And a good half of this movie is spoken in it. I've encountered this several times. Keeping up with Spanish subtitles is not an easy task.
In what feels like the world's most expedited setup, you need to pay close attention as characters, relations, and motives fly by. It seems like Gina (Jill's father's dead ex-wife's sister, if you've got your ears tuned in) is doing some faux interview with her friend Jill (filmed by her new love interest, Ramon, who is apparently part of the "family," as everyone and their brother implies throughout). Later, Gina tries to get some "dirt," implying she wants to be an investigative journalist... This subplot is not explored.
No, Jill's father and his fiance spring up in Columbia (surprise!) by examining Jill's credit card statements, because his wedding is in like 8 days or something? Oh, so they're in this mad rush because Jill's passport is at Gina's, they need to catch a plane, and they're hauling up a mountain dirt road in the middle of a tropical storm. What's the worst that could happen?
They get stranded at an old inn located in the middle of nowhere, and all the phone lines are cut. Jill hears a little girl in the basement, so she must rescue her. Which is the undoing of just about everyone.
I don't know how many movies I've seen this in, but what you've got here is another body-jumping movie. People get killed, and the demon (or in this case, a witch) moves into another nearby vessel. The Damned (or Gallows Hill) employs a number of tried and true tricks and tropes, so the whole thing comes off a little cliche.
There were two characters here, where they make it seem like there's a language barrier. Then, surprise, surprise, they speak fluent English after all (one guy, introduced in the first scene, starts speaking it 40 minutes in!). Assuming this is just for the convenience of the plot, but really seemed like a cheap trick.
There are some things I liked about this movie. First of all, it's got a claustrophobic and atmospheric location. Things do heat up as the body count rises, and there is some good gore. This witch knows all your sordid secrets, and it seems everyone here has something horrible to expose. Also, the ending is somewhat unexpected (albeit improbable. I thought the witch said she was strong?).
I would consider The Damned to be a semi-interesting, though convoluted, retread.
