- Directed by Nicholas Bain
- Written by Nicholas Bain
- Stars Guillermo Blanco, Corrinna Mica, Bee Vang, Martin Harris
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-1cBzS4iA
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It starts right out with a terrible event being told in confession and moves into strange territory quickly. Then the script slows a bit as things move along. But it’s well cast and directed, the effects are decent, and it tells an unsettling story. We thumbs up it.
Spoilery Synopsis
A man in a confession booth tells his story to the priest. He explains how his mother was raped and murdered, and he killed the man who did it. The priest doesn’t respond to the story at all, and the man questions if the priest is even there. We cut to Emma, the man’s girlfriend, sleeping in her bed that night with his sister in the next room. Credits roll
Gabriel, the man we saw earlier, goes out the next morning and elderly neighbor Birdie whines about his wife taking his car keys away. The family, Gabriel, Emma, and Celeste, goes to visit Milda, a strange old woman who lives alone. Milda says sometimes she can talk to dead people, like Celeste’s parents. Milda’s neighbor, Joseph, talks to Gabriel, and old Milda expresses how much she hates Joseph.
Late at night, a strange man named Ernesto calls Emma; she doesn’t know who he is, but he says he knows Milda. He says Milda died earlier in the evening. Emma, Celeste, and Gabriel go to the funeral, and it looks like they’re the only attendees. For her eulogy, Emma talks about the first time that Milda died, during a fire at the orphanage where many children were killed, but Milda was revived.
Ernesto interrupts the eulogy to introduce himself; he has all the documents that they need to go over. Emma has inherited Milda’s entire estate, but there are some weird stipulations. He mentions that he and Milda were in a very exclusive club. The stipulations are that Emma has to live in the house, but under no circumstances is Gabriel allowed to live in the house. But as the executor, Ernesto says he’ll look the other way.
Either way, Emma wants to spend the night there. Gabriel acts terrified when she goes down into the basement; he’s got a real phobia about them. He says he buried his mother and her killer in a basement.
That night, Gabriel hears something and grabs a knife, which concerns Emma. In the morning, they plan to leave, but Ernesto comes for Emma, offering her a job at the local gallery. It’s clear that he wants Emma to stay. Gabriel finds some old books on witchcraft in the old woman’s house.
That night, Celeste reads from the witchcraft book, and we see old, dead Milda lying in the bed next to her. Meanwhile, Emma starts sleepwalking and being rude to Gabriel. She wants him to go back to the apartment and return to work. Emma calls him a danger to all of them.
Gabriel goes to church and talks to two priests, Father James and Father John. James sees John and clams up quickly, but he seems to want to say something to Gabriel. Celeste has a close encounter with old, dead, Milda.
Gabriel goes home and bravely explores the basement. Ernesto comes over and says Celeste has gone home to her apartment. He wants Gabriel to go home as well; he even offers to make travel arrangements for Gabriel. Ernesto looks friendly, but then he lunges at Gabriel with a knife. That escalated quickly! Gabriel stabs the man to death in self-defense and hurriedly buries him in the yard before Emma comes home.
Emma gets home and Gabriel listens in as she gets a call from Ernesto. At some point later, he goes to the spot where Ernesto was buried, and the body is still there. Gabriel tries to phone Celeste, but gets nothing but static. Emma warns Gabriel not to call the police about Celeste, “because of her papers.”
Gabriel talks to Father John about Milda, and he’s very evasive. “I know exactly who you are.” The priest is needlessly hostile and throws Gabriel out. Father James says John blames himself for how Milda turned out after the fire. James talks about pentagrams, and when Gabriel shows him the book, he laughs and says it’s all fiction. When Milda died, she supposedly went to Hell and met spirits and brought some back with her. James changes his tune and wants to do an exorcism.
Gabriel goes home, but Emma has him locked out. When he finally does get in, he follows Emma into the basement. Something drags Gabriel into a dark place. They get into the car and go back to their apartment, but now Emma seems normal again.
Back at the church, Father James finds John doing something he shouldn’t be doing. Emma, possessed by Milda, goes to see Father John, who knows exactly what’s going on – he’s in the exclusive club that Ernesto mentioned earlier. Gabriel goes to see Father James, who is dead.
Gabriel goes back to Milda’s house, and the place has taken on a life of its own. Emma is there and tries to kill Gabriel, until neighbor Joseph comes in out of nowhere and knocks her out. Gabriel lights a torch and goes into the seemingly endless basement. He meets Milda there, looking old but alive. She talks about bringing back dead people with her from her brief period in Hell. Gabriel whacks her with a hammer and is then stabbed in return by Emma. He’s just wounded.
As Emma recites magic words for a ritual, Gabriel cuts himself and draws a pentagram in blood on his hand, which foils all of Milda’s plans to permanently move into Emma.
We cut to the church, where something evil comes to Father John, who gives us a big, wicked smile.
Brian’s Commentary
Gabriel and his sister have just moved to America from a bad situation in Colombia, and they don’t know all the rules, so when people start acting strangely, Gabriel thinks maybe it’s him. Plus, he did kill a man back in his country, so he’s buried in his own guilt as well.
The acting here isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either; everyone acts so oddly that it’s hard to tell if they’re doing it on purpose. I think we both had a pretty good idea of what was going on from very early on, but it was entertaining seeing how it would play out.
Honestly, I thought it started out strong, but as it dragged on and on, it seemed to slow down to a snail’s pace. It seemed like Gabriel was wandering around in the basement for half an hour in what should have been the climax.
Kevin’s Commentary
I thought the acting was stronger than Brian did, especially from Guillermo Blanco in the lead and Jane Hammill who effectively alternated between eccentric and evil. I think that and some good direction choices saved a script that is a little on the slow side. But a story was told. It’s got some creepy moments and good effects that get the job done. Overall, I liked it.