Delayed Reaction: The Old Ways

Premise: A reporter is imprisoned by locals in Mexico who believe she is possessed by a demon.

 

I wish more horror movies would start like this. This movie wastes no time getting into it. It starts with Christina (Brigitte Kali Canales) imprisoned. We don’t know too much about how she got there. It’s explained a little in flashbacks later, but it’s never fully explained. It doesn’t need to be. Horror doesn’t need a ton of context. The Old Ways gets a lot of mileage out of the unstable footing it begins the audience on. I felt like I was playing catchup for most of the movie (in a good way).

 

I’m also a fan of how it didn’t force Christina to doubt her captors the whole time. Eventually, she figures out that they really are trying to help her and gets on board with it. She switches when the audience does. There isn’t an annoying period of time when they audience realizes something is obviously wrong but the protagonist stubbornly refuses to admit it.

 

There’s just one thing I’m on the fence about with this movie. I don’t know how I feel about how much the movie tried to be cool. Or, more specifically, how much it tried to make Christina cool. She gets a few “80s action movie badass” lines. There’s a self-awareness to those moments that could bother me. Ultimately, I think they are in line with the tone of the movie. This movie isn’t overly stern. It’s a little playful throughout. It did take some getting used to.

 

I wish most horror movies I saw were this good. The filmmakers don’t get overly ambitious. They stick to what works. It mostly happens in one room. The setup is light. The actors are just good enough to sell the material. The scares are more psychological than edited together. What’s crazy is that this director is primarily known for music videos and working on Muppets projects. Hopefully, he dips back into horror.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend