I loved director Rolfe Kanefsky's previous films-NIGHTMARE MAN, JACQUELINE HYDE and THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE, so when I received his latest horror film I was excited to sit down and watch it. Unfortunately it failed to make an impression.
In the opening scene we're introduced to Miss Black (Lin Shaye of INSIDIOUS), who lives in a big house and has her young adult grand-daughter visiting. She's arguing with a spirit and tells it to leave her alone. Of course, it doesn't. The young woman is sexually accosted by the spirit (sort of like a cheap version of THE ENTITY) and dragged into another dimension. The grandmother sacrifices herself to rescue her, then the movie skips to two years later. A couple, Jennifer (Natasha Henstridge) and Paul move into the house and soon strange things occur, all influenced by that hidden Black Room down in the basement. People visit, some are killed off by the demon, others are possessed. Eventually it inhabits Paul and there's a big confrontation that takes place in an otherworldly hell dimension that looks like the insides of someone's intestines, if those intestines were made of plastic, latex and lots of fake blood. I think my biggest problem with this is that although there are some well-known actors in this the script simply doesn't give them enough to do with their abilities. Lin Shaye is basically reprising her role from INSIDIOUS, while Henstridge sort of walks through it. And for some reason I can't quite pinpoint the production values are low, perhaps because the image quality is too crisp with HD-it needed to be darker and grittier. Still, everything is based on the script and this script is simply too familiar and predictable.
I loved director Rolfe Kanefsky's previous films-NIGHTMARE MAN, JACQUELINE HYDE and THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE, so when I received his latest horror film I was excited to sit down and watch it. Unfortunately it failed to make an impression.
