I've watched this film twice, once when it came out in 2008 and then again in 2022. I seriously thought I would rate it higher after a second viewing but I didn't. Although I'm a fan of brutally honest films, this one seriously gives the critics ammunition for the belief that films like this are nothing more than exploitation to the 9th degree. The first three sequences, although just as brutal as the last, has substance and says way more about abuse, trauma and the aftermath than the violence does. It's a supernatural revenge story, executed pretty well and is worth the praise the film gets.
Where it loses its footing is in the last sequence. The movie then becomes exploitation for no purpose at all but to give the viewer a weak offspring of Hostel and The Salem Witch Trials. I understand taking a turn for one or another but why combine the two? The movie explains the whole cult situation verbally to us in one scene but then the writer felt the need to show us how the cult executes its atrocities. The sequence is about 30 minutes and could've been five or ten. As a matter of fact, I think it could've been even more impactful if we didn't see any of the abuse at all and had to imagine what they did instead of imagining what Anna said at the very end. It would've been better to give that 30 minutes to exploring the cult and its members.
Speaking of the end, don't expect the story to give you a clear conclusion. It's completely left up to the viewers imagination. My personal interpretation was that the film is still a revenge story and that Anna , in finding out what her friend really experienced , decided to afflict revenge in her own way. I believe she told the leader something that truly horrified her.
Where it loses its footing is in the last sequence. The movie then becomes exploitation for no purpose at all but to give the viewer a weak offspring of Hostel and The Salem Witch Trials. I understand taking a turn for one or another but why combine the two? The movie explains the whole cult situation verbally to us in one scene but then the writer felt the need to show us how the cult executes its atrocities. The sequence is about 30 minutes and could've been five or ten. As a matter of fact, I think it could've been even more impactful if we didn't see any of the abuse at all and had to imagine what they did instead of imagining what Anna said at the very end. It would've been better to give that 30 minutes to exploring the cult and its members.
Speaking of the end, don't expect the story to give you a clear conclusion. It's completely left up to the viewers imagination. My personal interpretation was that the film is still a revenge story and that Anna , in finding out what her friend really experienced , decided to afflict revenge in her own way. I believe she told the leader something that truly horrified her.