The Crucifixion

Storylines not bad and it's nice and scary but the main actor is rubbish

Not the most exciting film, it's a horror mystery, that's more mystery than horror and the mystery was not that interesting. It was about a faithless journalist trying to prove God is not real by doing a story about a Priest in jail for murder because an exorcism went wrong. Sounds like a good story. The setting of the movie also seemed good as it takes place in Romania, during a holiday that, according to the film is similar to Halloween, and when I herd this at the beginning of the film I was jazzed to watch a Halloween picture during the season.  The Crucifixion shows a lot of elements of mystery and sexuality that makes if feel like a homage of Hammer Horror, but it falls a little short from become a classic of even a cult classic, real short.

Had seen the trailer n was looking forward to it. My curiosity n excitement doubled after i came to kno that its directed by Xavier Glens. I am surprised that after making such a brutal n atmospheric film, Frontiere(s), what made Glens create such a slow n tame film. Saw this on a rented dvd. It is a beautifully shot film. The Romanian country side was pleasant but the overall film was a disappointment. Firstly, the film was unoriginal, stale n not scary enuff for horror fans. Its more like an investigative mystery drama but predictable. U can call it poor mans Exorcism of Emily Rose. Forget the blood, nudity or sex, the story was dull, the tension was zero n the character development nada. In the trailer v get to see spiders in the crotch which was scary but the real scene in the film is meh. Also, in the trailer v get to see the needle scene which was again scary but the scene in the movie was a blink n a miss.

I can't really tell how I feel about this movie. On the one hand it tries to be a remake of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and they shouldn't try that. That one was a masterpiece. Secondly, they shoot the Romania scenes in Transylvania, the actual events took place in Moldova. This is like shooting a western in Manhattan. Then, they portray Romania in general to be like in the 1800s. It reminded me of the Amish. Of course, even in villages, Romanians don't live like that. They didn't use Romanians to play the roles, so the acvent of some of them when they speak Romanian are devastating. The acting overall is average, but not as bad as some say here

Production is done well, acting is good. This takes a more realistic perspective in the idea of demon possession and exorcism as it uses the Eastern European background and culture to spin doubt well. That being said, the story is somewhat standard and thus bordering on perfunctory in terms of the tropes that are consistent within all possession films. Otherwise a decent watch.