Horror movie with some contrasting elements

Rating: 7/10 (27 September 2015)

This was a well-made horror movie that built slowly, increasing the tension as it went. A family is plagued by unseen forces, causing one of their children to slip into a coma. When they contact an expert, they find out ghosts and demons are trying to posses them, and the father has to enter the shadow world to get his kid back. There were some pretty effective moments, such as the scene in the fire demon's lair. This movie has some quieter moments with deliberate pacing, but also goes over the top in a way that makes it stand out. It has a sense of theatrics, such as the loud, flashy title card at the beginning. The ending is a cliffhanger, but after viewing the second movie, I don't hold that against them. It's not like some movies that leave things wide open--this ending had very specific plot points the sequel needed to follow up on. The mixture of low key and flashy scenes distinguish this movie from most current horror, and I enjoy watching back many of the well done segments.