The first hour is haunting and absorbing; for once ,in a horror movie,the characters are not cardboard ,they have a social background ( a family leaving the country for the broader horizons of the capital ,in the mid-seventies ) ; without relying on special effects,the director creates a stifling Gothic atmosphere ,taking advantage of the setting (an old house where evil things might have happened ); fear stems from trite ,everyday things : the letters the mentally handicapped son receives, the TV with a nice (but slightly menacing) grandma from an animation , the meeting with the lady and her handicapped daughter in a shop , the picture the mother is given ....even granddad has something threatening when he's gazing into space.
Unfortunately things begin to deteriorate by the last third : all the clichés of the worst horror movies are used and the movie looks like an umpteenth parody of "the exorcist" :levitation,vomiting , screamings, you name it...The only saving grace of this finale ("the evil is not in the house ,it's in your family") is not really exploited.
It leaves promises on hold ;it's all the more disappointing since the beginning was really puzzling.
Unfortunately things begin to deteriorate by the last third : all the clichés of the worst horror movies are used and the movie looks like an umpteenth parody of "the exorcist" :levitation,vomiting , screamings, you name it...The only saving grace of this finale ("the evil is not in the house ,it's in your family") is not really exploited.
It leaves promises on hold ;it's all the more disappointing since the beginning was really puzzling.