Friday, April 22, 2016

Movie review: The Diabolical

Madison and her two children are being terrorized nightly by a malicious presence that seems to be growing stronger. She tries enlisting paranormal experts and others but when they are all too frightened she turns to her scientist boyfriend for help.

Ali Larter (Madison), Max Rose (Jacob), Chloe Perrin (Haley), Wilmer Calderon (Miguel), Kurt Carley (The Prisoner), Merrin Dungey (Mrs. Wallace), Joe Egender (Carl), Patrick Fischler (Austin), Arjun Gupta (Nikolai).

The Diabolical doesn't waste much time, delivering minimal character introductions and plot setup before jumping right to the main story. Once the scary bits show up things get much more interesting and the pace picks up a notch. With a few added elements the film does a decent job of being spooky for while until, closer to the end, a few twists are thrown in. The story finishes nicely and does a decent job of wrapping thing up.

Acting was good from Larter who delivered pretty well. Rose and Perrin did nicely and delivered well considering their age. Calderon fit well and worked nicely with Larter, and the rest of the cast. The remainder of the cast did nicely throughout.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds were fairly simple but well done with most of the film taking place inside a house. Effects were well done with some good BOO moments and well done costuming. Action was mild but also nicely done. Dialogue was enjoyable with reasonable depth and plot movement. Sound and soundtrack were good.

The Diabolical ends up being a decent horror flick. The plot is simple and somewhat worn, but a few added elements and nice creature effects elevate the film slightly above the average. Sci-Fi Thriller or Horror fans should enjoy this one.

With disturbing images and adult situations, older teens and above should be fine with this one.

Released: 2015
Reviewed: 4.18.16
Star rating: 3 out of 5
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi Horror, Thrillers, Sci-Fi Thriller, Supernatural Thriller

copyright ©2016 Dave Riedel
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