Karma (II) (2018 TV Movie) User Reviews

It got worse

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 22 February 2019]

Manny (Mandela Van Peebles) works for his Father-in-Law of Frank Hudson Realty (Tim Russ). They are actively repossessing homes, which confused me because it is normally the bank which owns the lien and not the guy who sells it to you. Manny doesn't like his job and evicts high school buddy Kevin Shan (Kanoa Goo) and his bed ridden mother. We saw Kevin in the opening scene hit a girl who does a triple axle over his roof. He is cursed and passes the curse onto Manny, some Hindu Dharma/Karma thing. Bad things start to happen in Manny's life.

Interesting concept film. Badly scripted. Nothing says a house is haunted like Spanish Moss. I got bored watching people get pushed around. They cut away from the gore.

Guide: No F-word, sex, or nudity. Mild swearing.

Not a particularly outstanding movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 8 June 2019]

All I knew about this 2018 movie when I sat down to watch it was that it was a horror movie of sorts.

Now, the term horror should be used very lightly here, because this wasn't a particularly scary movie from writer Daniel Gilboy and at the helm of director Nick Simon.

The storyline definitely had some interesting enough aspects, but it just had a tendency of sinking down into stupidity, and that was a shame because it definitely colored the rest of the movie unnecessarily. The whole aspect of karma was a nice touch though, and one that is not seen all that much as a main focal point in horror movies, as it was used in this 2018 movie.

Mandela Van Peebles carried the movie quite well with his performance. And was actually the one that stood out the most in the movie, in my opinion. Otherwise it was adequate acting performances from the cast, taking into consideration the limitations of the script and storyline. It was, however, nice to see Tim Russ in a movie such as this, just a shame that his talent wasn't utilized more thoroughly, because he could definitely have brought a lot more to the movie.

"Karma" is the type of movie that you will watch once and then never again. Because it just doesn't have enough appeal or actual meat on the bone, so to speak, to support more than a single viewing. The storyline is just too linear and predictable.

Decent

[kyleallencole9 · 5/10 · 11 November 2018]

For a syfy channel movie, it was pretty decent. The acting was okay and effects were pretty tame. However this one did have an eerie vibe for it and made a good addition to the syfy channels 31 days of Halloween lineup.

Could've have been a really good film

[LordCommandar · 1/10 · 11 February 2019]

This film could've been real good even with a not so good script, but the acting especially on the part of no range acting Van Peeples, made the story barely bearable to watch. Not that bad, but not that good either. Van Peeples really sucks at acting.

Not Very Scary, Screams Low Budget

[blackenedtiamat · 3/10 · 23 August 2021]

If youre looking for something to scare you off your couch look elsewhere (albeit, theres not very many places to look in the so-called "horror" genre these days, right?)

Movie starts off... vague. Not very clear about the origin of the dharma and such. Then it slows to a crawl for another 30 minutes. Picked back up when the main character evicted a highschool friend out of their house. Cheap effects and makeup soon follow. Main characters girlfriend's dad gets a pretty hilarious scene. Involves a tenant hes been trying to kick out for 72 hours since the beginning of the movie, a saw, and a ladder.

Seriously, this movie gradually turned into a low tier horror, to a comedy/thriller about an hour or so into it. Completely unintentional by the director im sure.

Bad writing = bad movie

[MsHoneyBee · 3/10 · 2 September 2021]

The thing is... this movie actually could have been good. The acting wasn't terrible. But when the actors are given a script like this... what the heck can they even do with it?

The dialogue was unnatural and the movements of the characters were unnatural. Even the way time worked seemed insane. One minute the main character is at a house during the day then it's pitch black out... the spirits were only strong and smart enough to push things around.

So many stupid questions, so much wasted movement on camera, so many unexplained situations... I don't even know what the spirit wanted. Just to make mischief? To right wrongs? I don't know... terrible terrible writing.

