When it comes to the haunted home sub-genre in horror many people mentions films like Insidious, The Conjuring or even those crappy Paranormal Activity films and the many ripoff's that followed in its franchises wake. So when I got my hands on The Diabolical I thought here we go again. Another run of the mill paranormal film where the ghost torments a family or female character thru out the film and then we either get a lame ending of the ghost being exorcised or characters being killed off opening the door to a unneeded sequel cause studios see money and want more of it.
The Diabolical tells the story of Madison (Ali Larter) and her two kids as they go about their somewhat normal life but its clearly not so normal as the house they seemingly live in is some what haunted by either ghosts or what you can easily chalk up to being the main characters mind playing cruel tricks on her. As the film progresses the haunting's begin to happen to the children as they are either tormented or barely bothered by the entity of the house. But after awhile the entity begins to get stronger as it becomes more frequent to the house and the family. Going as far as touching the children causing them to not be able to leave the house without suffering the side effect of becoming ill and nearly dying. After a disturbance ruins a family night of fun for Madison she discovers that the entity can be harmed and vows revenge against it.
This film can be easily chalked up to being in the same category of the films I mentioned earlier. But it does stand alone as it manages to switch genres on you as it nears the end of the movie. Going from a horror movie to that of a science fiction thriller. Granted the film has its moments of scare tactics with the ghostly apparitions appearing behind characters, thru walls and even crawling out of the washer as a bloody legless zombie like monster. But as I said its as this film nears its climax that we learn the truth behind the ghost apparitions and one of the characters in the house and how they came to be this reason behind what was going on in the house. If you're curious as to what science fiction element I am trying to hide or clue you into is simply teleportation or time travel.
Now for me the film itself was decent a excellent story-line concept and a good twist at the end which was killed by a sorta blah ending cause in my eyes its more open ended than ever and never settles the main story's arc. Acting was slightly dull but its what you get when you only 3 to 4 adult actors working around children. But Ali Larter does steal the show here as a mother fet up with the entity and its torment of her children as she goes from helpless victim to bad ass mother in under an hour. I would say if you are in need of something to watch and want that easy chilling feeling then this is that movie but if you're looking for frightening scenes and scares that would make you piss your pants than this isn't that movie. Its not a bad film and does deserve a chance at being viewed so its up to you. Trust me when I say the science fiction twist towards the end made me like this movie slihtly more than I had originally thought I was going to expect.
So for me this film is easily a 3 out of 5 stars film.
reviewed by Bucky
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