[yasr_overall_rating]
A happy young couple welcomes their first child shortly after getting married. Their joy quickly turns to fear when the girl starts acting strangely and unexplained phenomena start happening around the house.
“Infernal” wants to have its cake and eat it too but unfortunately, that is just futile. On the one hand, it sets out with a plotline and story structure very similar to the “Paranormal Activity” movies, where we see the entire film through the lens of cameras that have either been placed in various locations around the house or through the lens of the camera our two main protagonists, Nathan (Andy Ostroff) and his wife Sophia (Heather Adair), seem to carry with them everywhere they go. On the other hand, we are given a plethora of drama as Nathan and Sophia try to deal with some very strange happenings surrounding their young daughter Imogene (Alyssa Koerner) but because we see their lives unfold through the distant lens of a stationary camera, it is virtually impossible to connect with these people as we are not allowed to get close to them, literally and figuratively.
Nathan is a contractor who has just built their own home with a beautiful, picturesque view. After finding out that Sophia is pregnant, and Catholic, they get married and move on with their lives. After Imogene’s birth, everything seems to be going smoothly but slowly, peculiar things begin happening. As Nathan and Sophia try to deal with this strange phenomena, Sophia’s mother becomes very concerned and brings in a Catholic priest who quickly informs the family that Imogene is possessed by a demon. Not surprisingly, Nathan kicks both the priest and Sophia’s mother out of their house, refusing to believe in the supernatural but before the night is over, pure evil will rise and everyone’s lives will be changed forever. The story is not at fault here, it’s the actual execution of the movie itself. It wants to scare you but it also wants you to care about the central characters.
When you decide that your overall narrative is going to be, for the most part, through the lens of a distant camera on the other side of the room, then the audience has already lost what semblance of a connection they might have had with the characters otherwise. When the door opens and we eventually see the demon make its way out of the attic and over to Imogene’s bed, the room is so well-lit that it leaves nothing to the imagination. Because the film deals with the supernatural and the unknown, shadows and darkness are its best allies but most of the scenes that are meant to be scary, are too luminous to have its desired effect. The overall quality of the film is good with crisp, clear images and while the story may be nothing new, its execution is what would ideally take it to the next level but sadly, the film never reaches its intended destination.
One aspect of the movie that was unexplored, was the explanation, or lack thereof, concerning the demon and its attachment to young Imogene. In movies like “The Exorcist” and “The Omen,” it is clarified how and why these occurrences are happening but with “Infernal,” we are never given a reason why. Even in “Poltergeist,” we find out that the house was built on a graveyard, hence, the strange goings on but here, since Nathan has just built the house himself and with no mention of a graveyard, or anything else for that matter, we are left to draw our own conclusions. I don’t mind the ending of a movie being left open to interpretation, that can be fun, depending on the film itself but when the central aspect of your movie hinges on the characters in the story and the audience knowing why things are happening, and you refuse to tell them, then frustration sets in and for a movie, that is the one emotion you do not want.
On VOD and in theaters April 10th
