Wow! Having heard a review of this, I was intrigued to watch this film, and I can say that it was a great watch.
We have a film that centres around a talkshow host who is constantly playing catch up to reach the top of the food chain in the 1970s TV talkshow world, and has long past his peak. Now we find him resorting desperately to performing some horror excorcism and seance on his show to boost ratings, and as you can guess already, things get out of control.
First of all, this is a retro horror film and it works perfectly well, and has a wonderful feel like an old Video nasty. However, it's not by any means the most scary film out there, and actually uses a lot of dark humour to mellow the atmosphere, which allows this film to be more accessible to a larger audience. The film feels like a theatre play on screen, and works perfectly for it here with a very claustrophobic atmosphere. You're in but you can't get out.
The film is clearly derivative and pays homage to others like obviously 'The Exorcist' but also found footage movies too, but it's the acting that is the real crux, and I can't think of a single bad performance in this film.
David Dastmalchian plays our TV talkshow host without needing to pander to being smarmy or evil, but really like an welcoming uncle. The benefit then of that is that he sucks you in. The real star turns out to be the possessed young girl (Lilly) who is incredibly performed by Ingrid Torelli, who creates one of the most genuinely disturbing and frightening character portrayals I've seen in years. The young lady broke the mould after what has been decades now of cliched portrayals of young women in horror.
As we follow the happenings, the tension is ratcheted up, but humour provides some respite, and it is quite funny at times without in any way undermining the horror. The twists and turns ensure we are wholly engrossed, and I myself was hooked.
I'd really recommend you catch this when you can in the cinema, this host very much deserves an audience. Just please don't ruin this fine film with unnecessary sequels.
We have a film that centres around a talkshow host who is constantly playing catch up to reach the top of the food chain in the 1970s TV talkshow world, and has long past his peak. Now we find him resorting desperately to performing some horror excorcism and seance on his show to boost ratings, and as you can guess already, things get out of control.
First of all, this is a retro horror film and it works perfectly well, and has a wonderful feel like an old Video nasty. However, it's not by any means the most scary film out there, and actually uses a lot of dark humour to mellow the atmosphere, which allows this film to be more accessible to a larger audience. The film feels like a theatre play on screen, and works perfectly for it here with a very claustrophobic atmosphere. You're in but you can't get out.
The film is clearly derivative and pays homage to others like obviously 'The Exorcist' but also found footage movies too, but it's the acting that is the real crux, and I can't think of a single bad performance in this film.
David Dastmalchian plays our TV talkshow host without needing to pander to being smarmy or evil, but really like an welcoming uncle. The benefit then of that is that he sucks you in. The real star turns out to be the possessed young girl (Lilly) who is incredibly performed by Ingrid Torelli, who creates one of the most genuinely disturbing and frightening character portrayals I've seen in years. The young lady broke the mould after what has been decades now of cliched portrayals of young women in horror.
As we follow the happenings, the tension is ratcheted up, but humour provides some respite, and it is quite funny at times without in any way undermining the horror. The twists and turns ensure we are wholly engrossed, and I myself was hooked.
I'd really recommend you catch this when you can in the cinema, this host very much deserves an audience. Just please don't ruin this fine film with unnecessary sequels.