El Exorcismo

It sort of keeps your attention because you really want to find out what the end game of all of this is and it falls wayyy short. I don't wanna say I hated it but I didn't love it either. It's worth a once over. Jessica Brown Findlay of Downton Abbey fame does give a great performance though! I give it 5 out of 10 bags of potato chips.

As I sat down to watch the 2020 horror movie titled "The Banishing", I must admit that I was expecting to be in for more of a haunted house or ghostly movie of sorts. Little did I imagine that I would be in for a snoozefest of epic proportions.

And it is no secret that the movie's cover/poster definitely caught my attention, with its promise of something otherworldly or supernatural.

I have to admit that I am somewhat baffled that three writers - David Beton, Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines - could collectively manage to come up with a script so devoid of a proper storyline, interesting characters or anything even remotely scary. So that made "The Banishing" a rather boring and unappealing movie actually. And I got up and turned it off with just 40 minutes left to watch. But by that time, having suffered through a heap of nothingness, then I was just fed up with the lack of anything worthwhile.

It should be said, though, that the acting performances were actually fair enough, and had the actors and actresses been given a more well-written script to work with, then they could have put on stellar performances. Just a shame that they literally had nothing to work with to bring the movie to life on the screen.

The atmosphere in the movie was good and it could have been utilized so well to compliment the story effectively, if only the movie actually had a proper script in the first place.

For a horror movie then "The Banishing" was a very weak and watered-down cup of stale, cold tea. Believe you me. And if you, like me enjoy a proper horror movie, do yourself a favor and stay clear of this 2020 movie from director Christopher Smith, because it is simply a waste of time.

My rating of "The Banishing" lands on a three out of ten stars, not because of the movie's script and storyline, but because of the acting performances and the atmosphere of the movie. However, I have zero interest in returning to watch the last 40 minutes of "The Banishing", as I just don't care one ounce about the storyline or the characters milling about aimlessly and without purpose.

Do you suffer from insomnia or do you lay in bed overthinking for hours before falling asleep? If yes, this is the movie to watch.

There is a lot to enjoy in this somewhat by-the-numbers haunted house movie. Sean Harris gives it everything to almost comic effect and Jessica Brown Findlay is very good. True, there's nothing new to see here and it drags a touch but it's certainly more engaging than many recent mid-budget ghost films.

I love Smith's other 6 features, but this one....not so much. It is a slow burn, and that I have no problem with. Trouble is, it really doesn't go anywhere. The cast tries, but the script is lacking on multiple fronts. It doesn't help that Smith's trademark pitch black humor - which somehow even showed up in moments of Black Death - is totally absent here. It almost seems like he knew this was hopeless and put in minimal effort. If not for seeing "Directed by Christopher Smith" in the credits, it could have been made by literally anyone. Very disappointing to see a director with so much ability just phoning it in. Hopefully this is just an aberration.