Hellhole
Hellhole
Starring Piotr Zurawski, Olaf Lubaszenko, Sebastian Stankiewicz, Lech Dybik
Directed by Bartosz M. Kowalski
Starring Piotr Zurawski, Olaf Lubaszenko, Sebastian Stankiewicz, Lech Dybik
Directed by Bartosz M. Kowalski
Exorcism films typically follow the same pattern, and it's hard to deviate from said pattern because such a tight subgenre really doesn't allow for it. "Hellhole" is a Polish exorcist film that attempts to stray from the tried-and-true pattern, and it had all the earmarks to make it work - a spooky setting, great blend of practical and special effects, and a unique twist - but ultimately it was all for naught, as even though the final ten minutes are worth watching, it doesn't warrant the previous hour and twenty minutes to get to that point.
Thirty years after a priest almost kills a child bearing an evil mark, said child is now Marek (Piotry Zurawski), a priest who is sent to a sanatorium church led by Prior Andrzej (Olaf Lubaszenko) to help with an exorcism. While there he begins investigating the mysterious happenings of the church, and discovers that there's something more nefarious and deadly going on than meets the eye, and threatens his very life - as well as the lives of everyone in the world.
"Hellhole" is unique in that it has something different to say, but somehow manages to mute its message through slow-prodding pacing that results in more snoozing than screams. It's one of those films that would've been easily forgettable if not for the last ten minutes, where things all of a sudden ramp up to extreme levels, leaving you wondering where that zeal and tension was before then. Up to that point its your standard mystery - investigating the disappearances of several women during exorcisms, Marek slowly finds out the darkness that the sanatorium is hiding through the typical means. Close calls, jump scares, and double crosses ensue, all of which you see coming a mile away, before it leads to its deliciously sacrilegious ending, which I would suggest fast fowarding to if you want to see it, because it won't feel less interesting because everything that happened before it was also less interesting.
Piotr Zurawski plays Marek as you'd expect: an undercover agent who is sent to investigate the disappearances while also coming to terms with what he's witnessing and who he really is, with no deviations from the generic plot. Olaf Lubazenko plays the Prior with darker emotions, but also moments of laugh-out-loud humor that really has a bad juxtaposition to the seriousness of the story. Much like the film, the performances are uneven and nonsensical, while the setting sets up a great conclusion, people don't go to movies to see the ending - it's not the destination, but the journey, and this journey isn't worth the admission price of a Netflix subscription.
The Score: D
Thirty years after a priest almost kills a child bearing an evil mark, said child is now Marek (Piotry Zurawski), a priest who is sent to a sanatorium church led by Prior Andrzej (Olaf Lubaszenko) to help with an exorcism. While there he begins investigating the mysterious happenings of the church, and discovers that there's something more nefarious and deadly going on than meets the eye, and threatens his very life - as well as the lives of everyone in the world.
"Hellhole" is unique in that it has something different to say, but somehow manages to mute its message through slow-prodding pacing that results in more snoozing than screams. It's one of those films that would've been easily forgettable if not for the last ten minutes, where things all of a sudden ramp up to extreme levels, leaving you wondering where that zeal and tension was before then. Up to that point its your standard mystery - investigating the disappearances of several women during exorcisms, Marek slowly finds out the darkness that the sanatorium is hiding through the typical means. Close calls, jump scares, and double crosses ensue, all of which you see coming a mile away, before it leads to its deliciously sacrilegious ending, which I would suggest fast fowarding to if you want to see it, because it won't feel less interesting because everything that happened before it was also less interesting.
Piotr Zurawski plays Marek as you'd expect: an undercover agent who is sent to investigate the disappearances while also coming to terms with what he's witnessing and who he really is, with no deviations from the generic plot. Olaf Lubazenko plays the Prior with darker emotions, but also moments of laugh-out-loud humor that really has a bad juxtaposition to the seriousness of the story. Much like the film, the performances are uneven and nonsensical, while the setting sets up a great conclusion, people don't go to movies to see the ending - it's not the destination, but the journey, and this journey isn't worth the admission price of a Netflix subscription.
The Score: D
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