Last week, Netflix kicked off it’s horror spectacular with the release of ‘Malevolent’, which we have been covering leading up to it’s premier.
According to the synopsis:
“Brother and sister team Angela (Pugh) and Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) are nothing more than scam artists. Preying on the grief-stricken and the vulnerable, they convince the bereaved that Angela has the ability to contact the dead. It’s a simple con, until Mrs. Green (Celia Imrie) summons the pair to her home — the orphanage that was once stage to a string of murders of young girls — and Angela grows less and less certain of what’s actually real. The fake paranormal investigators suffer the ultimate reality check when they are confronted by the true horrors and terrifying past that lie hidden within the haunted orphanage.”
The film’s story is pretty straight forward, a brother and sister, along with their friends, team up to scam people based off the reputation of Angela and Jackson’s mother, who was believed to have powers that Angela has inherited.
As they venture from house to house, and scam to scam, there seems to be no remorse for the course they continue to take, until Angela has a real experience that isn’t for “show” or part of the theatrics that the small team relies on.
Angela starts honing in on her gift, and starts to take a more serious approach despite being dismissed by Jackson, who is in a world of financial trouble and needs the scam to pay off big.
Eventually they are summoned by Mrs. Green, who is complaining about the children who haunt her massive house. What lies beneath the surface is a story much darker, and one that slowly unravels once Mrs. Green smartens up to the scheme.
The movie is slow paced, and lacks scares, drudging on with a monotone story that seems beaten to death by the time the movie moves towards the climax. The story is solid, but loses it’s effect after spending far too much time on dialogue and boring scenes.
While it will surely draw in viewers looking to celebrate a scary month of October, it’s sadly disappointing, causing more boredom than scary moments.
