A potential horror classic, spoilt by a silly, cliche ending

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2018)

From what I understand, this is one of those movies that critics love and audiences at the minute seem to hate. It's kind of like The Witch, which I really liked and was a really great example of slow burning, intense, isolated horror within a family setting. It's no surprise that this movie is also from the producers of this movie.
Personally, I think this movie is a little bit the victim of hype on behalf of the trailers that call this "The Exorcist for this generation" and comments of a similar ilk. Sadly, the film is a little too slow burn for that.
Generally, I would say by far the strongest element of the movie is the cast that is all very worthy of awards for their acting - in particular the standout Toni Collette as Annie, who has to give a vastly layered performance of grief without ever becoming monotonous, which she does do in spades and is impressive in both her power and her brokenness. Also great is Gabriel Byrne as the cynical and realist Steve, who loves his family and his wife especially, but is also in a position where he's not able to give Annie what she wants, and this ultimately costs him. Alex Wolff does give a very solid performance in a character role that we've never seen from him before, but I do think that whilst he is exceptionally good in this film as Peter grieving over his sisters' death, I think he gave a better performance in My Friend Dahmer, but that could do with the fact that character was a bit more intelligent than here, where he is, to be honest, an imbecile in places. Most exceptional is young MIlly Shaprio as Charlie, who's not in the film long before her death that's the catalyst for the action, but really gives her some recognisable tics and mannerisms that stick with you after she leaves, and that when they return do give the horror some grounding. And then there's Ann Dowd as the film's overarching antagonist Joan, politely and sweetly being a friend to Annie in her suffering, but really planning the whole thing. In anything is certain, this is an Oscar worthy cast.
Feature debut director Ari Asher does break horror clichés for the most part, avoiding jump scares in favour of slow-burn, emotionally brutal horror, very well lit and very well written. It makes use of mental manifestations, processions and more, to make us frightened on a deeper level.
However, this is where my issues with the film come to light.
Now, it's nothing new for me to have my opinion adjusted of a movie by it's ending - it's what took me from being apathetic about Me Before You to absolutely hating it, and what took me from being mad at Memento to loving it. Endings can make or break a film. This one breaks it.
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't ruin the movie, but it does become the point that Asher ends up falling INTO the cliches' rather than cleverly avoiding them. It all starts to go downhill when Steve dies and Annie becomes possessed. Having already been explained that a male host is needed for the villain to succeed, and being left with a moronic 17 year old who just does dumb things pretty much always, all tension is lost because we know he's screwed. Surely enough, instead of running out his front door, he goes to the attic, and jumps out of the top window. He then becomes possessed by the demon and all is lost.
There's also significant decisions made that really cost the film tonally here - first is the decision to have a headless corpse levitate up a ladder instead of moving on its own which would've bee far more effective, there's the musical score that went from being dark and sinister to being overly upbeat, there's the clichéd death-of-family-pet which, as a pet owner, I hate, see no point in, and does NOTHING TO FURTHER ANYTHING, also an over abudance of older naked people that do nothing to add to the mood but detract from it, and then finally some confusing speech at the end. Roll credits.
Here's the thing - I do still really rate this movie. There's a lot in it to defend, but there's also things you can't defend, which is a shame. Certainly, with a film like this, you need to see it and form your own opinion. So please, go do so.