What drew my interest in this film was the high IMDb reviews, especially for the horror genre which is the most scrutinized. The plot is pretty basic.... evil and supernatural forces begin to manifest by touching an embalmed hand. I love horror films but I've always treated them like an amusement park ride. They don't need a sophisticated plot but certainly a good screenplay, creepy atmosphere, pacing, uncomfortable tension, and just plain scary. I'll get straight to the pros and cons:

Pros:

1. Good cinematography and quality of acting.

2. Because of the lower budget, the film wasn't flooded with CGI. Some of the scenes were pretty creepy. One scene had a dark atmosphere about it that reminded me of a scene from Hereditary.

Cons:

1. Way too much filler. I understand and appreciate setting things up for character attachment/development but the first 25-30 min was a snooze fest.

2. Screenplay was too disjointed and had a pacing problem. The scenes involving the hand were good but all the in-between segments with the characters were uninteresting for the most part. At times I was wondering with a particular character if this was horror or a drama.

3. Weak final act. When it's all said and done this movie is about a few entertaining and even scary scenes and a lot of messy writing all over the place. Are they trying too hard? Should they have focused on a different angle if the goal was to make this story deeper? You be the judge. Honestly I think this would have made a really good 12-13 minute short film.

Is this movie on the level of 2018's Hereditary? Heck no. Is it worth watching? Honesty yes. With great horror movies few and far between, you can get a few thrills out of it and appreciate the potential that could have been. Decent but could have been so much more...

The whole cast is superb. Unfortunately, the plot isn't as great and it's not ''atmospheric'' enough to pretend to not care about a plot. As much as I wanted it not to be, it remained a cliché from beginning to end. Not a terrible one and it had some innovations here and there but if it weren't for the cast carrying out the scenes so well, it would have been yet another horror movie.

Spoiler : To me the plot really took a cheaper path when the mother was introduced. This is nothing more than the usual ''evil spirit passing as a loved one to trick you into letting them in'' which is 90% of possession-themed movies and nothing new seemed to have been added here.

The story also feels more rushed towards the end in that the directors are trying to simultaneously commit to multiple ideas that are not fully developed and nourished.

5/10 made 6/10 for the spot on acting.