zandertowne Review of The Diabolical

The Diabolical (2015)

Shooting the Viewer in the Head Would Be a Surprise Too!

[3/10 · 29 October 2018]

I love me my ambitious small movies but don't go there if you haven't the brains to pull it off! This one starts off well: a haunted house tale we're dropped into well into the haunting so there's mystery as the audience tries to play catch-up. But despite some decent make-up (harking to the Silent Hill style) and some creepy scenes (creature crawling out of a dryer is a new one for me) the execution is pretty lackluster and dull and interest will be waning by the time they go for their third act SURPRISE that pretty much shoots their own movie solidly in the foot. You can't just throw a time travel scenario, or evil corporate running everything, in if it then throws what little logic your movie had out the window and makes no sense. Suddenly coincidences pile up, plot holes magically appear the size of a bloated Macy's parade blimp, and people shooting far above their intellect always think "ambiguous" is the same as "good". It's not if no matter how you turn it there's no sense to be found. Think first, film second, dudes! For half the film you were a 5 or 6 and then you had to go believing it when your mommy told you how clever you were. Your mommy lied.