The Chosen

It's been a while since I've seen a movie so terrible I quit part way through. I'd actually been doing a fairly good job of selecting half way decent movies. This time I struck out (that's what I get for going with Netflix selections for me).

The plot of the movie is straight forward (I guess). Lilith, the first wife of Adam (as in Adam and Eve) is a child stealer because yada yada yada. That's pretty much what it sound like to me once the woman said Adam had a wife before Eve that was banished from Eden for not obeying Adam.

At any rate: child possession... weak scare tactics... ominous music... poor acting... etcetera etcetera... I quit.

How can I put this? You know how when you go to the dentist to have root canal work done and the dentist tells you that you may experience some 'discomfort' afterward and what he really means is that you'll be in agony once the anaesthesia wears off and you'll just want to lie down in a dark room and pray for death rather than live through one more second of the pain shredding its way through your nervous system? Yeah. This movie. This movie right here is like having root canal work carried out on your soul. Forget it. Don't watch it, don't look at it, don't even bother reading the rest of this review. For real. You will find no redeeming qualities in this movie. Okay, so maybe the main guy was OK acting wise. I do have one question for the movie producers...what was with the end credits soundtrack choice? Really? You're gonna hit us with some trap rap hip hop tune that was in no way related to anything that happened in the movie and really really really didn't go with the atmosphere (or lack of) that you tried (and failed) to aim for? Nope. I'm out. NEXT!

This film is visually interesting and disturbing, yet the acting seems wooden at times. It appears to rip off a rather more well know horror film in unimportant ways or at least refer to them. There are nice atmospheric touches throughout, and what we learn about the characters as they develop adds to the creepy feel of the piece as a whole. Willing suspension of disbelief fails occasionally, but there is plenty of detail to add a sense of creepiness to the film overall. On the one hand it is a bit difficult to keep track of who is related to whom, and in what way, but this, too, adds to the effect of the film as a whole. Films referred to seem to include The Exorcist and The Shining.

This movie was mostly people talking and dumb music, terrible waste of money, I switch my ticket for another movie, this is misleading, I thought it would be a movie instead it was mostly music playing and people talking about the birth of Christ.

A curse occurs in a family where everyone's age looks misleadingly too young or too old. It's one of the strange things about The Chosen, the leads seem very young for their characters who are playing the uncle and mother although they're more fitting as siblings. Furthermore, the brief jump scares occasionally turn into unintentional comedy with stiff acting and awkward scenes as though these events are pranks gone wrong instead of genuine haunting.

To its credit, the setup for the premise is decent. It's a more unique twist of the usual possession plot. There's a good use of family bond here, the two leads can at least produce on-screen platonic relationships. It's definitely aimed towards the younger audience who can relate more. However, the acting isn't superb all around, thus more character it tries to introduce the more they become like strangers bumping into each other.

Any attempt at horror quickly fades. The sudden pop up of random lady or the child staring bizarrely only makes it uncomfortably odd, far from creepy. Later on it relies on cheesy CG and unconvincing practical effects that utter hamper the tension. Drama between the characters is inconsistent, the development sometimes happens too sudden or just inexplicably arbitrary.

It's a missed opportunity since there's a good foundation for horror here, but with such shoddy presentation The Chosen is devoid of any thrill.