Shaitani Ilaaka

Worried about their daughter's behavior, a family tries to keep a special ceremony that a demon worshiper is trying to enact that will breathe life into her demonic servant from happening, eventually bringing them to a remote series of ruins in the countryside to prevent it from happening.

This was a fairly solid and enjoyable genre outing. Among the better aspects to be had with this one is the immensely effective storyline that manages to work in some intriguing elements together for a strong central setup. The whole idea of the lone demon worshipper trying to carry out her black magic plans by sacrificing others to a special demon in her employ that requires one more sacrifice to gain the full mount of power needed to rule the world and forcing her to target the girl due to her special psychic powers is a rather strong one. Since we get the side story of her boyfriend and her family trying to help her get a handle on how everything goes on and the spiritual healer called in to make sure she gets the hep required after the others have failed her which puts them onto the demonic plans of getting close to her and moving her away from everyone so she ha a chance to make a move, this is a solid enough idea to follow up on that main setup. With it all leading to the ruins in the countryside where the demon is resting and everything comes to a head involving the race to not only stop her but also save their friend, the story here remains pretty solid and fun. That provides the kind of backing point for the film to offer up some solid and generally enjoyable attacks throughout here. Whether it's by the worshipper trying to worm her way through the family to get closer to her, which sets up encounters where it forces servants to attack themselves or cause them undue hallucinations of her acting unnaturally, there's a lot to like with this first part of the film. Later scenes featuring the attacks by the masked henchmen who are trying to kidnap the girl from the friends at the ruins makes for a more intriguing time here with the Gothic horror ambiance of the setting helps to make everything feel far more chilling, and the action of their encounters later on that offer some kung-fu into the mix that adds even more to the film. That comes into play in the finale, where the creature finally escapes which leads to a series of encounters around the village where everything comes together in fine form, with how the rampage occurs and the solid way of finishing everything, all coming together to have a lot to like. There are some drawbacks to this one that keep it down overall. The main issue here is the excessively overlong and dragging tempo that never manages to go for the kind of intensity it could've. Rather than detail the activity of sacrificing others or seeing how they've taken the various precautions that they have for bringing success to their plan, there's a diversion away from that to focus on the inane romance and crooning that go along with making sure the relationship stays pure. That causes the film to get bogged down in long stretches where his attempts at trying to move the wedding along so they can consummate the relationship, which will prevent her from being a means of resurrecting the demon at the center of her plans go unheeded as she constantly calls him out for his sleazy antics. That just doesn't work since the plan makes sense and there's enough attempts to coerce her into their thrall that it should require a more resourceful plan of action to prevent it, so not doing anything beyond her constant whining and refusal makes it feel like it's all her fault for not being more flexible. Sure, it's a character touch to remain as chaste as she is, yet there's a time when the stubbornness is unnecessary to what's going on, and these are the areas here that bring this down.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.