Il prescelto

It's been a while since I've seen a movie so terrible I quit part way through. I'd actually been doing a fairly good job of selecting half way decent movies. This time I struck out (that's what I get for going with Netflix selections for me).

The plot of the movie is straight forward (I guess). Lilith, the first wife of Adam (as in Adam and Eve) is a child stealer because yada yada yada. That's pretty much what it sound like to me once the woman said Adam had a wife before Eve that was banished from Eden for not obeying Adam.

At any rate: child possession... weak scare tactics... ominous music... poor acting... etcetera etcetera... I quit.

This film is visually interesting and disturbing, yet the acting seems wooden at times. It appears to rip off a rather more well know horror film in unimportant ways or at least refer to them. There are nice atmospheric touches throughout, and what we learn about the characters as they develop adds to the creepy feel of the piece as a whole. Willing suspension of disbelief fails occasionally, but there is plenty of detail to add a sense of creepiness to the film overall. On the one hand it is a bit difficult to keep track of who is related to whom, and in what way, but this, too, adds to the effect of the film as a whole. Films referred to seem to include The Exorcist and The Shining.

When I found "The Chosen" I had no knowledge about it at all. I didn't know who starred in it or what it was about. I just happened to find it in the horror section. And being a horror fan I needed very little persuasion in order to pick it up and give it a go.

I must say that I found the story to be rather interesting. It was a good story concept and there were some rather twisted and disturbing elements to it, such as having to sacrifice your own family members in order for a single person to remain alive and having to pick out which ones to sacrifice. It should be said that the story was rather predictable, so don't expect any curve balls here.

The acting in the movie was adequate, although I wasn't familiar with anyone on the cast list. Which, in itself, is a plus for me, because I like watching new acting talents in movies.

For a horror movie that involved a hellish entity, then it was a movie that was rather scarce on special effects. Sure, there were special effects and CGI in the movie, just used in moderation. Which was a shame, because it felt like it held the movie back.

The movie was in overall adequate, but at times it felt a bit forced and rigid at times. Whether that was because of the director or the writers I do not know. But it was an enjoyable enough movie for what it turned out to be.

As for the ending of the movie, well it made very little sense to me, so I guess that whatever the writers were aiming at was lost on me.

All in all, "The Chosen" scores 5 out of 10 stars from me.

A curse occurs in a family where everyone's age looks misleadingly too young or too old. It's one of the strange things about The Chosen, the leads seem very young for their characters who are playing the uncle and mother although they're more fitting as siblings. Furthermore, the brief jump scares occasionally turn into unintentional comedy with stiff acting and awkward scenes as though these events are pranks gone wrong instead of genuine haunting.

To its credit, the setup for the premise is decent. It's a more unique twist of the usual possession plot. There's a good use of family bond here, the two leads can at least produce on-screen platonic relationships. It's definitely aimed towards the younger audience who can relate more. However, the acting isn't superb all around, thus more character it tries to introduce the more they become like strangers bumping into each other.

Any attempt at horror quickly fades. The sudden pop up of random lady or the child staring bizarrely only makes it uncomfortably odd, far from creepy. Later on it relies on cheesy CG and unconvincing practical effects that utter hamper the tension. Drama between the characters is inconsistent, the development sometimes happens too sudden or just inexplicably arbitrary.

It's a missed opportunity since there's a good foundation for horror here, but with such shoddy presentation The Chosen is devoid of any thrill.

This movie was mostly people talking and dumb music, terrible waste of money, I switch my ticket for another movie, this is misleading, I thought it would be a movie instead it was mostly music playing and people talking about the birth of Christ.