Review of Anguish (2015) by Solinvicta — 19 Dec 2015

I like slowburning horror movies. I like when the tension is constantly built up until you can't take it anymore. When subtle fears are highlighted instead of jump scares. That sort of thing I like. But there's a difference between a movie being slow paced to a movie being no-paced, and Anguish is the latter.

It's exhaustingly boring. It's basically a possession story about someone else's spirit trapped inside a girl's body and the movie revolves around her and her mother coping with it. And I appreciate what it's trying to do, focusing on the psychological angle as opposed to straight up scares. The problem is it misses the mark completely. There are chunks of this movie where absolutely nothing happens. Tess sitting down and looking at something, next scene, Tess walking around aimlessly, next scene, Tess sitting somewhere else, etc. It tries to build tension when there's no tension to be built. You're just waiting for something to happen - anything - and it never does. It even has the generic "inspired by true events" and perfunctory statistics before the movie starts, trying to excuse itself from the horridity, but it doesn't work. The music is frustrating, too. Going back and forth from bland indie acoustic songs to excruciating violins and of course the LOUD noises for when you're supposed to be scared. It's just annoying and frankly insulting to the audience.

The only redeemable part of Anguish is the acting. It's surprisingly good, especially when the actors have to recite dialogue this terrible, so good on them. But in every other conceivable way, Anguish is an empty shell of a movie. The only thing it ensures is the anguish knowing you could have spent an hour and a half doing something better with your life.