Le Voile du secret

In most respects The Veil is a very ordinary film. It takes a well trodden path that mixes the notion of re-incantation with an invasion of the body snatchers/possession twist.

Most of the performances in this flick are pretty forgettable. Jessica Alba's character, who is supposedly the lead, spends most of her time looking like she's about to have a painful visit to the dentist. She's perpetually afraid, from the opening scenes to closing credits, with little in the way of emotional range, in between.

What holds this film together and really defines it is the show stealing performance by Thomas Jane. Janes character, cult leader, Jim Jacobs, is a pretty transparent Jim Jones, Peoples Temple, knock off. But what a knock off! Jane is absurdly good and utterly convincing as Jacobs. So much so, I kept watching what is otherwise a rather mediocre film.

Its a shame we don't see more of Jane in leading roles, he clearly has a lot to offer. I think for one thing he'd make an outstanding Jim Jones, should anyone decide to revisit that sad story. As to The Veil, I'd say watch it for Jane's remarkable performance but beyond that, don't come to this flick with big expectations or you will be disappointed. Five out of ten from me.

The premise of cult suicide eerily resembles real life tragedy, perhaps it is such intended effect. A cult leader Jim Jacobs (Thomas Jane) allegedly leads his congregation to their deaths in a promise of unworldly reward. In a pleasant surprise Thomas Jane is bizarrely fitting cast for the charismatic leader. He's been delivering good characters in last few years and he seems to get better each time.

After the events of mass suicide, a sole survivor is found, Sarah Hope (Lily Rabe). It takes her 25 years but she eventually returns to the site with a film crew. The Veil already produces anticipation more than the usual documentary crew fumbling into uncharted territory.

Its premise and ambiance are presentable, often using grey tone and cryptic air to its advantage. Although it uses found footage element, it doesn't force the gimmick for the entirety of the movie, thus it could show the past and present sequences freely.

Most of the horrors are based on foundation of Jim Jacobs' cult, which effectively produces a creepy setting. Furthermore, Thomas Jane as the prophet role has a way to allure interest as well as secretively shows some hints of violence. He's magnetic but still a shady person. The dark forest gives a proper visual for the ordeal, maintaining the sense of isolation well.

Unfortunately, few of the potentials for the scare end up in predictable fashion or blunt jump scares. Aside from Sarah Hope and the lead director Maggie (Jessica Alba), the rest of cast are not fully fleshed out. Still, the mystery effect and the appropriately crafted presentation manage to construct overall frightening atmosphere.

The Veil rallies and promises a great horror from its harrowing cultist vibe. It stutters a bit towards the end, contrasting the good basis it has set, yet the narrative and atmosphere still create gratifyingly creepy experience.

I am the biggest critic of horror films. If there's just one thing that doesn't seem right, I automatically dislike a film. I really liked this, though.

It has a unique story, one that hasn't been touched upon very often: scary cults. It has a good cast who all work well together. There's not too much crappy dialogue, like the ubiquitous "Die you f-ing b****!" that is found in a lot of movies. (I've never understood how someone, who is fighting for their life, could be thinking of screaming cuss words at an attacker, and I curse like a truck driver.) I'm not a huge fan of Jessica Alba but this role worked for her.

The scares were a success. I jumped a couple of times.

Overall I think it's a very good scary movie. Is it Oscar-worthy? No, but that's not why I watched it.

In a way it was disappointing, but in another, it's what it claimed to be. A Jim Jones-type of guy (Thomas Jane) commits suicide with is cult, and several years later, the lone survivor -- Sara -- returns to the scene with a film crew headed by Jessica Alba. I won't give away any spoilers, but it was not good in my opinion. The acting was fine, but the story line was wanting. It was very slow to the point that it dragged in many places. I started it around 9:30 in the morning, and I was falling asleep half-way through. Much of the coloring looked like a transition between black-and-white and color, giving it a somewhat grayish look. Maybe I just saw a bad copy. It's not a found-footage film. I do not recommend.

First of all i went in not knowing anything about this film it just caught my eye especially w the actors in it.. I believe this movie took certain big elements based on the actual Jonestown but completely made it their own and portrayed it with its own twist, theories and ghost stories. It did have it's spooky moments and it did its part in keeping you interested from beginning to end but I felt it could've been a little better in which I feel it was a little cheesy at certain parts and had a few plot holes.. I've seen worse and scarier movies but it's a nice quick watch if you're looking for something not too intricate or too scary with supernatural elements.. I feel like the ending could've been better but then again you can't expect too much with these type of movies so I guess it did fit for with the theme they were going for.. I did like the way they didn't do a footage style movie since they were filming a documentary based on this cult, also I liked how they portrayed two different angles such as flashbacks and present day it helped explain everything and give you a better visual on what happened, how it happened and why..aside from that give it a shot like I said if you take it for what it is it'll be a decent watch!