‘Infernal’ DVD Review
Stars: Andy Ostroff, Heather Adair, Alyssa Koerner, Jose Rosete, Noelle Bruno, Elizabeth Stahl, John Zion | Written and Directed by Bryan Coyne
God give me strength. Time for yet another “found-footage” movie, this time riffing on The Omen. Well at least that’s what the filmmakers say!
Writen and directed by Bryan Coyne, Infernal tells the story of Nathan (Ostroff) and Sophia (Adair) a newlywed couple, both looking forward to a bright future. Not long after matrimony, Heather becomes pregnant and ushers the pair’s first child into the world, Imogene. It soon becomes apparent that Imogene (Koerner) is exhibiting strange and dangerous behavior, leaving the new parents floundering in their attempt to find answers. When Imogene’s actions become destructive, it becomes clear that forces beyond the natural world are at work, and that something – or SOMEONE – is pulling the strings.
Infernal did not get off to a good start. During a pregnancy reveal come marriage proposal the cross on the wall behind Nathan and Sophia spins slowly – well as slowly as a cheap and tacky effect can be. I couldn’t tell if there was someone behind the wall turning it or if there was someone pulling it round with fishing wire. Either way it looked laughable. And the film didn’t get much better…
It doesn’t help that the first third of the film is incredibly boring. Following the Nathan, Sophia and Imogene as they go about their daily lives, though kudos to Coyne for coming up for a reason for the family to film everything – Imogene is diagnoed as possibly autistic, so they film to monitor her behaviour and her bouts of sleepwalking. Though that behaviour, as the film continues, is revealed – both to the audience AND the family – to be a little more complicated. And a lot more demonic!
Venturing into Paranormal Activity territory at times, with some particularly creepy imagery (reminding me very much of The Exorcist) caught on the nanny cam in Imogene’s room, Infernal tries hard to be more than just another found-footage movie. There’s some great character moments – Sophia’s speech about being scared of motherhood for example; and Coyne surprisingly finds some new mythology for the ghostly goings on but nothing can save this film from being yet another generic fear flick.
Infernal is out now on DVD from Signature.