When I picked up "The Assent", I hadn't even heard about it before. I was immediately intrigued by the movie's cover/poster, but sort of reluctant about it being another demonic possession movie - as they usually tend to be rather bland and laughable for the most part.
Still, it being a horror movie, and being a movie I hadn't already seen, I of course found myself sitting down to watch it.
Initially I wasn't overly keen on the storyline, but writer and director Pearry Reginald Teo quickly managed to win me over. And truth be told, this is definitely one of the most enjoyable and memorable demonic possession movies I have seen in a long, long time.
What works for the movie is the dark atmosphere it has, and the visceral visual assault on the screen whenever the demonic entity was showing itself. That blurred 3D optical effect definitely added to the movie, and I must admit that I liked that effect.
But the movie had a very solid storyline which starts out slow, but quickly progress and becomes an aggressive in-your-face type of storyline. Again, this was something I rather enjoyed. And not to mention the creature design - well, demon design. Wow, that was just amazing, I loved that, because it definitely felt otherworldly while vaguely humanoid and familiar. Thumbs up to the props department and special effects department for their accomplishments in "The Assent".
I will say that the storyline is sort of dormant creepy; it is the type of story that gets under your skin and will stick with you long after the movie has ended. So I must applaud writer and director Pearry Reginald Teo on this movie.
Robert Kazinsky carried the movie quite phenomenally with his performance. And it was nice to see Peter Jason in the movie, because he was nicely cast as well. It was a shame, though, that Florence Faivre wasn't given more screen time, because she could have spruced up the movie quite a bit if she was given the chance.
If you enjoy a good old fashioned demonic possession movie, and have grown weary of the endless supply of less than mediocre movies in the genre, then you should definitely give "The Assent" a chance.
My rating for "The Assent" is a seven out of ten stars. I was fully and wholeheartedly entertained by this movie, and it was such a nice surprise of a movie for me.
