The Influence

I didn't find this to be a slow burn as some have sugggested, but I found it to be very disjointed and didn't pace well. Too many things are happening that you don't know what the story is, until toward the latter half, and even then it was still all over the place. It is like a ghost movie, no wait its a possession movie, no wait its a witch movie, no its a revenge movie.....sigh. It is like it didn't know where to go with all of the activity...oh yeah there is poltergeist activity too. Good grief this was difficult to watch and try to stay focused.

If you like foreign movies, then you know it's not moving a mile a minute like American movies. I am quite a horror buff, So I don't get scared very often. So... I Like creepy, not just slasher films. This was eerie, I was sitting on the edge of my seat. So I do recommend this movie to people that do like foreign movies.

I read a lot of really bad reviews for La Influencia but to be honest I think most of them are a bit too harsh. I agree that it's not a masterpiece, certainly not in the horror genre, but for a Spanish horror movie it has its moments. A couple jump scares, a story that is suspenseful enough to be entertaining, and a cast that might never win an Oscar but that is better than average. All in all La Influencia isn't that bad, just don't have too high of expectations.

I've tried to look for some positives in this film, and not to simply just say it's a poor film, but in reality it's just a poor film. It's tagged as a horror, it isn't, or if it is, then those behind it have very different views on what makes a good horror movie. It is agonisingly slow, the pacing is the main issue, you keep wanting something to happen, for it to spark into life, but that moment never comes. The story was all over the place, it made no sense.

If you can reach the end, you're a trooper. I was just bored. 3/10

Imagine a bad cook trying to make hearty soup. Get everything in your kitchen and chuck it into a pot and imagine it will turn out ok. What you get is every cliche of every horror film you've ever seen thrown together with a weak narrative. Sadly boring and un-engaging.