Reminiscent of last year’s The Vigil, in that this is a typical demonology plot, but buoyed by the infusion of hasidic/jewish lore. The story is an amalgam of demon possession and haunting stories, but decently executed, nicely filmed and well acted. The atmosphere and settings are nicely ominous, even the darkest scenes well defined and easy to discern, almost to the point of being too bright. The filmmakers do a very good job within the script of detailing the particulars behind the lore and motivations without a deluge of exposition. The acting is decent, yet the characterization is certainly lacking and most of the periphery characters lack anything beyond baseline definition. The creature design comes off rather generic, a little too heavy on the CG, but even the jump scares are consistently good, accompanied with a genuinely malicious spirit behind how events play out and some very chilling moments. Many of the scares and major moments lean into sensationalistic and bombastic, augmented by a decent combination of CG and practical effects, but nonetheless effective. On the whole, this is an unsubtle reskin of generic plots but augmented by the unique lore flavor, good execution and some nicely delivered scares.
The Offering (2023)