The Diabolical review: Contains interesting ideas from a well warn mythology.
The Diabolical review
Director: Alistair Legrand
Cast: Ali Larter, Patrick Fischler
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 86 minutes
Synopsis: Single mother Madison (Larter) finds her house invaded by a unknown presence, as things turn nasty she must do everything she can to save her young children.
Ali Larter, best known for her roles in the first two Final Destination movies and television series Heroes, stars as single mother Madison who must protect her children from a series of menacing apparitions.
On paper The Diabolical might sound like every other haunted house movie that you have ever seen, yet it isn’t. Instead of conforming to what has gone before, writer/ director Alistair Legrand forges off on his own direction. One big divergence to the usual trope is that Madison and her kids have been living in the house for years before anything starts going bump in the night. Furthermore the events have been happening since before the story starts and the family are just doing their best to deal with it.
Let’s face it, one of the biggest plot holes in the like of Poltergeist, Insidious etc. is how quickly and easily the families manage to move house; houses aren’t cheap and in reality were any of the paranormal activities happening in your home you’d more than likely have to learn to deal with it instead of casually relocating.
Of course Madison is desperate to escape her confines, but just when things look like they might abate, events spiral and the trio find themselves trapped within the haunted four walls.
The Diabolical review
Larter does a great job at holding the film together and is very believable as a mother doing everything in her power to save her children.
What does let the film down however, is the visual effects. The make-up work is pretty good in places, but the computer effects look cheap and dated. Sadly this is probably due to budget restraints, the fact that the film opens with one such computer sequence means that some viewers will get off on the wrong foot with the project.
The finale is also muddled and confused and, after investing time into the small family, it’s a shame that the ending posses more questions than it answers.
With a title like The Diabolical it would be all to easy to twist a review to include the title in a damning way, yet the film has some great moments within. Utilising elements of Cube and Hellraiser, The Diabolical injects some interesting ideas into a well warn mythology.
The Diabolical review, Kat Hughes, August 2015.
The Diabolical screens at Frightfest on Friday 28th August from 11:15am.
