After being sent to prison, a man's grown children try to reconnect with each other to help understand their father's rambling motivations about killing his wife to stop her demonic possession, and when a devastating fire changes their lives forever must find a way to deal with the situation.
Overall, this was a fairly solid and enjoyable genre effort. One of the strongest features of this one is the more Westernized storyline that allows it to bring about a great family drama while still retaining firm genre roots. Immediately opening on the actions of the father looking to stop his deranged notion of his wife's possessed behavior that kills her, sends him to prison, and strands his children in the system, this makes for a fantastic starting point to bring about the requisite dynamics within the main family we're going to follow. With the fractured relationships apparent once we meet them as adults with the daughter trying to make peace, the son a borderline alcoholic mess, and the dad reluctant to make amends despite the remorseful nature of his actions even with the rescue attempt from the burning shack that effectively scars the brother, this all comes across with a fine buildup to it's main storyline. When the film transitions into more overt genre territory, this emotional grounding helps to enhance what's going on. Since we see their trauma and grief in their backstory, the struggle to care for each other in the equally traumatic present following the tragic burning accident helps to foreshadow why there's such rampant disbelief over the present. The realization that his dreams can predict the future with the deaths of those around him trying to help in his recovery only for the incidents he dreams about to involve gruesome and unforeseen accidents to take place bring about some great imagery with the nature of how they're taken out, and as it all leads to a curse enacted by a mistake generations earlier gives this a nice storyline touch as well. The final half brings an end to everything through ritualistic means, and a melding of the backstory playing out is generally fun, with how these aspects are brought together as the spirit at the source of the curse, as well as the revelations brought about here, make for a frantic and generally enjoyable time. There are some big problems here that hold this one down. The main issue with the film is the overly melodramatic elements found here that keep the film feeling far slower than it should for this kind of setup. The interactions with the brother and sister tend to highlight their tragic past, but at a cost of making things feel dragged out and grating, as their constant arguments over the inability to stay together while growing up or putting their feelings of guilt aside for the greater good of recovery become immensely dull. Likewise, the inability to move forward with the brother's recovery mission since the sister and the nurse spend time hanging out together are far more responsible for dragging out the pacing than necessary alongside the somewhat cheesy nature of the scenes, and with an overlong finale that has too many endings going for it, are what bring this down overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
