SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Ploydsge just watch it!

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

GL84 Struggling to keep up with her daily demands, a single mother trying to keep her family together finds a vicious spirit is out haunting their house and keeping them there which forces her to turn to her new boyfriend to help aid her in stopping the tormenting experience.This overall is a rather typical and clichéd haunted house story. What really tends to work well here are the intense and genuinely frightening scenes of the ghosts doling out the scares here which happens to be somewhat interesting. The fact that we're let on fairly early into the film that he hauntings have been continuous for awhile, as the initial scene of it appearing behind her in the living room coincides with the revelation of not wanting another encounter to occur again before ripping its face off for the terrified viewer, the scenes of it appearing to be a sort of imaginary friend to the daughter offer up some rather tender moments and the rather obvious scenes of the figure coming out of the walls or floors of the house give this a decidedly creepy feeling. Even the later scenes, showing the creature manifesting itself in the home in front of her and the boyfriend gives this some nice action with the way in which they get chased through the house in quite fun manners while the defense barricades used are the probable cause into letting the twist of the film come about which is admittedly quite nice. While the film does have a nice final confrontation in the house where they get to fight it one last time on their own terms, there's not much else to this one that really works as the film as a whole is quite flawed. The biggest issue here is the fact that the film goes for drama rather than horror, so the majority of the film is determined to go for the other exploits of the chosen drama rather than scares. Since she has all these outside issues to deal with, from the house being in foreclosure to the fact that she obviously recently lost her husband and is dealing with her kids' own behavior that it just feels like too many story lines that don't really belong in a horror film since these drag this to a halt after exceptionally chilling sequences in order to deal with these slow- paced sequences. That also has the other big detrimental factor of giving this one a really jarring tone which really disrupts the supernatural antics since that turns the scenes into rather useless moments because they don't offer any kind of impact if the film moves on from them quite readily. The twist is also problematic, offering up a rather needless change away from what had worked for it leading into the moment and it leaves this one feeling pointless after a while. These here really lower this one considerably.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language and children-in-danger.

suite92 The Three Acts: The initial tableaux: Madison reads an article on the Internet about whether or not to file for bankruptcy. She's interrupted by an apparition. She calls in paranormal investigators who do find something. However, they immediately run away and recommend that she leaves as well, without further explanation.The father Mark passed away in the somewhat recent past. Young son Jacob is under investigation for violent behaviour. Both kids go to camp during the day. A large company wants to buy out Madison's mortgage.Delineation of conflicts: Madison needs money. Jacob needs calm and stability. Science teacher Nikolai wants to help Jacob learn physics, but also get inside Madison's pants. Madison and the children want the poltergeist or ghost phenomena to stop. Whatever is behind the phenomena wants something, but what?Resolution: What resolution?

view_and_review Allow me to dissect "The Diabolical". Don't be distracted by the definite article "the" in the title as though the movie is about a diabolical being or entity exclusive to all other diabolicals. You might be disappointed if you don't find THE Diabolical.The movie is about a single mom and her two kids experiencing some strange poltergeist type phenomena at their home. The boy, Jacob (Max Rose) has the very practical and logical idea of moving (it was quite refreshing to hear someone say, "Let's get the bleep outta here"). When the mom, Madison (Ali Larter), decides that her son may actually be on to something it is too late.With all haunting movies there is always the "why" that must be unearthed. In the midst of finding out the "why" we are to be treated with some delectable scares and some spooky stuff along the way. "The Diabolical" is not a true poltergeist movie although it flows like one. Delightfully it breaks the mold just a wee bit and gives us something more than just a frolicking angry ghost.

jumei-san This is the first review I'm writing since EVER because I really have to rectify all these bad ratings and reviews for this movie. First of all, the title is super misleading. This is not a ghost movie. It's more of a mix between horror and science fiction. This movie is nothing like the traditional ghost story, probably why most people are so disappointed. I've seen people reviewing this movie who turned it off after only half an hour screen time: BIG MISTAKE! The story starts to take shape after 45 minutes and it gets really interesting from there. Small details reveal the plot and even though not all is clear at the end, I understand that some people might not get it at all and just sign it off with a low rating.I have to admit that the plot feels a bit messy, you get dropped off in the middle of the story with creepy entities appearing and not knowing what has happened to the family beforehand. But give it a chance. You might be surprised. It is obviously not the best movie ever, but I appreciate that the makers tried something different. It's just a shame that the big audience will never like 'different' kind of movies. Many of my favorite movies have bad ratings on IMDb. Honestly, this movie is better than some blockbuster movies who appeared in the cinema. But I guess there is no arguing about matters of taste.And to people who say that the house is too expensive for a single mom: you probably mean 'too expensive for a unemployed single mom'. Because if not, you're being really sexist.