The Veil (2016)

Better Late Then Never

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I can see where they were trying to go with this movie and where they fell short. At first, I loved the concept and basic direction. But then the movie's plot holes and overall less than stellar writing make its appearance. At times I was almost offended how the director apparently assumed that the audience is stupid.On the opposite side of that coin, the movie has an all-star cast of great supporting characters. Lily Rabe basically just brings her AHS character over but it fits well. Meegan Warner is just as believable and talented as she is in Turn. Shannon Woodward really steals almost every scene she is in. Alba is serviceable in the movie while Jane is guilty of overacting at times.Overall its not the worst horror ever but with the cast, it falls way short of its potential. It fell into the same trap many horror movies do, relying on jump scares to overshadow bad writing.

This movie may not be the horror movie of the year but my high vote to this movie is only personal and i know it doesn't really deserve it. But my feelings towards this movie make me feel like i watched a great horror movie.First, Lily as Sarah Hope shows us a depressive and nicely disturbed young woman who finds the chance to get rid of her demons. While a crew is leading her to the place she needs to be as she leads them to answers about what happened, it's certain that it is unlikely to feel pity for the characters. They are not developed enough, even Jessica's character who seems to be a ghost in the movie sometimes.But what did work on me with this movie is the shabby and grunge atmosphere, hard to find in almost all the horror movies. Also the story behind what would have happened for real with this cult is far from being boring, and i was seeking for flashbacks all along.If it had been creepier - because we want more - and if the characters had been more developed, this could have been the horror movies we've been waiting for.

A grim answer to the question "What the heck happened to Jessica Alba?", The Veil starts with a blasphemous mass and ends with a crucifixion. Heavily relying on the Jim Jones' mass suicide with just a dash of the Manson family, it mixes classic cinematography with post-modern seasoning, found footage (please Lord, make it STOP!) and an unreliable narrator. Mix the whole in a Cabin in the Woods environment (after carefully expunging all said movie's cleverness and voilà, here's your bad movie of the week. You watch what is filmed of the characters; you watch what the characters film; you also watch a lot of the characters watching the movie they found. Call it meta if you wish. One calls it crap.Sarah Hope, natch (Lili Rabe, of American Horror Story's fame, here given absolutely nothing to do) is the sole survivor of Heaven's Veil, a cult led by Jim Jacobs (Tomas Jane, hamming it up as if the world was really about to end). Maggie Price, natch (Jessica Alba) wants to shoot a documentary on the massacre, because her father, an FBI agent, committed suicide after such an horror happened on his watch. She has a crew, which bears no importance whatsoever since they will all die anyway. OK. Let's share a moment of non-nonsense approach now, shall we?So: jump scares (at least 6), rocking chair, moth, whispering ghosts, scary doll, spiritualism seance, demonic mumbo-jumbo, torch lights running out of battery, no cellphone coverage. All checked. Everything that could possibly go wrong does so from the start, but the characters are real troopers, so they carry on. Also, they are dumb as dumb can be. Wait a minute, no cymbal-crashing monkey?For some reason, there is ONE videotape, labeled "Experiment 23", and it's shitty as hell, but all the rest is shot in glorious Super 8 Cinemascope, immaculately edited, of course. What Experiment 23 shows makes no sense whatsoever to what will follow, but they all get hooked on it like a 20$ hooker on her first crack pipe. "We need to watch the rest of these films", someone says. NOOOOOO! RUUUUUUN!Not to spoil much, but Jim Jacobs aims at retrieving the three nails of the Cross to acquire eternal life, a project absolutely as legit as ruling the world via the creation of a social network or creating new California property development land through an earthquake. Jesus was nailed to the Cross, so the spirit is nailed to the body, you know. Of course you do.Embarrassed by so many references it would be pedantic and tedious to list them, movie pedestrianly proceeds to its bitter end. FBI has ESP. Sarah is not what she seems to be. Jessica Alba gets immortal the hard way. Now let's all have a quizz: why is that thing called The Veil? Oh, rutabaga.

Overall was a very strong recent horror film, especially when compared to recent "failures" such as; Unfriended, Occulus, Ouijia, and Devil's Due (plus plenty more).This movie isn't perfect by any means, but for the standards of horror and being an enjoyable movie, yes it was very good. Some of the events where a little too predictable, but I didn't find those parts too ruining for the overall film. The supernatural aspect was definitely interesting in this one, especially when pairing it with a suicide cult (oh and no it's not ripping off the suicide cult from V/H/S 2 BTW, it's very different from that one so have no fear in thinking that this film might be ripping off other horror films. Trust me, it's not.).Is it scary? Kind of. Probably not nightmare inducing for me, but I think the scariest aspect is revolving around the cult and how the followers blindly follow the leader much like cults in real life. Is it re watchable? I would say so in all honesty. Is it amazing? Ehhh, not amazing but very good and deserves the rating of 7/10 from me. Does it end well? Yes and no. Some of the actions of a certain character irked me towards the end and I found myself very disappointing in this character. However I will say the ending wasn't bad really by any means, especially when playing off a certain part of the beginning of the film. Also another good part of the closing of this film is the very last line said. For some reason the very subtle, nonchalant line at the very end really got to me, and I am sure once you watch it you'll understand why.