La posesión

I watched this film because of it's 7.9 rating.

5 minutes in I started thinking...this doesn't come across like a 7.9, ten more minutes passed - it's not a 7.9.

Clearly someone has been playing with the votes, this film is awful. The acting is terrible along with the cast, the story is sub par and the horror aspect it predictable and very much not even remotely jumpy.

Avoid this film at all cost.

30 minutes into the movie I was so excited because I am a horror movie fanatic and truthfully only 1 out of 10 of them have been good lately. Maybe even 1 out of 20. I had such high hopes and was glued to the screen but as the movie went on, it became cliché and got ridiculous. *sigh* What a let down.

Like many other reviewers, I saw the high early rating (7.9) and dove right in. I quickly regretted it. The premise was okay. To its credit, I thought there was some depth to the subtext. The director plays a lot with the "Primacy Effect" of our first meeting with the characters. The viewer is definitely expected to evolve their perception of who is good and who is evil.

Had they dwelt more on the psychological tension and made the kidnappers sit face to face with their victim, the movie may have made more of an impact. As it is, the role reversal created more plot holes than tension.

There are decent moments of body horror in the second half of the film, but I was too fatigued from all the unnecessary jump scares to care. There were several moments were the dialog / delivery took me completely out of the scene to wonder where is this set, do people speak like that in whatever setting this is? It's not the worst thing to stream, but you'd need to be pretty deep into your queue before this ever seemed like a good choice.

It wasn't completely awful. The worst scene of all was the flashback with the priest and family around the table. Some of the worst acting and dialogue I've ever heard. It had some good moments so I don't feel like I wasted the whole time.

From a House on Willow Street is a supernatural horror movie that oozes with atmosphere but comes around with a very exchangeable plot that has been used over and over again in similar ways in the horror movie genre. The film revolves around four young friends who decide to kidnap the heiress of a diamond distributor to demand a hefty ransom. The quartet takes six weeks to plan everything and manages to kidnap the young woman without any problems. However, things start to get a sinister turn when the criminals realize that their victim is in terrible shape and looks as if she had been rescued from her family mansion rather than kidnapped. After a while, strange incidents start to occur in the abandoned factory where the group is hiding as static hinders communications, electricty malfunctions and the kidnappers start to see dead people who were once dear to them. Things definitely spiral out of control when the kidnappers are unable to reach the daughter's parents and realize that neither media nor cops seem to be informed about the case. The four friends must find out the grisly secret that the kidnapped daughter is hiding in order to survive a night when the hunters have become the hunted.

This movie convinces on several levels. It has a gloomy, grisly and mysterious atmosphere from start to finish. The locations such as a sinister mansion and an abandoned factory have been perfectly chosen. There are a few scary scenes that work quite efficiently thanks to decent light techniques and a moody soundtrack.

On the negative side, the plot is predictable from start to finish which takes away much of the potential tension. The acting performances are only average at best. It doesn't help that the different characters are lacking depth and development.

Despite its flaws, From a House on Willow Street should appeal to fans of atmospheric horror movies. It's not a particularly creative film but still entertaining from start to finish. Since it's providing a few scary scenes without being overtly complicated, this movie might be a good choice for a Halloween party with some friends.