1h 35m
Director: Danny Philippou / Michael Philippou

After trying a supernatural party game that seems to summon ghosts, Mia starts to experience strange phenomenon. Mia's Mum died which adds incentive to play. The hand artefact used to commune with the ghosts is apparently the hand of a spiritual medium covered in ceramic which explains the origin of its channeler like powers.

Being partying youngsters they appear to underestimate the seriousness of the game and it isn't long before the negative consequences manifest. Riley (the youngest sibling) tries the game and gets seriously injured which dampens the atmosphere somewhat.

Mia finds herself being possessed by other spirits who use her body to commit actions she cannot control. It's turns out that it's going over 90 seconds that causes all the trouble, this was explained when they first played the game.

This horror film has clearly defined rules so the audience is never really left feeling that they don't understand the stakes, except when a bit of mystery serves the plot.

Since the spirits appear to possess the participants, it has The Exorcist (1973) vibes but mixed with a group of teenagers. The audience is treated to that slightly weird situation where a character you recognise as innocent self harms and it's weird and terrifying.

Sophie Wilde (Mia) does a pretty believable job of portraying both her character in her various states of discontent and the various ghost possessions she endures.

It's also nice to see Miranda Otto playing her Mum. She seems to have disappeared off my radar a bit since Lord Of The Rings but a quick Google confirms that she's actually been quite busy!

It's well written and it feels like the writer's know what they're doing, the character motivations all make sense and where there might be any question they make sure to clarify. There's also some clever foreshadowing in there which comes in the form of a much earlier event.

There's a bit of a twist which I won't spoil (it's chilling...) but it completes the lore quite nicely. It also serves as a bit of sequel bait.

Quite a good little horror flick!



Trailer: