Dark Entities

While trying to move into a new house, a woman and her brothers discover a series of strange supernatural phenomena that are haunting the house after taking it over, and when they're forced to call a paranormal investigative team to contain it brings about dark secrets that threaten everyone.

Overall, this was a rather fun if overly familiar haunted house tale. Among the better features present here is the highly enjoyable setup that allows this one to run through the usual gamut of tropes to be found in this type of film. Starting with the ever-popular setup of a family moving into a new house in a community that believes it to be haunted after a series of accidents years before which leads to general apathy on their neighbors to get involved and a sense of growing hostility toward each other the longer they live unknowingly in the house, the setup here is wholly familiar but immensely effective at getting the necessary points across. With the usual trappings on display here in the way the family interacts with each other before being influenced by the house against the treatment once they get used to living in the particular house, the setup here is workable enough for the type of film being presented. That leaves the film to rely quite heavily on the strength of the hauntings to be more substantial. These far much better than the rather perfunctory storylines in place as the house is suitably unnerving and chilling in design long before the ravenous antics start in, offering a fine balance to the proceedings as it switches between shadowy figures in the background or maniacal scratching in the walls. These tactics are repeated often enough in the first half that there's quite a lot to like about the approach this takes towards enacting the idea of these forces carrying a specific demonic influence over the family and turning them into the kind of stressed-out individuals seen later on. Basing everything on the house being this haunted that the paranormal investigator is required to fight them off leading to some fun to be had in the final half here, there are some likable enough features that keep this one going. There are some features here that bring this one down. The biggest and most obvious factor here is the generally unnecessary running time that brings about way too much unneeded padding for a story that's overly familiar. Relying on the family living in the house while being overtly aware of what's going on as the film is way too good at providing the supernatural exploits that the family stupidly stays in danger which is repeated so often that this one runs on way too long at bordering two hours that didn't really need to be. As well, with so much of this one running through the familiar ground or just playing homage to previous films in this style that could've been removed that it all is so unnecessary that the film becomes a slough to get through and undoes quite a lot of the goodwill established by the other factors. It's not completely unnecessary but is enough to bring this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.

I loved the throwback feeling of this movie. It really reminded me of old haunted house films from the 70s/80s, even down to look of the movie. While it may not be the scariest film I've ever seen, it oozes with a creepy atmosphere, and it does have some great tension and shocks sprinkled throughout. Even with a nearly 2 hour runtime, I never found myself checking out.

Going into lower budget indie films, you never know what you will be getting, but I was thoroughly pleased with this one. The cast was surprisingly competent, and the attention to detail was top notch. It honestly had a bigger budget feeling to it than it probably was.

This movie is amazing!!!! Love the suspense! The actors are so talented! Such mystery and love the scenery of the house and the old timey feel! The scene with the table shaking seriously freaked me out! In a good way! Love it so much! The little brother is a great actor! I love how you don't know what is going to be around the corner! It's equal parts creepy, drama, suspense, and exciting! Really made me nervous in some parts! I also have friends who watched it and really loved it as well! The director and actors did such an awesome job! Really hoping there is a sequel! Great job! 10/10 would recommend!!!!

In this age of empty, jump scare horror films that populate the megaplexes, I enjoy finding little indie gems like this one that are more interested in building tension through style and atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, there are a few jumps here and there, but the film doesn't rely on them solely to be "scary". Now, this type of slow-burn horror might not appeal to everyone, especially more modern audiences. It is a throwback to the supernatural horror films of the '70s and '80s, with it even giving winks and nods to several of those films along the way. Personally, I enjoyed the homages as it made for a fun little game to see what I can pick out, but don't get me wrong, this movie stands on its own story. For an indie film, the production and costume design did a good job of making it look and feel like the late '70s without it looking over the top or like a costume party. Kudos also to the director and cinematographer for capturing the look of films from that era while also creating interesting stylistic camera and lighting choices unique to this film. Most of the actors are generally stronger than you typically find in indie horror, and to me at least, it seems they were trying to stylize their acting to feel like something you would see in an old movie.

Clearly the folks who made this film worked very hard and probably didn't have a lot to work with. It's a classic type Haunted House film and respect them for trying despite the fact that it's basically an rip off of many other films. The score is BAD, ineffective and seems like it's from a different movie. The acting is amateur and at times unintentionally funny (or maybe intentionally it's hard to tell) but this film was better than most other low budget haunting films because you could tell they really tried to make this good and they captured a creepy atmosphere a few times despite all the low budget effects. It takes place in the 70s but they don't really pull it off well because you can see see many modern things around the scenes but after a while it doesn't really matter because it's not really that important to the story. This is Citizen Kane compared to the new Amityville movies so by no means is it bottom of the barrel. If you are a Haunted House movie junkie I suggest giving it a shot. It's an old fashioned good time and not too bad. Don't expect The Changeling or The Conjuring though.