I posted this in its full form on Letterboxd but decided to shorten that and add it here in its entirety instead:
Maisie and the guys wanting to impress her decide to follow a demon rite found in the basement of an old Catholic school, returning to it December in 1971. A wintry atmosphere, the snowfall accumulating, a supper cooking by remaining adult, Rosie, with gifts even to unwrap, Jimmy eventually returning to pop the question. Clara and Samantha, two remaining students unfortunately left behind with no other place to go. Will the cult killers shed the blood of all innocents at the school and summon a demon to do their will like some djinn, or does a demon have plans for them?
I have to be honest: Jude annoyed the fuck out of me. He was really laying it on thick. A bit too overripe. Jude really wants to be *the vessel* and tries to convince his “friends” of it. Clara, I think it’s safe to say, was far more convincing that she’s the one to give orders and hopefully leave the “prison” that has held her captive for generations at the Blackvale School.
I have to say: one of my favorite scenes has Samantha rushing into the hall with ax in hand to save Clara, only to find that things are under control. Samantha’s confusion makes sense and how that is handled amused me to no end. This plays on the pack of wolves invading turf, leaving behind massacre after massacre, eventually encountering an adversary far more dangerous than they are. It would appear at the onset, these four, who have left quite a blood and human carnage trail, would have no issues with two school girls…what they don’t anticipate is that some demon they wish to conjure for “life’s grand pleasures” has been waiting on them to fulfill its purpose, letting it out of a lengthy prison sentence when a town planning to release her “got cold feet” suffering quite a fire as a result.
What I appreciate about a movie like this is how tables are turned. Those who cause fear and really enjoy preying on others, so comfortable and relaxed as their victims seemingly have no exit or escape…only to realize later that same fear and inability to escape will be thrust on them. And the irony that the smallest in stature, Clara, is the most dangerous among those in the school is that subversion of what we typically consider inevitable…the weakest is not easily dispatched.
Rose and Jimmy, the protectors, are subdued while Clara and Samantha, who might be the likely candidates to die easily, are at the end holding hands for whatever lies ahead. Meanwhile, Jude has fun slitting a throat and ruining a marriage proposal, “getting blood on the food”. Rose, left behind to watch over the girls, couldn’t have imagined this would be how she’d spend Christmas holidays.
It’s only apropos that those causing quivering and fear would also by film’s end be themselves shaking and terrified. For me, I just wanted Jude to shut the fuck up. Funnily enough, Grant going along, seemingly Maisie’s big monster is ultimately their undoing, and Doug, the car, desiring her even though she was involved with Jude, is a whimpering dolt losing his fingers.
Rose, sigh, was needed for Clara to get her wish for release as the cult, complete with the demon rite and its “instructions”, followed that to the letter, even the ritual, all by design. The wait for Clara was over…Samantha was the key, in quite the twist.
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