From a story conceived with his wife Samantha Elizabeth, YouTube movie critic Chris Stuckmann writes, produces and directs feature debut.
Oh, a certain Mike Flanagan is executive producer.
Camille Sullivan - Mia Brennan-Walker
Brendan Sexton III - Robert Walker
Keith David - Morton Jacobson
Sarah Durn - Riley Brennan
Robin Bartlett - Norma Miles
Michael Beach - Detective Allen Burke
Summary
In 2008, hosts of ghost-hunting show Paranormal Paranoids, Riley Brennan, Peter Bailey, Laura Tucker and David Reynolds went missing in Shelby Oaks, near Darke County, Ohio.
Not long after, the bodies of all but Riley are found in a cabin just outside abandoned town.
Twelve years later, Riley's older sister Mia is interviewed for a documentary about Riley's disappearance.
One night, a disturbed man shows up who before blowing his head off, says "she won't let me go".
She retrieves the mini-DV tape he was clutching and footage shows man kidnapping Riley.
The stranger is identified as former prison inmate Wilson Miles, with newspaper articles claiming demonic forces caused riots, killing multiple prisoners.
Determined to not let tape be the end of Riley's story, Mia's investigation leads to a horrifying discovery.
Post-credits
Right at the end, Mia sings Riley a lullaby.
You worry your pretty little head.
There's nothing hiding under your bed.
Dry those tears and try to smile.
The sun will be up in just a little while.
Go back to sleep, there's no need to feel blue.
Your big sister won't abandon you.
Almighty Tarion, Incubus of the North
Combining found footage and docufiction (a la The Blair Witch Project and Lake Mungo), opening promised much, but that's about as good as plodding mess gets.
Overall, I was far from Stuckmannized.
Real-world narrative is sadly boring, culminating in a rushed, unsatisfying take on Rosemary's Baby that makes little sense.
Mia meets Norma (Wilson's mother) in the woods, and a scrap book reveals how he repeatedly raped Riley to conceive a child. After many miscarriages, she finally gave birth to a baby boy.
Once Mia goes into the basement and finds Riley in a cell, set up is incredibly similar to Ethan finding Mia in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
For those not aware, Capcom lifted name from Jane Levy's character in Evil Dead, and presumably, the same applies here.
Norma incapacitates Riley and performs a blood ritual over newborn. Norma dies from blood loss and the police arrive.
When discharged from hospital, Riley tries to smother her baby but Mia intervenes. In the ensuing struggle, Riley is thrown out of a window and devoured by hellhounds.
As Mia comes to the realisation that Tarion has been watching them since childhood, demon appears behind and possesses her.
Err, yeah.
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