Purgation, The (2015)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Tiffany Kieu, Kat Johnson, Kate Dauphin
Directed by Elaine Chu
Imagine the most frightening thing your mind could possibly conjure up – something that absolutely makes your blood run cold… rendering you sleepless, shaking, and eventually looking over your shoulder at every instance. Got it? Good – now I want you to kill all the energy, fear, and sense of rational comprehension down about 110 percent, and you officially have The Purgation.
Sound the alarms and warn the townspeople because I’ve officially found one of the BIGGEST rolling fecal tsunamis to hit the screen on 2015 (so far, that is).
Forget the Poltergeist remake – this wretched pile of uninspired poo is, and forever will be, a complete and utter waste of 75 minutes of your precious time. Following the story of a small group of children who yearn to make a horror film inside an abandoned mental asylum (original premise, indeed), they are tormented by the evil spirit of a kooked-out nurse that flipped out way back in the day and burned the nuthouse to the ground, only after torturing scores of patients. Looking like a doppelganger fresh out of Silent Hill, Sister Agnes comes freshly wrapped up with a bloody bandage and growls and grunts like she’s smoked 5 packs a day for 50 years or more. So, the aforementioned tragic event takes place, scarring those left, who are provided the gift to grow older and hold on to these traumatic memories.
Flashing ahead to some years later, Iris (Kieu) still suffers from the emotional damage and decides it will be in her best mental framework to travel to the place where the incident occurred in the hopes that it will not only put her mind at ease (I’m not really sure how) but also answer some questions as to how and why this happened. I think I’d just rather stick to shrink visits, myself.
In any event, things begin to spiral out of control, and poor little Iris’ fragile mind is venturing into the outer limits, mainly because it’s been tweaked so much over the years. Director Elaine Chu can be commended for her depiction of the ultimate good versus the ultimate evil; however, that’s where the good time stops on a dime. This film isn’t frightening or captivating, and don’t get me started on the acting.
Look, I could go on and on about the never-ending myriad of negatives attached to this clunker, but that would mean I’d be taking time away from reviewing other films that deserve my venom more than this one, so I’ll simply sum up the parts like this: storyline – overdone; acting – calamitous; scares – non-existent; underlying message – laudable.
In closing, if you’re looking for something to truly get those little hairs on the back of your neck to stand up, might I suggest sticking your head in your freezer and repeatedly slamming the door shut before giving this one a look. The power of execrable filmmaking compels you!
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
