Enix4

By the halfway point, this film had done little to captivate. Pushed through hoping for more, but apart from the slightest case of the creeps there was nothing.

Pros: The concept. Creepy monster adopts the face of a recently deceased loved one to lure relatives to its lair. Potential for days.

Creature design (barely). Unfortunately, we're given barely a glimpse of the thing, which is a pity because it's the best thing about this film.

Cons: The acting. From underacted to overacted to downright wooden, none of the performances did anything to hold my attention.

The characters. No redeeming factors, nothing to elicit sympathy. Two dimensional. The predominant feeling is one of dislike. When you don't care if the characters live or die, what's the point of watching any more?

The monster. What is it? Where does it come from? What does it want? In the end, I was only holding on for answers to these questions, and I got nothing.

The pacing. Paint dries quicker.

I get the sense they were trying for some grand metaphor, but overall it fell pretty short. After everything, the ending feels pointless.

Disappointing.

It's amazing, the extent to which this film outclasses a lot of the more popular horrors being churned out these days. Some of this has to do with the use of practical effects instead of cgi, though I think a fair chunk of the enjoyment (for me, at least) comes from being drawn into another culture and getting a peek at the monsters that hide under their beds.

I tried watching Dabbe before this, but it didn't really catch me. Hearing that this dealt with djinn as well, I was hesitant, but the story caught me almost immediately. There's nothing quite like a gibbering, white-eyed demon to make your skin crawl, and I was pleasantly surprised with these. The twist in the tail was easy to spot, but that might be because I've watched too many of these movies. Either way, I'm looking forward to watching the sequel.