With an intriguing introduction, use of clever music and visuals, the movie starts strong. The backstory of the mystic religion and secretive ritual which was conducted by the residents of the village was also very interesting. From the beginning one could see the cleverly placed inklings of the curse among the practitioners.

Off on a tangent here, but I found the lack of respect for other people’s religion quite annoying. If someone says don’t desecrate our altar or respect our idol then follow their instructions or just scram! By the end of the first hour I was supremely annoyed at the trio of ghostbusters who didn’t show a modicum of intelligence, or survival instinct. They were mostly the instruments for spreading the horror and the next hour just reconfirmed my beliefs.

BTW splendid acting by the main female lead and the child. The lead portrayed the emotions really well and the atmosphere created was truly immersive, be it the past or the present. Even the child did an awesome portal of being confused, neglected, loved and cursed. Wide array of emotions here!

The cinematography & use of colours though not as lush as “The Medium” was believable and pulled the audience into the story. The story is peppered with a whole lot of jump scares though the gore was a bit too much for me. The fear factor is definitely high and the BGM tied in perfectly with the eeriness of the horror story.

I found the horror to be more of a creepy feeling that builds up to the finale rather than a classic American horror film, and what a great finale. Finally a movie that has a fitting finale! I loved how they retained consistency with the storytelling through use of psychology. The imparting of a particular message to the audience by presenting the same symbol & prayer at regular intervals was also very unique. The breaking of the fourth wall was vital to good storytelling.

Now as one of the reviewers mentioned previously, this movie should have a trigger warning for trypophobia (it’s not obvious but for those who suffer from it, it’s glaring) as well as child neglect. Another con for me was the constant switching of the two timelines. The yo-yoing back and forth gave me whiplash besides confusing the hell out of me in the first hour.

All in all, this was a great horror film peppered with just enough scares and a good creepy background story. While the movie could do with a tighter editing and shorter duration, the overall horror was good enough to deserve an 8 acc to me. And that’s the highest score yet this year for a horror film.

Recommended for - creepiness, jump scares, mystic rituals/superstitious beliefs and lots of gory visuals.
Not recommended for - slick/fast buildups, trypophobics and people sensitive to blood, child neglect or whiplash.