Anthony Vezza’s review published on Letterboxd:
A film bathed in blood and sent to quench the American appetite of serial-killer horror. The atmosphere is raw with static sounds and satanic imagery. Nicolas Cage, donned with a prosthetic nose and white makeup, elevates with his performative escalation. The case led by Maika Monroe's FBI agent unearths a labyrinth of mystery that by it's end, contradicts it's grounded approach. However, I won't dwell in what didn't work for me because clearly the film "possessed" the populace this past weekend. This is the kind of film that lures you in like the monster it portrays.
The cinematography is psychically creepy. The wide framing of the characters, especially when Lee is inside her cabin house, leaves enough deph and space for an intruder to unexpectedly waltz in. Even at the FBI office, there's an uneasiness when she's on the phone talking to her Mother about her prayers. The lights of the ascending stairwell emits a holy glow, as Lee stands at the bottom with the red hue of street lights bleeding in. There's constant tension from the composition and Lee's visible vulnerability, which is much more than it seems.
As the story progresses, her relationship to the macabre is revealed. Maika's delivery of sparse, yet perfectly elapsed dialogue with weary eyes exemplifies the eerie atmosphere she's enveloped by. Though, it doesn't fog her "psychic intuition" and that guides her throughout the investigation. She embraces the tension and conveys her fixation on the case as it slowly reveals itself, including her connection to it. It's her determination to catch the monster that keeps the momentum up and the mystery intriguing.
Once "Part II" begins, that's when the narrative skews from the reality it established with it's scares. This is a "boogeyman" feat., but it goes deeper into something much more personal and ultimately, strange. I don't know anything about the occult, but it's influence overextends it's reach on the story and deviates from the hardline horror that the film begins with. Although I'm an admirer of the surreal and supernatural (T.V. Glow as the most recent and notable example), I couldn't reengage with the film by it's end. It took a twist I thought unearthed the terror and made it less impactful for myself.
Again, I will not dwell on what didn't work for me.
I grew up afraid of dolls and they absolutely inhabit this film. My fear as a kid was that they would become sentient and kill me. I believe that happened in a Twilight Zone episode I watched, but in a way this films exists in that realm of subversive reality. It's how they are used in correlation with the murders that makes them disturbing; they serve a purpose for being more than just creepy.
That sentiment can be said of the film overall, and it's definitely worth seeking out beyond the veneer of the ghastly and quasi-ominous vibes of other horror films nowadays.
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