Spell - Maleficio

It's not horrible, but definitely not the greatest. Too many of the scenes reminded me of Skeleton Key and Misery. However, how much could you really change up with this type of movie. It is what it is. I wouldn't pay to watch it, but free... why not? It's worth watching if you have nothing to do. Cast members get A+.

I didn't expect too much after reading the reviews, but this movie turned out to be quite good.

It is a solid story that is well acted and produced, and you never quite know what's going to happen.

It is not mega gory, but it is the story that makes it creepy - and the brilliant ending of course.

The story or motivation of the main actor is the old cookie-cutter family-is-in-danger thing. So you know how it will end even before you see it.

The worst moments of this movie were about the skin color. I live in a reality where the skin color does not represent education, environment and character of a person. So every time skin color was brought up, I sighed REALLY hard. The problem with it was not the fact that it was there, but the on-the nose way it was brought up.

I did not liked the third act. The way he suddenly knows everything and can move despite a incredibly heavy injury ruined the "suspension of disbelief". (hardly a spoiler for those kind of moves)

Camera work and cinematography were bad.

What saves it, is the acting. Omari Hardwick had a great performance. He was believable in his desperation for the most part. Without him, this movie would have been much worse. His relationship with Lorraine Burroughs felt genuine and it seemed they had some chemistry. Not much unfortunately, because character development is barely there, but the few scenes they shared were good.

Loretta Devine... oh boy. She is an amazing villain. She was scary and very intimidating.

It is not a great movie, but one that had some interesting aspects. I definitely enjoyed the watch.

I liked it. A lot of questionable decisions, some questionable shots, a story that will upset the pc brigade (oh because we can't make horror movies with countryside people anymore...), a lot of things that shouldn't work, but for me, it worked as a good thriller.

Yeah, it's not exactly horror, sometimes you have a 80s feelings ("go get Lewwwwis"), it feels like a small movie, but a comfortable small movie, tense, well acted, atmospheric, stylish and you are always looking for what comes next.

Doesn't work for most, worked for me. That's it.

'Spell' is just 90 minutes of pure schlocky b-movie fun. They introduced some basic story elements at the beginning of the film, and I thought that this was going to be a basic occult horror film, probably mixed with psychological elements. But it's not.

At some point, they just drop the common sense and start having fun. If you're not new to movies you will catch the ending very fast, since the main lead literally explains the plot talking to the viewer (I was wondering why he wasn't looking at the camera). So you're just expecting more random and bizarre stuff to happen, and they deliver.

At times, the film felt more like a cheesy horror game but without jumpscares, the superhuman main character, zero realism, and people were driven not by motivation but by video game rules. Other times it felt like a weird combination of a horror-comedy, revenge film, Rambo sequel, and an 80ties TV-show.

I can't say I'd like to recommend this film, but if you love cheesy b-movie fun, gore, and intentional overacting (and you are prepared to switch-off your brain for 90 minutes) - you can give it a try. I can promise you - you will laugh a lot.

But if you try to take this seriously as a suspenseful occult horror film this clearly won't end up making your day better.