This is one of those films which gets a fair amount of publicity on cinematic release, but afterwards is never heard from again. I suppose the main reason is that there isn't much here that we haven't seen before. The concept of a demon passing from one person to another is fresh, but the execution is bland and dull. Very hard to engage the mind at first, once it grips it soon loses its way following on from one `it-wasn't-me' event to the next.
Shot in an eerie manner, it nonetheless doesn't utilise all of the potential it has and the overall effect is deadening. Creepy, but shallow underneath the surface. The direction is tense and deeply atmospheric but the script is lacklustre- a throwback of bits and pieces of other horror movies combined with the average clichés. The outcome is a neat idea in search of a smart script to boot. What's interesting is the fact that each cast member gets their chance to play a particular character- Azazel.
And with all this star-power on show, they do a good job of playing `the demon' along with the given characters. Charismatic leading man Denzel Washington is suitably cast as the protagonist and proves to have range, doing these simple roles and the tougher ones with equal va-va-voom. John Goodman is okay but greatly underused while the same applies to James Gandalfini who plays almost the exact same character. Donald Sutherland doesn't prove to have any range, doing the usual gruff routine that he does in nearly all of his movies. Embeth Davidtz is a talented and totally under-rated actress. She delivers a good performance and shows great potential for the future.
I could go on for a while about all the flaws of the film but there isn't much point. Far from the worst of its type, the only major problem is the fact that it is so unrewarding. It promises big and strongly requests that you stick with it to the end, but you'll be left wondering why they make evil seem like such a good thing.
The outlook keeps getting gloomier and gloomier until there is absolutely no hope of revival. Overall- not disastrous, but very little to recommend here. If you want a supernatural chiller, its worth consideration, but you should try `What Lies Beneath' or `The Sixth Sense' instead. My IMDb rating is just a 4.9/10.
Shot in an eerie manner, it nonetheless doesn't utilise all of the potential it has and the overall effect is deadening. Creepy, but shallow underneath the surface. The direction is tense and deeply atmospheric but the script is lacklustre- a throwback of bits and pieces of other horror movies combined with the average clichés. The outcome is a neat idea in search of a smart script to boot. What's interesting is the fact that each cast member gets their chance to play a particular character- Azazel.
And with all this star-power on show, they do a good job of playing `the demon' along with the given characters. Charismatic leading man Denzel Washington is suitably cast as the protagonist and proves to have range, doing these simple roles and the tougher ones with equal va-va-voom. John Goodman is okay but greatly underused while the same applies to James Gandalfini who plays almost the exact same character. Donald Sutherland doesn't prove to have any range, doing the usual gruff routine that he does in nearly all of his movies. Embeth Davidtz is a talented and totally under-rated actress. She delivers a good performance and shows great potential for the future.
I could go on for a while about all the flaws of the film but there isn't much point. Far from the worst of its type, the only major problem is the fact that it is so unrewarding. It promises big and strongly requests that you stick with it to the end, but you'll be left wondering why they make evil seem like such a good thing.
The outlook keeps getting gloomier and gloomier until there is absolutely no hope of revival. Overall- not disastrous, but very little to recommend here. If you want a supernatural chiller, its worth consideration, but you should try `What Lies Beneath' or `The Sixth Sense' instead. My IMDb rating is just a 4.9/10.