Kandisha

A girl abused by her ex-boyfriend summons an ancient demon to exact revenge, but the revenge gets out of control.

Interesting scenario that begins in the multi-ethnic high-rise community of a French city, with plenty of cultural tropes thrown in, from graffiti artistry to inter-racial banter to a variety of American music. Fast dialogue, so the sub-titles are on full duty during the first act.

Unfortunately, this is horror-by-numbers, with zero psychology, as a creepy curse comes out of the past to affect modern urban dwellers. All been done before to better effect, the model being Candyman, which the movie actually references. The demon has some interesting reveals, particularly when the hoofs come out, but a big set piece is spoiled by poor editing at 1:09, in which the poor actors have to REACT! Without any suspense built into the event.

The only thing that could have stirred it up for me is if the final scene had been fast-forwarded into the middle of the second act - now that would have been interesting: set a demon to catch the original demon.

The production quality is good, but with such uninspired material I got the impression everyone involved lost conviction as the inevitable conclusion approached. You may know how to put a movie together, but a good horror needs some soul.

Overall: Starts out energetic, but ends up flat as a jumper's corpse on a pavement.

Maybe it could have ended 3 minutes before, maybe it's sometimes predictable and not that innovative.

But when this film works...oh boy, it really works! There is a particular scene (1:09) that is absolutely fantastic, not only in terms of horror (probably the best death scene of the year, even better than that one on Fear Street) but also technically with a dolly zoom shots done with an efficiency that I don't remember in horror since Jaws.

Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury are, again, very good building young characters - like they did in Among The Living -, feels credible, feels realistic and you have a good background story with some social themes on it.

They are also masters of gore. No doubt about that. When they don't show you a death on screen, you know that the next one will compensate that and they definitely did that here.

I liked the entity, it's creepy, it's different, doesn't tell/show you more than the necessary and also loved the scenario, reminding a lot - as the legend itself - Candyman.

Unfortunately, Bustillo and Maury continue their streak to mediocrity with Kandisha. Zero originality, not that great or likable characters and not at all scary. I have to give them points for deaths in last 20 minutes of the movie, but that's about it. Nothing to see here and if they continue this way, I'll have to think that "Inside" was just beginners luck, since all after that ( except Livid, which is a problematic, but interesting movie ) was downhill. Definitely not recommended.

I am generous with an 8 cos i enjoyed this movie. Simple, ain't no wannabe critic.

The director duo once again did a terrific job of character development, avoiding the pg13 trend n succeeded in creating a terrifying entity.

It's a very generic cookie cutter supernatural teen slasher film. Overused horror tropes. Swap out Christianity demons for Islamic Jinns in a ouija board style film, add a feminist spin on it, you have Kandisha. The girl summons a Jinn by calling its name five times after drawing a pentagram with her blood, not understanding the implications of a Evil Jinn that seeks to kill males. It's never scary, although it does have some decent gore. For a 2020 film, the special effects are pedestrian. I am surprised this was made by the same people as the French original "Inside" which is an amazing film.