The
devil-horror movie is a genre that will replicate itself into the ground well
past the point of oversaturation and into suffocating the marketplace. Not a critique, just an observation, that
this subgenre for big and low budget filmmakers is the THING that won’t
leave. The latest cinematic acolyte to find
his footing in this trend is Singaporean writer-director Pearry Reginald Teo
with his unique but ultimately stagnant spin on the devil-horror film The
Assent.
Known
as the first Singaporean actor to direct a Hollywood movie, Teo’s The Assent
poses the notion that demonic possession comes in stages. While the first two are familiar, The
Presence and The Affliction, which deal with the appearance of and possession
by a demon, the third stage taking the film’s title The Assent represents
the point in which the human host and demonic entity become inseparable. Following underemployed single-dad Joel
(Robert Kazinsky whom you may remember as the antagonist from Pacific Rim)
with his son Mason (Caden Dragomer) in a household surrounded by creepy
homemade knick-knacks, seemingly stemming from (or plaguing?) Joel’s
schizophrenic mind.
In
the time-honored tradition of these films the boy eventually becomes possessed. As the pious Father Lambert (Peter Jason) and
Brother Michael (Douglas Spain) show up to do battle with all that’s unholy,
the plot thickens when Joel’s psychiatrist Dr. Maya (Florence Faivre)
suggesting the whole thing might just be a figment of Joel’s fevered
imagination.
On
paper this idea can make for some truly scary new directions for the subgenre. Unfortunately as it bores on (literally and
figuratively), The Assent outside of some subliminal jump scares and a
sneaky cameo by The Exorcist alumni Eileen Dietz torpidly trudges and
slogs along until it ends. Rather
disappointing considering how promisingly this began. While the film does dabble in some nifty editing
techniques resembling the blue and red colored blurring of a 3D movie to
emphasize Joel’s psychological state, as horror The Assent occasionally
startles rather than scares.
Visually
the creepy interior design of Joel’s home, possibly an outward reflection of
his psyche, is well rendered by production designer Ryan Kaercher and art
director Roger C. Ambrose who loads the set with all kinds of spooky arts and
crafts that would make the likes of Giger or Bosch blush. The sets are well lensed in heavy deep blues
by Jonathan Hall and the original score by Frederik Wiedmann is creepy enough
for any devil horror flick.
The
problem, however, lies with the performances which are somewhere between
half-hearted or just plain bad. Robert
Kazinsky gives the role his all but this is more or less better suited for
someone like Thomas Jane. Moreover,
Douglas Spain and little Caden Dragomer have to be among the worst onscreen
actors in recent memory. It doesn’t help
that these characters are broadly drawn archetypes and priests more or less go
through the motions demanded by a devil horror flick such as this.
A
path horror-moviegoers have been down one too many times before, The Assent
disappoints by offering something new we hadn’t thought of before regarding
devil horror movies only to do nothing interesting with it. Yeah it features Eileen Dietz in a
blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo but that already just makes me want to watch the
king of all devil horror movies instead.
The Assent begins with a novel idea only to wash its hands of it
before the film even starts unspooling.
All in all, a wasted opportunity.
