Following his mother's suicide attempt, a young man returns to his old home in an attempt to figure out what happened, but the longer he stays the more he finds his ability to see ghosts allows him to witness the ghostly manifestations living in the house and must stop them from harming his family.
For the most part, this one comes off incredibly well with a lot to like about it. Among the better features on display is a highly effective and engaging main setup that allows for a generally fun time getting into the storyline. While much is made of his ability to see ghosts from his youth through the flashbacks with his mother and the interactions amongst his neighbors following his return, there's more at stake here than a general setup featuring a person with paranormal powers encountering something strange. Fueled by this backstory he has with his mother and the attempts at suppressing these abilities for him to fit in better with his classmates, the use of this storyline makes for a gradually more hard-hitting feature by making the use of his power and the gradual use of black magic and sorcery feel quite logical. However, when the film does go all in on the spooks and creeps it's usually quite effective. The flashbacks to him as a kid witnessing strange phenomena around the house, from the usual voices playfully calling out in the distance and appearing suddenly behind somebody to hallucinating figures that no one else can see, all serve nicely to set the stage for what's going to be on offer throughout. The later scenes of him, as an adult features more overt scares with the ghosts appearing out of darkened hallways, emerging from blacked-out rooms or doorways, and setting out to disrupt his life with their appearances coming out of nowhere, are incredibly effective. As the incidents continue not just the ones involving him but the other residents in the apartment complex, it gradually reveals the real purpose behind most of the incidents and encounters that carry on into the final half. As the purpose of the ghosts' interactions gradually becomes clear and it starts driving him to insanity, the big reveal about the ritualistic ceremony that's being held offers some chilling resolutions as playing out what their purpose is sets this up nicely to give the film a lot to like about it. That said, this does have a few issues about it. The main issue here is a somewhat convoluted approach that makes for a difficult time figuring out the time period of what's going on. The first half of the film tends to spend a lot of time with him as a kid so to then make a child living in the apartment a major character who also encounters ghosts causes a massive amount of confusion due to having different characters around the same age at different points of time experiencing similar actions manages to be quite confusing. This constant slipping back and forth in time also goes for how his mother interacts since the present-day version is unable to speak yet the flashbacks show her completely capable of doing so. It takes a while before it all makes sense so everything that takes place is hard to differentiate how it all goes down. That also causes the film to be somewhat too long for what it should be, lasting a bit longer than necessary getting all these subplots out, lasting a bit longer than it should, coming together to be the issues that hold it back.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
