INSOMNIAC SONG
MOVIE AND TELEVISION REVIEWS
HORROR
At the Devil's Door (2014)
Starring: Naya Rivera, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Ashley Rickards
Directed by: Nicholas McCarthy
Rating: NR
Running Time: 91 minutes
Synopsis: When ambitious young real estate agent Leigh is asked to sell a house with a checkered past, she crosses paths with a disturbed girl whom she believes is the runaway daughter of the couple selling the property. When Leigh tries to intervene and help her, she becomes entangled with a supernatural force that soon pulls Leigh's artist sister Vera into its web - and has sinister plans for both of them.
What's up in the world of horror? Very little plot and disjointed timelines plague At the Devil's Door. The only thing that made watching this one better was sharing the torture with Miko from Muddy Cult. From the very beginning, we were left wondering when the plot would actually begin. The movie opens with a teenage girl making out with a boy who may or may not have been her boyfriend. He tells her that she can make some money by playing a game with a creepy guy in a camper in the middle of nowhere. Sounds like a bad idea, right? After sticking her hand in a weird container, they play three rounds of the shell game often seen on city streets near subways. She wins and is 'chosen' to go say her name at a crossroads so some mysterious being will know what to call her. Oh...and he will call because that's how these things work.
Awhile later, the plot shifts from the girl to another set of girls, Leigh and her sister, Vera. So wait...what happened with the first girl and the creepy guys? Instead, we're learning that Leigh can't get pregnant and wants Vera to settle down instead even though she refuses because she's a wild child artist. Leigh is a real estate agent who is trying to sell a house that belongs to a couple with a runaway daughter. She sees a strange girl in the house and everything goes down hill from there. Oh...it's the girl who said her name at the crossroads. Of course, it is!
This one has more plot holes than a block of swiss cheese. If the prerequisites for demonic attachment were making out, playing a game and saying your name at a crossroads, all of this is dropped after the initial use. It's not a daunted house story so it makes little sense that the demon or whatever it is would attempt to latch on to Leigh or Vera from visiting a house. If it's taking a cue from Jeepers Creepers with the demon 'sensing' what it wants on certain people, then what makes one chosen aside from bad timing and a working uterus?
Questionable moments continue throughout. If your wardrobe starts talking to you, I can guarantee you that it's not Narnia calling. There were several clichéd moments like creepy kids, overuse of mirrors and dark figures lurking. As usual stupid choices continue in horror movies. If the babysitter is acting weird, don't leave your baby with it. Just saying. The same goes for leaving your six year old with a stranger. Catalina Sandino Moreno (Leigh) can do much better than this. Even recent episodes of Glee are more unsettling, just ask Naya Rivera (Vera).
Rating: 1/5
HORROR
Annabelle (2014)
Starring: Annabelle Wallis, Ward Horton, Tony Amendola, Alfre Woodard
Directed by: John R. Leonetti
Rating: R
Run time: 99 minutes
Synopsis: John Form has found the perfect gift for his expectant wife, Mia - a beautiful, rare vintage doll in a pure white wedding dress. But Mia's delight with Annabelle doesn't last long. On one horrific night, their home is invaded by members of a satanic cult, who violently attack the couple. Spilled blood and terror are not all they leave behind. The cultists have conjured an entity so malevolent that nothing they did will compare to the sinister conduit to the damned that is now... Annabelle..
I went into Annabelle with mixed feelings. The doll was featured in 2013's the Conjuring as part of the artifact collection in the home of paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorrainne Warren. The doll's story was touched on, but not expanded in the Conjuring. In those brief clips, Annabelle is mentioned as tormenting two nursing students and their friend. Later, the doll makes an appearance with the Warrens' young daughter. I won't go into detail on reality versus fiction in this review, but I was interested in seeing how Annabelle and the nursing students ended up meeting the Warrens. This movie doesn't cover that story. Instead, it offers an original take on how the doll became haunted/possessed before she's given to one of the nursing students by her mother.
John Form and his wife, Mia, are expecting their first child. Mia is an avid collector of dolls and is given one by her husband after a minor disagreement. Two home invasions happen shortly afterward that make Mia feel paranoid and uncomfortable. Who can blame her with everything that's happened especially when she could give birth any day?
Annabelle hasn't been able to capture the atmosphere that the film it's spun-off from had. The tie-in moments, other than the doll itself, is the baby's mobile playing the same tune as Rory's music box. As a whole Annabelle lacks a feeling of dread. Most of the 'scares' have consisted of the typical jump scare or misdirection that is highly overused. There's an effective transition shot that was more neat than scary. Another seen involving darkness and an elevator played on the idea of being unable to escape being pursued by something.
One of the biggest flaws in Annabelle were the underdeveloped characters. Who are John and Mia aside from pretty faces? Why are we supposed to relate to Mia and root for her to save her baby? The neighbor, Evelyn, who befriends Mia isn't really explored either. Her purpose seems to merely be exposition and a convoluted resolution. The actors weren't bad. They couldn't overcome a flimsy script that borrowed heavily on Rosemary's baby. Both films feature blondes, cults, pregnancy and childbirth as well as suicide. The families both end up with strange things happening in and around an apartment. The main characters in Annabelle are even named John and Mia. Rosemary and her husband were played by Mia Farrow and John Cassavates. Coincidence or homage?
Rating: 3/5
HORROR
Deliver Us From Evil (2014)
Starring: Eric Bana. Olivia Munn, Edgar Ramirez
Directed by: Scott Derrickson
Rating: R
Run time: 118 minutes
Synopsis: New York police officer Ralph Sarchie investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest, schooled in the rites of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.
Aside from an attractive cast, Deliver Us From Evil has little going for it. It lacks as a crime thriller with little emphasis placed on the everyday gruesome things Sarchie would have encountered as a detective. These are conveniently used as a plot device to explain why he yells at his wife and snaps at his daughter. The religious horrors are lacking as well. There's a haze cast over what might have made for an entertaining view. Exploring more about the priest and the things that led him to investigating the paranormal could have helped. As it stands, Deliver Us From Evil has about the same amount of demonic presence as your favorite reality haunting show. Things go bump in the night, but you're never fully unsettled. Chalk this one up as a bad reenactment with a poor script. Don't believe the tagline. Inspired by actual accounts means they took the name of the cop, Ralph Sarchie, but none of the cases from his book, Beware the Night, and crafted their own original story.
Rating: 1.5/5
