Following the death of her grandson, a woman tries to keep her family and their business intact as a series of hauntings and other supernatural incidents affect the village, eventually revealing a demonic spirit brought back when a ritual was performed, bringing him back to life.
Generally, the film has a lot to like about it. Among its better features is the fine storyline that gives off a fine-tuned drama addressing issues of social class and gender discrimination. The main instigating factor with this is the difference in how the two main women are shown and treated throughout here, compared to the other members of the family. With the earlier sister-in-law shown to be far more sympathetic and caring towards workers and others around the villa, while the daughter takes after the grandmother in being more ruthless and vindictive, there's a fine contrast built up that helps to build a sympathetic plight as time goes on. Since it's all based on their class system regarding how the two women treat people, the resulting public opinion changes with how the family is perceived, eating away at the grandmother so that she tries keeping the family together through any means necessary, adding immensely to the feeling of fate and karma that come about. Those features become even more important in the final half, where it all leads into the revelations and secret allegiance that are brought about as a result of this setup, which manages to give this a strong start. From this setup, this carries along nicely into a solid series of supernatural hauntings and scares. Opening on the fabled death in grand fashion as the body disappears before reappearing in the middle of an elaborate village ceremonial presentation, unexpectedly to the shock of everyone gathered, is a strong touch to get this started on a high note. Similarly, the accidents that befall the villagers and other workers following the incident, whether it be crushed under accidental collapses or found eaten alive in their chambers from swarms of rats, keep this interesting with the idea of something malicious in the village. Further incidents involving the spirit appearing at the scene of several encounters or the revelation regarding what happened to the eldest daughter, which sets up the big finale, which has a lot to like. As the true villain is revealed and their plan comes to fruition, the influence of black magic and other occult means being introduced offers up some immensely fun elements that provide some fun action-packed confrontations and a far more over-the-top atmosphere compared to the more sedate beginning. These all provide the kind of likable qualities necessary for this one. There are some big issues holding it back. One of these factors is the overly complicated storyline that sets up its themes nicely but leaves way too many areas burdened with features that make no sense. The central theme involving the family trying to keep hold of their power and wealth through any means necessary is a fine one, much like the secondary feature about the mishaps that arise in the village once the mother performs the ceremony to bring the grandson back to life. However, this one also introduces several other plot points throughout it's time, from an exorcist wanting to bless the house that the family used in the past but no longer can find, secret betrayals from supposedly-dead family-members that are still alive, and the practice of forbidden voodoo rites that are featured throughout which only serve to complicate a storyline to the point of complexity it doesn't need or require. Several info dumps in the form of backstory revelations or monologues explaining the history of the family betrayals and alternate discoveries so that what went on makes sense, yet they only succeed in complicating matters to where it's nearly impossible to tell who's on what side or attempting to perform what black magic spell for what purpose. Coupled with some underwhelming CGI that comes about for the demonic entity being somewhat obvious immersion-breakers, these features hold it back.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.
