Spell
Name: Spell
Directed By: Mark Tonderai
Subgenre: Occult Thriller
Series: Spooktober 2021 entry #4; review #97
Review: Marquis (played by Omari Hardwick) is a well-to-do lawyer in the big city. He's successful and influential in equal measure, though his kids might disagree a bit with the latter. When Marquis learns that his father has recently died, he must return to his home in rural Appalachia and face his family's sordid past. A freak plane crash leads him into a far more sinister mystery. Spell is an occult thriller: we're bombarded with symbolism and conversations about belief and the power therein from the film's onset. Once Marquis is saved by a friendly pair of Appalachian locals, the film takes on a tone reminiscent of The Skeleton Key meets Misery, though replacing the former's Voodoo with Hoodoo, especially when we're introduced to Marquis' unsettling Boogity Doll. You might be wondering what the difference between the two--Voodoo and Hoodoo--are: in a nutshell, Voodoo is a syncretistic religion blending elements of traditional African diaspora beliefs with folk Roman Catholicism in varying degrees; Hoodoo, on the other hand, is a set of spiritual practices combining indigenous botanical knowledge (ie, root-work), divination, and other esoteric practices that can be utilized without formal ordination. Appalachian Hoodoo, the specific brand we see in Spell, also utilizes elements of Indigenous American (namely Cherokee) spirituality with the Protestant folk magic of the Pennsylvania Dutch (Germans) known as Braucherei, which makes it culturally distinct from Hoodoo seen in other regions. Take everything with a grain of salt: this is a very, very simplified explanation by a non-practitioner. So, why does it matter? Well, because the distinction gives Spell a niche of its own. While the film--like the spiritual practices within--share surface similarities, it is very much its own thing. However, the similarities also lead to the film being fairly predictable. You'll know, right away, that something isn't quite right with Marquis' friendly but fiendishly secretive rescuers. The centralized Boogities become a fairly glaring Chekhov's gun, though the final confrontation does give way to some satisfaction, though at the cost of the underlying horror. Not every horror movie needs to be a downer, but the tension here is wrapped up a bit too neatly. And, while Tonderai goes out of his way to make Spell feel like more of a classic horror story than A Classic Horror Story--albeit with an entirely black cast--the majority of the characters end up feeling shallow at best. One extra interesting bit is the film toys with examining intra-racial privilege and prejudice, though that is left mostly by the wayside once the film shifts into its plot proper. Spell is a fresh take on a well-tread template in the horror genre, but filtering an otherwise predictable tale with mostly hollow characters through a novel cultural lens isn't enough to make for a film that ascends from being good to being great.
Overall Score: 3 out of 5 Chads taking good care of their boogities. Did Spell scare you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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