Director: Christopher Smith
Distributor: Cinéart
Duration: 97 minutes
The Banishing (VOD) – Movie Review
When we see new Cinéart releases hit our inbox, we are often quite intrigued, as these films are on many occasions semi-indie projects that bring something original to the table. These (lower budget) productions often have a few moderately famous cast members thrown in the mix, to actually promote the project. This is also the case for The Banishing, which looked quite impressively spooky when we first viewed its trailer. We were quite eager to find out what actually bumped in the night in this production, only to find a bland experience that would put many of its viewers asleep.
After a somewhat cryptic introduction, including a murder scene, as well as a very awkward dance scene, we get to meet the Forster family. The latter consists of reverend Linus Forster (John Heffernan), Marianne (Jessica Brown Findlay), and the young Adelaide (Anya McKenna-Bruce). The newly-found family moves into a house where the movie’s murder scene had taken place. It soon becomes clear that the house messes with the minds of those who live there, and the family is actually being warned by local occultist Harry (Sean Harris). Harry gets brushed aside, being deemed a crazy person. The bishop who has appointed Linus to this specific community also wants Harry out of the picture. That being said, both Marianne and Adelaide are getting stranger and stranger visions, that either prove they are going mad or that there is something lurking in the shadows.
In terms of pacing and flow, the movie does not manage to captivate its viewers at all. You’ll be plowing through a snoozefest for an hour and roughly twenty minutes, before it actually starts going, to wrap things up in ten minutes with an open and useless ending. Not only are you able to see every bit of scary content in the trailer of the film, the movie actually does nothing with these ghastly snippets of content. You’ll get a bit of background information as you go, but not enough to save this bland piece of so-called entertainment. This movie could have been good; great even. Sadly, the writers, as well as the director, chose for a shallow experience, of which they seemingly forgot to properly flesh out its conclusion. The location was right, the cast was perfectly chosen, the overall idea was also great, yet we still ended up with trash on a plate, pretending to be a wagyu steak.
Truth be told, the acting might be the highlight of this movie. All cast members perform their roles really well. The movie is a nice quartet, consisting of Jessica Brown Findlay, Anya McKenna-Bruce, John Heffernan, and Sean Harris; with John Lynch sometimes crashing this intimate party. Every part feels properly fleshed out, and that is what somewhat redeems the awful pacing, as well as the movie’s shoddy underlying script.
In terms of extras for a DVD release, we would love to see a few snippets about the location where this movie was filmed, as well as how some make-up was done for certain of the encounters in the film. Other than that, the story speaks for itself, even with its useless open ending.
Conclusion
The Banishing is one of those movies that is a completely missed opportunity. The idea was great, the overall setting was just right for the story, and then the film gets made into something extremely boring and bland, only for it to become interesting during its final minutes. If you watch the trailer, you will actually see all the ‘scary’ elements that are shown throughout the movie, only missing its conclusion and a whole lot of filler content. This one has a few very admirable moments in it, only for them to be overshadowed by absolute boring nothingness and an amazingly pointless ending.
The Banishing (VOD) - Movie Review,
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