Angel Baby

A nice entry into a more cerebral, psychological horror. I went into this not knowing what exactly to expect as this is Mr. Tait's directorial debut. It is not perfect by any means, but I felt it was quite entertaining and the ending is open to your own interpretation. To this end, I like and was pleasantly surprised. There is nice dramatic moments, and a nice uneasiness that sustains the length and direction of the film. While there could have been more outright frightful moments, The acting was solid, and overall the movie carried you to the climax upon its set path and pace. Acting was solid.

This is neither a great movie, nor a real stinker. In a house where an abuser father is about to seriously harm one of his children, the daughter steps up and puts a bloody stop it to. We then are introduced to Val, who just lost her twins in pregnancy, and her husband Justin. She has a friend Chloe who gives her support, has some medical training, and wants to make sure she takes her medicine to help her healing, and also get plenty of rest. After all, Val is crestfallen over the loss, and she is also sensitive to noise, which isn't helped by living just off a freeway. Justin, who does handy work, finds a cabin in the mountains that had been empty for 25 years, fixes it up some and they move there. Things start to go bump in the night, there are creaks, doors suddenly open and there seems to be a ghost of a man present. A book titled Angel Baby seems to be prominent, and also movies around a lot, but where it came from is an unknown. While Rebecca DeMornay gets prominent space on the cover art, she has little more than a cameo. Things get worse when Chloe makes a visit, and seems too involved with Justin. By then, many may already have worked out a scenario, but the twist is something many would not see coming, and helps elevate what could be a routine and boring film.

Angel Baby pretends to be a grief-soaked cabin chiller, but it mostly feels like watching paint dry in the dark. Dialogue is wooden, performances flatter than the freeway Val flees, and the script borrows every haunted-house beat without adding pulse. This movie pretends to cradle grief and dread, yet spends an hour trudging through colourless corridors where nothing, and no one, is alive. Every haunted-cabin beat-creaks, music-box, shadow figure-plays like bargain-bin déjà vu, shot in flat TV gloss. A last-minute twist finally flickers, but it's too skinny to nourish the 105 empty minutes before it. Save it for laundry day when you crave lightweight horror wallpaper and can't reach the remote.

I really enjoyed the build up, the film kept me engaged. Isabel's performance was awesome and even though Rebecca De Mornay was only in the film for a short bit, her performace was amazing . If you are a fan of psychological horror this is the film for you. The film has a great setting, a creepy cabin in the woods. What could go wrong right? The setting and ambience add to the overall tension and arc of the film.

This was the first feature film directed by horror icon Doug Tait and I was really impressed with his shot selection and overall feel of the film. I would definitely recommend this film.

Horrible acting, stupid characters. Who gave the "doctor" her medical degree? And more importantly,who in their right mind would use her as a doctor? Also as a wife,it would have taken me 10 minutes to tell her to get the hell out of my house! Then the husband and "doctor" go to town and the wife wants to go but the husbands response is "you need rest" and the wife just stays???? WTH? She obviously and rightfully didn't trust the woman. Nothing ever really happens, nothing is explained. The book isn't explained,the jewelry box isn't explained. Total waste of time. Not really sure what else to say except skip it, unless of course you need a good nap!