On the positive side, Flanery is a great actor and does a fantastic job. Film makers do best when they depict demon possession, not as the witchy, pale-faced old ladies with a sinister grin, but when they highlight the dramatic personality shifts in the possesser and possessed. As the movie progresses you see the characters seperate more and Flanery suspends your disbelief well. The demon is cool and collected and has a plan that makes sense as to why he'd want his host to be executed. The man on death row, Edward Brady is an abused and broken man being controlled by the demons he slowly let in over his lifetime. Flanery does so well at this that it almost had me in tears when he ordered his last meal.
Being a movie written from the Christian perspective it is one of the few that actually explains the subject of demon possession accurately, which to me, is more terrifying than your typical horror flick of "oh we disturbed the ghost of old Joe's mansion" or whatever.
On the negative side, the movie setting barely ever leaves the interrogation table which leaves the entire thing feeling "small" and like you've really already saw the whole thing in the preview.
I said earlier that this does a great job of explaining "correctly" the demonic realm, however, because of that it comes across a bit much at times...like we're getting a "Screwtape" perspective on the theology of the demonic. It seems a little like the demon is overly anxious to explain everything to the psychologist.
My biggest complaint is that even though the subject of demon possession is creepy, this movie never felt scary to me. Anguishing, yes. A bit thrilling, yes. Psychological, yes. But never that unnerving creepy feeling I want from a horror movie.
Lastly, they could have done without the Glen Beck interview in the end. I like Glen and the Blaze and all but I have a feeling the movie's target audience either wouldn't like Beck or wouldn't know who he was. For someone that does know who he is, this really seemed to break the 4th wall to me. All in all I don't really think that was needed in the movie.
Being a movie written from the Christian perspective it is one of the few that actually explains the subject of demon possession accurately, which to me, is more terrifying than your typical horror flick of "oh we disturbed the ghost of old Joe's mansion" or whatever.
On the negative side, the movie setting barely ever leaves the interrogation table which leaves the entire thing feeling "small" and like you've really already saw the whole thing in the preview.
I said earlier that this does a great job of explaining "correctly" the demonic realm, however, because of that it comes across a bit much at times...like we're getting a "Screwtape" perspective on the theology of the demonic. It seems a little like the demon is overly anxious to explain everything to the psychologist.
My biggest complaint is that even though the subject of demon possession is creepy, this movie never felt scary to me. Anguishing, yes. A bit thrilling, yes. Psychological, yes. But never that unnerving creepy feeling I want from a horror movie.
Lastly, they could have done without the Glen Beck interview in the end. I like Glen and the Blaze and all but I have a feeling the movie's target audience either wouldn't like Beck or wouldn't know who he was. For someone that does know who he is, this really seemed to break the 4th wall to me. All in all I don't really think that was needed in the movie.