And that ending... this guy talking about losing his wife when the main characters dad just got his head cut up ON THIS MANS PROPERTY. He knows the man is dead so what's the point?? He was never a threat to the family then all of a sudden he just has a blood lust for them. AFTER the person who wronged him was killed? On his own property? The thing about movie villains is, they have to have purpose. Between the ghosts and the humans, I don't understand what their motives were... Wasted moments of my life...

With a more simple and more realistic script, I think the actors could have done a lot more. They certainly aren't A listers but I give them credit for trying...

Good concept but weak story

[cedrickmbokani · 3/10 · 4 June 2021]

This one could have been a great horror movie if the story was well-crafted and nurtured. I didn't know why the priest didn't intervene a little earlier. Not to mention earlier the weird fact that it's the priest who emerges whereas the audience was expecting the police.

Also the story lacks a certain logic; why the curse was still stalking Kevin if he passed it along to Manny? And Kevin's mother's face appear as the manifestation of the demon? Was she a sorceress? Why does she summon Dharma when Manny makes Kevin sign the eviction papers?

Enjoyable enough but still flawed

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 20 October 2018]

Trying to make ends meet, a struggling college student takes a job evicting delinquent tenants with his girlfriends' father ends up unleashing a supernatural curse on him and his family that soon turns into a race to stop the vengeful karmic demon following him to stop its effects.

This was an enjoyable enough effort. When this one does work is due to the series of supernatural actions that are undertaken due to the creature's curse coming into fruition. This one tends to favor the style of supernatural actions that could possibly be a coincidence to psychologically torment the one who's been afflicted by the curse rather than out-and-out killing them, starting off with the idea of just bad days to non-threatening events that strike them at that point. From the initial start by having friends see him at his lowest and having his car destroyed by accident to seeing his boss fall off the roof onto a running table-saw or the confrontation with the owner at the supposedly abandoned house in the middle of the woods which is a genuinely creepy sequence here, the film offers up some rather enjoyable sequences that provide some fun sequences. The fact that it's designed to break him down gives this a nice buffer to provide a variety of tactics here to generate that feeling throughout here which by coming out of nowhere tend to give this some rather solid suspense throughout here. The confrontation in the abandoned house also provides some solid fun as the supernatural antics are quite prominent here as well, leading to some enjoyable moments here which are what hold this one up for the most part over its flaws. The biggest problem with the film is the manner in which the curse is brought forth. The entire matter is an official affair that's taken up with different authorities on levels higher than his, so to have him be the target is entirely too convenient and simple especially for such a nonsense reason that's entirely well within his authority to perform. To them put the entire resources of the curse onto him because of that is rather simplistic and unnecessary by the fact that it never reveals anything about what it's supposed to be doing this for, rendering much of the scares here quite confusing as to how the curse itself is spread. As well, the idea of the curse designed to break him down psychologically means that far more often nothing here really puts him in danger as it's more about those around him which break him down so there's a slight disconnect from the curse in that regard. The last issue is a weak finale that has no bearings on the curse, plays out in an entirely confusing manner and just ends without any kind of real resolution with how it plays out. These here are what hold this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

Watch out when karma comes for you

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 27 April 2021]

Recent cash-strapped college graduate Manny Everett (a fine and likeable performance by Mandela Van Peebles) reluctantly takes a job working for a real estate company in which he has to throw delinquent tenants out of their homes. The harsh nature of Manny's thankless job causes a nasty karma demon to start stalking and tormenting Manny at every turn.

Director Nick Simon relates the absorbing and enjoyable story at a steady pace, adroitly crafts a creepy mood, stages the shock scenes with flair, and delivers a decent amount of bloody violence. The sturdy acting from the able cast helps a lot: Brytni Sarpy as Manny's sweet wife Alicia, Kanoa Goo as the distraught Kevin Shan, Tim Ross as Manny's crusty father-in-law Frank, Meg Deusner as the no-nonsense Deputy Miller, Tony Amendola as irate home owner Markham, and Brittney Level as concerned sister Lisa. A neat little fright flick.