja, or witch, leads the exorcism with the help of a man named Javi and Cristina's cousin Miranda.

I thought this was a really solid little horror film. It starts well without wasting time on the set up; what we need to know we learn later. This means the viewer's confusion mirrors Cristina's as we see her in captivity with a sack over her hear. The location gives a good sense of claustrophobia and the scenes of the exorcism are suitably disturbing and quite gory. All the time there is a sense that Cristina is in real danger in a situation she has difficulty comprehending. Having the exorcism based in native Mexican beliefs made a refreshing change from Catholicism; and removes obvious comparisons to a certain film made in 1973! The small cast does an impressive job; most obviously Brigitte Kali Canales as Cristina and Julia Vera as Luz as the Bruja. The special effects are pretty good. Overall I enjoyed this more than I expected it and would recommend it... as it is only ninety minutes long you won't waste too much time if you don't enjoy it.

It's another trapped journalist/tourist story, and the initial cinematography constantly reminds me of another movie called The Ruins. With an element of exorcism against a backdrop of Central American jungle (Mexico??), this story cannot be described as original. Yet it is quite a unique one.

First things first, it has no excessive usage of jump scare. A smart move of that as this technique is kinda predictable and mediocre, if not old-fashioned. Rather it has the warmth and beat of many Latino movies which excludes unnecessary violence and dark horror. As the end of the story I even find it a bit humorous like a comedy.

Many details have been left untold. The demon should have been elaborated a bit more. Now even the boss fighting seems a bit too brief and plain. Or maybe the director simply didn't wanna make it too much like a horror movie?

If u r a fan of exorcism n wanna try something different, i think this is the one for you. Cheers n enjoy!

I throughly enjoyed this movie. Great acting. I liked all the main characters. The atmosphere was perfect for the storyline. Old fashion exorcisms, Mexico and a bruja. About time something a little different came along.

"The Old Ways" is, in many ways, your run of the mill horror flick. In other ways, however, it manages to pull its own weight and elevate itself beyond what you would typically expect from a film in this genre. For better or for worse, there is ultimately not enough fresh and unique ideas at play here for me to recommend this, but at the same time this movie wasn't nearly bad enough for me to tell you to skip it. At the end of the day, "The Old Ways" simply is.

This is an exorcism movie, and if you enjoy those types of movies, chances are you'll find at least something to like here. It has the type of content that you'd expect from an exorcism film; however, where "The Old Ways" differentiates itself is through its use of hispanic superstition. Foregoing the typical priest, this movie employs a Bruja, or a witch doctor, to cast the demon out of the body it is inhabiting. And admittedly, this means that there is some cool imagery at play, especially with the traditional rituals that the Bruja uses. I myself come from a superstitious Spanish family, so I appreciated this latino twist.

That said, besides the fact that the film aims for a slightly more creative way to exorcise the demon(s), there isn't much else that's new here; from the characters to the plot, you've seen it all done before. This wasn't a horrible movie - I didn't hate it by any means, and I actually enjoyed the different take on a tired genre, as well as some of the imagery. I did enjoy the soundtrack, and the film looked good; the writing, too, was pretty good for what it was, besides a few cheesy one-liners here and there that I only imagine were utilized to add some levity.

Besides what I mentioned above, however, nothing else managed to leave any sort of lasting impression on me. If you're a horror fanatic you could certainly do a lot worse than "The Old Ways," but you could also do a whole lot better.