The Summoning

Good god. Listen I'm all for the idea of DIY, labor-of-love thrillers, so I stand behind the idea of this film existing. But rarely does a labor of love feel so poorly tended to by its team. From subpar acting to cliché dialogue inside a messy script full of plot devices that go nowhere, The Summoning fails to realize that tension isn't assumed, it's crafted.

These are all guesses- I believe this film is about a woman who is a law student that constantly refers to a school assignment as a "case" working on the 150 year old case of a murdered slave which is being covered up by the current day heirs of her myrderers because they're scared nobody will buy their sugar anymore. A detective who murders a guy and makes it look like self defense (this is not a spoiler, it's revealed in the first 10 minutes) is assigned to her case after she is mysteriously kidnapped after finding bones in her backyard and she is later found in the abandoned sugar factory which was operated by slaves and prisoners.

I spent the whole 87 minutes going, "Who?" "Wait, why are they here?" "What was that conversation even about?" "Where are they?" and last but not least, "They needed bolt cutters to remove a shoelace from a door?"

The acting is mostly terrible and the plot is baffling. Some of the cinematography is alright but everyone kind of looks horribly pale and yellow.

On the other hand, Eric Roberts is in more than one scene and in a couple he even moves around and does things, so that's cool. The one groundskeeper guy, he was like a diamond in the rough who almost makes you feel like you're watching a real movie.

The ending was just bizarre and totally unsatisfying. Unacceptable, even. But, admittedly, I sat through the whole thing. I kind of want to watch it again just to see if this film was really that poorly written and executed or if I was just too stupid or drunk to understand certain aspects .

Just because you have an expensive camera doesn't mean your a director! Terrible, terrible , terrible directing. There is no horror or suspense just a dry eye monotone drama. This director has no business directing any movie of any kind! please kindly go back to the cubicle of wall street.

Okay, some might complain but first of all... it's an independent movie. Now let's talk about genre. It's listed as a Horror on some platforms, but when I came to the IMDb page, I noticed that it's listed as Drama/Thriller -- which makes a lot more sense. It's definitely a drama with a mystery feel and a handful of scary moments. The acting is good and the overall story is pretty intriguing...apparently based on real history of that area. With the recent hurricane that exposed money-hungry land developer schemes, this movie feels right on point. And it's not often to find Houston in films these days...cool backdrop and that sugar factory they filmed in was creepy.

This was not the worst thriller I have ever seen, but it was very flawed, and moves very slowly without being particularly intriguing (I don't mind a slow burn if it is good). It begins with a rather interesting premise that is based on a true story - this could have been a really creepy movie. For starters, the lead actress was pretty bad. She showed so little emotion there were times she seemed mildly sedated. Secondly, they did not delve into the history of the theme - this could have been very creepy and had the makings of a great ghost story. Lastly, I found the ending unsatistying - not terrible, but an ending that many will see coming. Actually, I found the acting by Elbert Hill (the old maintenance man) to be superb, and I wish he had a larger role. Also, while Eric Roberts does not disappoint, his role was quite small. Four stars from me - had a great premise, but needed some tweaking, starting with the lead role.