The Diabolical (2015)

To me, this movie is perfection.

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Don't Believe the Hype

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I wasn't familiar with this movie prior to finding it in the horror section. I was instantly drawn to the title and decided to give the movie a go after having seen the movie cover. I didn't read the synopsis, nor did I know who was in the movie. And as a life-long horror fan, of course a movie with a visual presentation such as "The Diabolical" had it would be hard not to pick it up.First of all, I must say that the movie was off to a great start, because it starts out quite intense and throws you right into the events. And I will say that the movie doesn't really slow down in pace, which was a good thing, as director Alistair Legrand managed to maintain that level of pacing and intensity throughout the entire movie.And I liked the intro sequence. Now that is something that I rarely do comment upon, because it is usually not a big deal. But the intro sequence used in "The Diabolical" was very interesting and intense. I liked the visual effects and the music was just outstanding.They had a pretty good ensemble of acting talents on the cast list, and I was genuinely pleased when I saw that Ali Larter had the lead role in the movie, because she usually do pretty nice work in her movies. But it was also a nice surprise to see Merrin Dungey in this movie, as was it nice to see Patrick Fischler here as well.The visual effects and special effects in the movie are quite good and very convincing and believable. And having such effects is very important for a horror movie, because it makes the movie have all that more impact effect. So thumbs up on the special effects crew whom worked on "The Diabolical". The creature designs were also very interesting and quite intense."The Diabolical" has a really nice music score to go along with it, and it serves as a great atmosphere builder. It is subtle enough to be background music, yet outstanding enough that you do take notice of it. The music was good at bringing out the suspense and atmosphere in the movie.The build up of events and happenings throughout the course of the movie was quite nicely done and nicely orchestrated. Although I must admit that towards the end then the movie was losing momentum and I didn't personally care much for the development of the story as it turned out. Sure, it was unpredictable as it changed, but it just became to be a bit too much. It wasn't within my range of liking. Sure I do enjoy a good plot twist, but this was just too far out there, and it sort of spoiled everything that was previously built up during the movie.As for the title of the movie, then it made very little sense, and it was a very poor choice of a title for the movie actually, because it had nothing to do with the storyline. There was nothing diabolical to be seen or experienced here as a matter of fact.I really enjoyed "The Diabolical" quite a lot right up until the reveal of the events at the end of the movie. Then the entire thing came tumbling down hard and fast. My rating of the movie ends on a mediocre 5 out of 10 stars because of this horrible gutting of an otherwise great movie.

This film gets a few stars because the acting is okay, and the atmospheric, eerie setup is fine. But the payoff! Oy! It's like a horror writer wrote the first hour, then the studio fired him, then a science fiction writer was brought in to finish the script. And since it appears like the sci-fi writer didn't read the horror writer's notes, the two ends of the movie don't match up.In the end, the flick is all about the boy, 40 years in the future, coming back to...terrorize his family? Why? What';d they do to him? What did he do to himself? If he was coming back to terrorize his family disguised as a poltergeist, how come they suddenly can;'t leave the house, and if they do, start cracking up like vampires in sunlight?I have seen some bad movies in the past, but this one takes the cake. Like I said, the movie gets points because the first hour or so was fine even if it was reminiscent of other films like Poltergeist, Dark Skies, etc. The ending, though. What a mess.

If the movie didn't work out as it was expected to, it's only because it has nothing to do with the amount of """scary""" movies we're watching for years. But when it comes to this movie, it's a total different thing.At first, it starts like a more intelligent horror movie because the characters show smartness, are interesting and even if you feel like you can predict what's happening next, it won't change the fact that there is a feeling that it ain't any ordinary horror film.Then, searching for explanations, we finally manage to make our own idea of what's going on and it might be on of the most interesting strength here : it's open to suggestion. Whether you might not like the movie because it's too different in some way and not surprising enough during most of the film, i felt like i was thrilled to watch a movie way more original and creative than most of those i watch.If you haven't watch it yet, start it with the idea that it won't be casual horror. And then you might enjoy the surprise the movie is.

Diabolical is insanely dull. It portrays so many haunting stereotypes in alarmingly uninteresting ways. The focus on drama is appreciated, although it dawdles needlessly for half the runtime, and even then it falters with lackluster attempt in horror and poor design for the creature. At the end it tries to pull off a nifty twist, but unfortunately audience would already be disenchanted by the clumsy execution.An entity binds a single mother and her two children to a particular house. What follows is average haunting gimmick which other movies have done better. It often stays too long on certain scene or abruptly changes tone with several supporting characters, either ways it doesn't pay off in the slightest.Ali Larter as the mother does a decent job on creating some family drama, however the tired theme of single mother struggling grows old too fast. She faces mortgage issue, visits from social services and even bullied by strange entities. It becomes mundane later on, not to mention the other characters seem like extras without much personality and the things they do sometimes defy logic as they wander aimlessly.All of those flaws can be forgiven, as most horror tend to skimp on narrative, but The Diabolical is simply not frightening. Practical effect is poorly done and the special effect looks awfully fake. The design for creature might be decent for the first or second time it appears, but this is the case of not showing too much can be more effective, which doesn't help much since the movie can't set up any suspense regardless.The effort to create drama is decent, but it soon becomes repetitive and tedious, especially when the movie can't deliver any horror, thrill or even the slightest tension.