Directed by James Wan. Written by Akela Cooper. Starring Annabelle Wallis, George Young, Maddie Hasson, Susanna Thompson, Jean Louisa Kelly, Mckenna Grace, Jake Abel and Jacqueline McKenzie.
Plot: a woman begins having visions of people being murdered, only to realize the visions are all too real.
This very complex story opens in 1993 at the Simion Research Hospital. Dr. Weaver (McKenzie) is treating a patient named Gabriel, who we never see clearly, but who appears to be inhuman. One night, Gabriel breaks out, killing several of the staff at the hospital. When they tranqualize him and have him under control again, he uses speakers in the room to broadcast his very personal and ugly thoughts. He tells them he will kill them all, at which point Dr. Weaver admits that while she thought she could help him, she was wrong, and that the “cancer needs to be cut out”.
Fast foward to present day, a woman, Maddie (Wallis), is pregnant. Her husband, Derek (Abel), is a dick though. Very possessive and abusive. They get into another large fight, he hits her in the stomach, slams her into a wall and she loses the baby. Derek is killed by something in the house. Her sister, Sydney (Hasson) comes to help out, but after losing the baby, Maddie’s gone pretty much catatonic. Then the visions start.
Let’s get this out in the open right now: we feel this movie is shockingly bad. It is a tense story, but it’s not a realistic one. It’s nonsense and horribly far-fetched. I like a good twist every now and again, but this not a good twist. We heard all the incredible reviews about the “bonkers twist” and it was a letdown. I don’t always see the twists coming either, but I did this time. I suppose some people found it disturbing and that was exciting for them, but we found it ridiculous. And the quaint, little, “Hallmark” ending they tried to push out after the big reveal was maddening.
Also, while Grace, Thompson and Kelly put in tremendous effort, the acting was not as consistant by everyone around them. The effects were kind of lackadaisical, at best. The rules were flimsy. The story made you think there were rules, but that just wasn’t so. The motive was weak, too, and I believe that’s what the creative team was really pushing, so that was a fail. Overall, if you want to give it a whirl, I won’t reveal the twist to you. As for us, we will never watch it again. As a matter of fact, we’re going to try hard to forget we watched it at all.
Our score: 13.
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