After learning of her parents' accident, a young woman leaves a nunnery to to return home to deal with the incident and falls in with her sister and her friends who are going on a trek into the jungle to undergo a sacred ritual which releases a satanic curse on the group as she uses a dark secret to save them.
Frankly, this was a spectacular and standout genre effort. One of it's strongest qualities is the fervent and utterly phenomenal religious symbolism apparent throughout here. As her religious background at first causes her to be made fun of and ridiculed, this soon gives her a fighting chance to overcome the forces plaguing her the longer she stays in the house. Her initial vision of the nuns in the church after learning of the accident ends up correlating nicely with the concurrent vision of her sisters' friends at the house, which is all tied together through the connections made about who she really is. This is all given greater importance with the scenes at the house detailing all the religious paintings left in the attic all coming after a former nun-in-training experienced her first sexual awakening shortly beforehand. That factors heavily into the traditional jump scenes that are featured throughout here, giving this one a rather enjoyable and somewhat creepy air. The first scenes of her being tormented by the ghostly beings like the figures in the paintings offer up some great jumps and the scenes with the rats charging out of a hole in the wall are rather enjoyable. The scenes on the island, though, offer up an overwhelmingly enjoyable series of scenes that really work nicely, including the ritual being performed in the candle-lit room as they go on their spiritual journey that pulls off the greatest scene in the movie in the pregnant woman being possessed while about to give birth. The work this section builds for the finale is just as spectacular. With the knowledge gleaned from the encounter with the midwife following her having survived the demons' attempts to finish its masterplan, this one brings the religious angle together alongside its tale of salvation where she's granted enough energy and power to fight the demon due to her condition. Taking place as a charged, full-scale fight for the soul of both parties through classic exorcism tropes as well as the unconventional method of sexually expelling the demon which is a wholly unique concept that works incredibly well here against the other demonic and exorcism imagery. The film might be a touch too long and feature some wonky effects-work, but these aren't in the slightest bit harmful to this one.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Nudity, a strong sex scene, several sexually suggestive images, Graphic Violence and drug use.
