The Parish

The film appears to have a great cast and is well acted but let down with a lack luster story and absolutely no sense of menace. Try the unholy if you want to see a film with religious connections in a similar vein that actually works and will give you a shivers down your spine.

Pass on this one or watch it if your really interested in the 9/10 score.

This movie is not horrible. It's a bit slow, the acting isn't great and the story doesn't get explained excactly. There are a couple of jumpscares but other then those there really isn't much of a horror in it. And that brings me to the biggest issue I had with the movie - the sound balance. You can either hear speaking and have your ears explode or not hear any speaking and not have your ears explode. I don't get why is it so hard to balance the sound effects properly.

Haunted by the death of her husband, a woman and her daughter move to a small town for a fresh start to their lives but as they spend time getting adjusted find themselves targeted by a strange nun which invites them into a supernatural conspiracy and consults a local priest to help them solve it.

Overall, this one was rather decent at what it set out to be. A lot of what works overall here is the strong first half that manages to employ a fairly realistic portrayal of grief and loss that is what sets this one in motion. Bringing about the initial sequences of the husbands' death and how that's treated her, from the memories of their lives together to the arrival at the school and the daughters' struggles to fit in and find friends all coming together as a clear sign of her deteriorating mental state and grasp on reality to come. When this one turns into the featured genre thrills, it has a lot to like as well. The slow-burgeoning mystery over the town involving the revelation about the mysterious nun and the various figures around her involved in the strange hallucinations taking them into a rather chilling and complex mystery to be solved. Given the series of random clues that are initially set up here involving the imaginary friend, the hulking janitor, and the ghostly visions of the nun walking around, putting everything together here is a rather enjoyable time as it leads into the finale where it comes together to resolve the mystery into a decent enough time here. These here are what hold this one up for the most part. There are a few flaws found in this one. The main issue to be had here is the main lack of action that holds the pacing of the film down considerably, especially in the first half. While it commendable works well to establish their personal problems and setups throughout here, the fact that nothing overtly horrific happens is a bit of a struggle to get through. The pacing tends to be more in league with a drama-heavy approach that doesn't really offer up a lot of extra excitement to generate some action or confrontations throughout here. As well, there's a slight problem with the lackluster finale that crops up here which has some issues. The main one is the overall rushed and rapid-fire presentation of the action, saving this grandiose battle between good and evil is a matter of fewer than ten minutes running time. Considering the storyline factors here involving the quest to solve the mystery about these beings, a big battle involving the fate between the two should've occurred yet it just goes by so quickly that it makes for an anticlimactic feel and a question over whether the villain was as big of a threat as it was. However, these are really all that hold this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence, and children-in-jeopardy.

It's neither good nor bad, though probably only deserves 4.5 stars for as derivative and generic as it is. The acting wasn't terrible, but it was nothing to write home about. The story was bland and cliche, though it did pass the time well enough.

Can't complain that I watched it, but even as I'm typing this I've mostly forgotten the movie exists.

For some reason this made for IFC movie didn't rub me the wrong way like most of these low budget 'horror' movies do. It was a unimposing ghost story. It could have been a lot better. It could have been far worse. This storyline school / church / ghost in the basement stuff has been done so many times, however, I just can't give this one more than a 4/10.