Director – Christopher Alender (Memorial Day, Muppets Now)
Starring – Brigitte Kali Canales (Fear the Walking Dead, Baby Driver), Andera Cortes (Sins of a Call Girl, Criminal Minds), and Julia Vera (Mayans M.C., Blow)
Release Date – 2020
Rating – 3/5
Several months back I received the press release for the Mexican folk horror film The Old Ways. The artwork to accompany the release did very little to spark my imagination. I shared the news on the site but quickly forgot about it until someone in a movie group I’m in on Facebook shared the poster above for the film. I was fucking mesmerized and couldn’t believe that the distribution company chose to use different artwork for the release. I quickly rushed to my email and requested a review copy. Once it arrived I quickly tossed it in to check out. It wasn’t a groundbreaking film but I did enjoy it.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a young journalist who is doing a piece on her hometown. Her trip there does not end well after she awakens in chains with a local witch and her son suspecting her to be possessed. She tries to fight and escape but soon realizes they may be right. She starts working with them to rid the demon that has possessed her body before it is too late. **Spoiler Alert**
The Old Ways will be a film that divides genre fans. Some will bitch and moan about the slow paced story or the lack of blood and gore while others, like myself, will enjoy the story along with the atmosphere the film is able to produce.
The acting in this one is very well done. The characters don’t really stand out but the cast delivers great performances with some of the scenes calling for some intense moments from the cast. It’s the cast that makes the film so enjoyable and the darker scenes only work because of the cast’s dedication to the film.
The story for this one is very simple, somewhat predictable, and very enjoyable. I have a soft spot for modern horror films that have witches and even though The Old Ways delivers a “witch” in a the loosest sense of the word I still very much enjoyed it. I loved the set up, the possession angle, and the overall look of the film. However, the predictability did impact the film’s pay off but not enough to ruin it. Also, I wasn’t much of a fan of how these scenes played out throughout much of the film. It was quickly evident that some of the scenes were left unedited and long so the film would hit the feature length run time. Some editing would have went a long way with this one.
Finally, the film has several instances of some fairly decent visual effects. They do stand out but they don’t look that bad. I appreciate what they were going for and it almost works. However, don’t expect a lot of blood and gore because you will be disappointed. Overall, The Old Ways was a surprisingly well put together possession tale that I think works very well as a late night watch. The characters are fairly generic but the story does enough to help the viewer overlook their shortcomings. I liked and recommend checking it out.
