So, it’s pretty obvious by now that I really like horror movies. Unfortunately, there are a lot of horror movies that don’t hit the mark for me…and this was one of those.
I do have to admit that the opening scene was really interesting…and I had a strong dislike for the Magician right from the start. It seemed like she didn’t really care about her children at all…something that only became more obvious to me the more I learned about her. Perhaps her ‘duty’ could be blamed for this, but I truly don’t think there’s anything that could excuse what she did. Maybe if there was no other way…but it very quickly becomes clear that that is not the case.
This movie did start off showing the dangers that children can be in even in a place that’s supposed to be safe and familiar. There was definitely a sense of dread when the Magician was speaking to Katie…and it was definitely horrible to have her snatched away and her father desperately racing to find her.
Unfortunately, as is the case with most horror movies, this one didn’t consider that less is more. Rather than feeling scary, most of what happened in the movie was pretty gross, and it seemed to be more about the shock value than actually telling a good story. While there was some focus on the family moments, there wasn’t really enough of that to make the payoff at the end feel particularly earned.
The strongest character in this movie, in my opinion, was Zaki, and I really would have liked the movie to focus more on her. I was more interested in her moving through the ranks of the police force and what drove her than I was in what was happening to Katie and her family. And my suspension of disbelief was definitely challenged with some of the medical things going on with someone who I assumed was supposed to be a trained nurse. And the scene with Charlie and Larissa literally pulling Katie’s wheelchair up the stairs made me cringe a lot. I suspect it was supposed to be heartwarming/heartwrenching, but the scene was uncomfortably long…and I was sat there wondering why Charlie didn’t just carry Katie up the stairs. Surely that would have been less traumatising than literally bouncing her up the stairs in a wheelchair?
It did feel like this movie took a lot of inspiration from The Exorcist…and while there isn’t anything inherently wrong with that, I do think the over-reliance on the gore and shock value in this movie really harmed it. Sadly, this was not a horror movie I particularly enjoyed…and to be honest, I spent a lot of the movie waiting for it to be over.
Ink of Blood 