Review of The Damned (2014) by Miguel B — 15 Nov 2014

What can I even say about this? It's not like it's near to the worst horror movie I've ever seen, but it's just in another long line of low-budget horror movies that are made without anyone really ever becoming aware of their existence.

I suppose you could say that for about 99% of films that don't reach a mainstream audience, but it's even more apparent in horror films. It's like there's a god that demands all these films as sacrifice, but is never satisfied with what he gets so they have to keep making them.

There's no real reason for this film to exist other than this. I'm convinced of this. With that said this is a pretty straightforward horror film. Idiots let out a demon and it proceeds to haunt them, taking over their bodies if one of them kills the person it's currently using as host.

Simple and to the point. There's literally no character development to speak of, so it's nigh impossible to care about any of the characters once the shit hits the fan. The reason the film does get one star is pretty much because it have some good atmospheric moments.

It also has some decent gore, but that's about it. The acting is really bad and I blame that entirely on the director not knowing how to deal with actors. I literally have no idea who this Victor Garcia, he's mostly done low-budget horror sequels according to his page on here, but there's no way that Sophia Myles and Peter Facinelli are this bad.

Peter isn't great or anything, he looks and sounds somewhat like Tom Cruise, but he's more than decent. Sophia Myles is good as well, so that's why I'm assuming that this guy had no idea how to properly direct his actors.

Either that or they chose the worst possible takes for both of them. I'm not familiar with the rest of the cast, but I'm sure they're better than they were allowed to show here. I don't, typically, have a problem with a film looking low-budget as long as other elements, such as the script or the performances, are strong.

It's much more noticeable when the entire film is of this low quality. It just looks cheap. It plays out that way as well. I don't mean to denigrate anybody's hard work, because even the worst movies have people working hard on things that don't even play out on screen, but this movie just doesn't look that inviting.

It's the type of film that, if I were in a shitty mood, I'd have shot it off minutes into it. That's how cheap it looks. It's not just necessarily the cinematography, which isn't terrible, it's just how it all comes together and how it flows.

One thing I did like was the ending, how David's dedication to his daughter, Jill, will cause him to completely put his life on hold in order to find some way to free his daughter from this demon that's taken hold of her body.

Much like Felipe and Ana Maria. It's too late by this point in the film, since the film ends really shortly afterwards, but it is something. But I really see no reason for this film to be in existence, it's pretty terrible.

It's not even unintentionally funny, which would at least make it recommendable if you want a good laugh. It's not even that, so you can pretty much skip this one and move on to something better, hopefully.