Well, hell. This isn’t a very good movie but it has a wild and weird ending that kind of knocks it up a notch. I just wish I knew if they meant it the way I took it.

The film is about a monastery and a new monk who joins… but he’s actually an undercover cop investigating the suspicious number of women who have had exorcisms and vanished from there.

A ton of this movie is just atmosphere and a monotone soundtrack assuring us this is both gothic and creepy. They do a decent job with the lightning but the soundtrack gets tedious beyond measure. Most of the acting is fine but a lot of it left me wondering where we’re going more than anything.

But we do get shoes dropped and things kind of pick up once the big reveal happens. It’s not very original and it quickly seems to be descending to humdrum “seen it before” territory… until… well… until a very human reaction happens to an uneventful moment. Something most horror movies wouldn’t depict.

<SPOILER START>
The monks turn out to be Satanists and they’ve been planning to raise the devil for years. The undercover monk cop is the sacrifice they need. Only problem though… well… the devil doesn’t show up. Maybe, they theorize, they misread the prophecy? What do they do now? And it’s this “Well… shit. Now what?” moment that cracked me up. The movie plays it deadpan serious but you know there’s gotta be an intentional joke there, right?
<SPOILER END>

And then the final few minutes… while continuing this endless gothic monotone, the film just goes for it. They put their chips on the table and take this odd movie to a final conclusion. I’m not sure I enjoyed it, but I respect the commitment.

This is such a mixed-up bag of a movie. It works but then it just keeps going in this thunderously even monotone. And then it gets funny but maybe not intentionally so? And then it goes big at the end. I guess I respect it and credit it but I might be doing so despite the weirdest efforts of the filmmakers.

Score: 72