HEX tells the story of a group of six skydivers who perform the eponymous jump maneuver, a formation which turns out to be cursed, and then they are picked off one by one through mysterious circumstances.
The movie blends two genres which to my knowledge had not been combined together before, and for that innovation alone, it deserves to be applauded. Alas, the two aspects do not integrate well for most of the movie, and the skydiving scenes are vastly superior to the horror scenes. This is not only a pity but also a bit mystifying because the prologue, which runs for the first 2.5 minutes, actually does a really good job in both those regards, and strongly suggests that the film-makers could have done better.
I think the problem is partly a lack of budget and partly a lack of commitment.
On the budget side, while the skydiving scenes are very good, the CGI special effects and make-up look cheap enough that they hurt the movie's credibility. Perhaps there was also not enough money to employ cinematic techniques which could have both heightened the atmosphere (pardon the pun!) and provided additional visual clues for a plot that can easily get confusing.
The reveal or plot twist here is faintly reminiscent of that in DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (1997), and part of what made it so delicious there was the visual spectacle that accompanied it. The HEX movie poster itself suggests the kind of visuals that could have made for a memorable climax following the reveal. Unfortunately,
the promise of atmospheric horror of the first 2.5 minutes of this movie never materializes.
On the commitment side, it seems that the film-makers were hesitant to go "full in" on the horror aspects of the movie as they did with the skydiving portions. For example, some but not all of the unfortunate victims go FINAL DESTINATION (2000) style, but the deaths are neither as creative nor do some of them really make sense. If this plot device is going to be used, why not make the most out of it? Or that some scenes are not "real" could have been hinted at with different color tones, character idiosyncrasies, or strange background phenomena etc. So that it all comes together when the explanation is revealed. These were missed opportunities.
Finally, I believe if a movie is going to have a downer ending it has to make sense, otherwise it seems gratuitous. The final mocking remark of the demon could be easily interpreted as a veiled insult to the audience, and I suspect that this has something to do with this movie being panned more than it deserves.
