Kandisha

That I love French horrors and "Inside" is one of the best examples of It , it is very disappointing for me to admit , that this film is mediocre , to say the least...

It's a very generic cookie cutter supernatural teen slasher film. Overused horror tropes. Swap out Christianity demons for Islamic Jinns in a ouija board style film, add a feminist spin on it, you have Kandisha. The girl summons a Jinn by calling its name five times after drawing a pentagram with her blood, not understanding the implications of a Evil Jinn that seeks to kill males. It's never scary, although it does have some decent gore. For a 2020 film, the special effects are pedestrian. I am surprised this was made by the same people as the French original "Inside" which is an amazing film.

That's the sad part because the made after Inside are just generic or cliched and was hoping they finally learned. The story is just weak and plenty of plot errors or plot holes. Either way still watchable but don't expect much.

I love a good demon or creature feature, and seeing demons from different parts of the world and from different cultural legends is always enjoyable. Kandisha isn't particularly scary, or unique. But it's worth a watch. Some of the kills were fun and gory, but a lot was CGI which is a shame.

I especially liked how the demon is perceived by different characters at different moments. A lot of the movie is predictable, but it's not so predictable that it's off-putting. Good ending, but there are some plot holes and unexplained events. Plus some weird editing and transitions that mess with the pacing.

All in all, it's not bad. Similar movies Antlers (2021), The Canal (2014), Pumpkinhead (1988), and His House (2020). But to be honest, all of those movies are better than this one.

Maybe it could have ended 3 minutes before, maybe it's sometimes predictable and not that innovative.

But when this film works...oh boy, it really works! There is a particular scene (1:09) that is absolutely fantastic, not only in terms of horror (probably the best death scene of the year, even better than that one on Fear Street) but also technically with a dolly zoom shots done with an efficiency that I don't remember in horror since Jaws.

Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury are, again, very good building young characters - like they did in Among The Living -, feels credible, feels realistic and you have a good background story with some social themes on it.

They are also masters of gore. No doubt about that. When they don't show you a death on screen, you know that the next one will compensate that and they definitely did that here.

I liked the entity, it's creepy, it's different, doesn't tell/show you more than the necessary and also loved the scenario, reminding a lot - as the legend itself - Candyman.