26/15
Overall, there’s a lot to like here
Soriya returns to Cambodia to find herself after her mother’s death, where she finds a family she never knew and an old building full of dark secrets. After the death of her mother, a Japanese-Cambodian manga artist, and her friend decide to travel to Cambodia to learn more about her past, but when she encounters strange events within the building that point to something darker happening, the residents must stop her before it spreads. One of the stronger features is the truly enjoyable and engaging set-up, with many parts that fit together well. Starting with the backstory of her mother dying under mysterious circumstances while living in a community she’s long been estranged from, it gives her a chance to establish her motive for returning, as well as to give each other some due.
With this setup, the film becomes much more entertaining as the sinister instincts come to fruition
Since we’re aware of the relationship being portrayed and how it’s affecting him, the desire to reconnect with everyone once he arrives to find out why is a natural part of their reunion. Also, the presence of the community’s behaviors and rituals seems like a perfect choice to enhance this type of story by appearing as a strange custom before gradually becoming darker and more sinister. This creates a fantastic sense of looming fear the longer the two stay in the community, and the danger increases, which leads to more excitement. The subdued nature of the community, whether it’s their benign, if slightly depraved, behavior, or just noticing the ritualistic decorations, is nice enough to serve the film well until it gets to the more obvious scenes once he’s left alone in the apartment.
The nightmarish fever of not being able to distinguish his dream from reality is quite fascinating
The big sequence takes place as a bizarre meal prep, as the gathered family members and others he’s met in the community perform what appears to be a ritual, intended to prepare him for a special occult ritual that soon becomes a ritual. The rest of this installment kicks off with a much darker genre effort, featuring a number of revelations about the visions he’s been experiencing, leading up to a wild finale where the dark origins of the ritual are revealed. It’s about bringing the new spirit into a host’s body, which is again more subdued than expected, but still manages to deliver some generally chilling visuals and chases around the complex. These are all very enjoyable, as while there aren’t too many downsides, there are several issues that arise.
The ominous behavior that almost exclusively generates fear
The main ones include the sense of confusion present here, as very little is explained. Since the first half is more ominous and subdued than anything, there’s not much in the way of revealing what’s going on, instead focusing on the spooky atmosphere of the building. As a result, there’s hardly anything revealed about what the community is trying to do, what their ritual entails, or how everything is to be carried out, so very little is brought up. It’s only towards the end that anything comes together, so there’s a chance that it’s a bit confusing at first to get into what’s going on.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language
The other downside is that this setup also allows for a fairly slow-paced first half, with very little happening beyond setting up the storylines that pay off at the end, so it takes a while to get to the point. These are the few minor downsides that are on display for this one.