Forsaken is about Paul (David E. Cazares), a priest that trained under one of the Church's most experienced exorcists. The film catches up with him at a crisis of faith, his wife suffering from a grave malady. At some point, his wife seems to have miraculous recovered, except now she is showing the symptoms of being possessed. The movie follows Paul as he witnesses the strangeness, and struggles to cope with what must be done. But as things escalate and it becomes clear that a great evil is coming into this world, Paul must return to a life he left behind and deal with the threat.
Forsaken is pretty rough. It seems like it ought to be a straightforward story of a man dealing with the consequences of a life lived on the border of the supernatural, the main character having seen things that he would rather forget, now confronted with the very same threats in his family. And yet, nothing about this movie is straightforward. It takes a strange, circuitous route in telling its story, messing around with what seems like a non-linear structure (although this isn't clear either) and a variety of subplots that don't contribute much to the main thread.
The film will cut away to Paul's daughter, who is dealing with her own problems. It is marginally related to the main story, but it rarely intersects, so it ends up feeling like a weird detour. Worst of all, this story never really pays off. The whole thing feels like an exercise in delaying what needs to be done. The main character's struggle never really makes a whole lot of sense. The movie never convincingly explains why Paul is so reluctant to deal with the threats facing him and his family. The film wastes so much time on his bizarre internal struggle that it doesn't leave much time for resolutions. And so, this film ends with a thud, with nothing truly resolved.
This film is also tough to watch because the whole thing is so dim. It attempts to build atmosphere by just keeping the characters in the dark all the time. But it is an empty darkness, the movie rarely suggesting anything horrific hiding in that darkness. Its scares are largely ineffective, their impact delivered mostly through the forced use of aggressive sound design. And it's tough to tell what the threat is, really. Again, Paul doesn't seem motivated to deal with the problem with any urgency, and on their part, the threats don't seem inclined to do much to Paul. So there is no tension in any of Paul's interactions with this supposedly dangerous threat.
It almost goes without saying that the acting is bad. The lead, David E. Cezares is overactive through a role that doesn't have anything substantial behind it. He clings to the surface of a struggle; protecting sweaty desperation when then is nothing else. Amazingly, he is the best actor in this cast. It only gets worse from his performance; each new member of the cast bringing new lows in stilted and awkward line delivery.
Forsaken isn't just bad; it's incoherent. It takes what seems like a simple story and turns it I to a confusing mishmash of disconnected scenes, the bizarre structure getting in the way of clarity and understanding. And when it gets to what feels like a big climax, it's tough to remember how it is that we got there. The prior scenes don't feel like they add up to those final moments, which don't even really wrap up this mess of a story. Just add Forsaken to the sadly gigantic list of direct-to-video features taking up cinema space. Again, it must be said: the public deserves better.
My Rating:
