Unlike so many others who opine about movies, I do require – minimally – that the Horrors I celebrate are cerebral.
In other words, I – as a consumer of frights – prefer understanding these worlds in toto as opposed to showing up to merely be scared silly. I have to know how the world works and why these particular characters are deserving of my attention. Each should be one piece to the total puzzle; and, while I don’t have to know exactly how each may or may not figure into the overall story, there should still be a sufficient enough foundation so that what we share in the dark makes perfect sense. Jason Voorhees’ best efforts were directed at adulterous camp counselors because – when he was young – their inability to control their own hormones led to his ‘death.’ Similarly, the wildest campaigns of Freddy Krueger saw the lunatic targeting the children of townspeople who bullied him in his youth. Knowing this core motivation means fully grasping why evil does what it does; and the lack of a clear, concise, and relatable through-line has a great many chillers falling apart on closer examination.
This is why a picture like Diabolic (2025) – an affable enough possession story from writer/director Daniel J. Phillips – might be highly regarded by some but fails to muster much attention ‘round here at SciFiHistory.Net. A Folk Horror woven into the fabric of a backwoods Mormon community, it has great moments of palpable tension and frightening atmosphere, all built around performances pitting uncharacteristically good-looking young folks coming face-to-face with the oppressively ‘plain Janes’ of this nearby polygamist sect. Yet, Diabolic fails to establish a mythology sufficient enough to explain just who Laru is, the central witch or demon or entity or ghostly what’s-it inhabiting young Elise from start-to-finish.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A woman's hope for a miracle cure turns into a nightmare when she confronts the vengeful spirit of a cursed witch, determined to claim her as a vessel for her evil power.”
Elise (played by Elizabeth Cullen) is a young artist with a troubled past. Exiled from the Mormon community of her youth, she’s found herself struggling to recover the memories of yesterday and what actions may’ve lead to her excommunication. Plagued by blackouts and now unable to move forward in a healthy relationship with her beau Adam (John Kim), she’s finally encouraged by her psychiatrist to try ‘Exposure Therapy,’ a practice wherein she re-immerses herself – alongside a Mormon healer – in her past environment with hopes of unlocking whatever trauma has her living a life beside herself. So with Adam and her gal-pal Gwen (Mia Challis) in tow, the trio embark on a road trip to what remains of Haventon, the backwater Mormon enclave where she was originally baptized in her faith.
There, Elise and her friends are greeted by Hyrum (Robin Goldsworthy) and Sister Alma Jessup (Genevieve Mooy), two practitioners who have agreed to assist in the young woman’s recovery. In the nighttime ceremony, the trio of outsiders are given hallucinogens to induce a kinda/sorta spirit journey into the land of memory though why Adam and Gwen needed to partake of the drugs is a bit dubious and unclear. Eventually, Sister Alma senses that Elise has been infected by the spirit of a trickster we’ll learn is named Laru; and the woman manages to pull the being out through the young woman’s mouth with what looks to be a long, wet, bloody black ponytail. Now that Elise is presumably free, Hyrum encourages them to – ahem – get out while the getting’s good.
But because they’re all young and presumably irresponsible, they stay. Elise is intent upon knowing more about her time in Haventon; and – lo and behold – it isn’t long before she comes to realization that it was her partaking of lesbian shenanigans with the bishop’s fetching daughter Clara (Luca Asta Sardelis) – who claimed innocence – led to the young woman’s banishment. Before leaving the community in shame, Elise choked her jilted paramour to death and (apparently) stowed her body in a nearby root cellar. Precisely how all of this ties specifically back to Laru, however, is never clearly (or clearly enough) explained, though Sister Alma makes a brief and confusing confession on her death bed later in the picture.
Additionally, there’s a bit more to the chronicle that’s equally vague.
Hyrum appears to have been smitten with young Elise’s charms back in her days with the community, so much so that he now tears her face from a picture and places it in a heart locket he wears about his neck. What this is supposed to mean remains unclear, but there’s the suggestion that he expected more from their reunion than to help her put the past to rest. It’s this baffling development that symbolizes a great deal of my frustration with Diabolic: what writers Phillip and collaborators Ticia Madsen and Mike Harding think they spelled out perfectly winds up being murky, counterproductive, and sometimes downright befuddling. As a viewer, I shouldn’t have to fill in the gaps, but – because I do – there are events that just don’t make enough narrative sense. For example, why did Laru possess Elise in the first place, during her baptism? There’s never any grounding to it – other than apparently Mormons will baptize others by proxy, a practice which seemed a bit unusual to my untrained eyes – and I needed to know more. Barring further answers, Diabolic felt diabolically nebulous too much of the time.
What Diabolic does well is craft some of its nightmare visions for the benefit of the audience. Watching Elise as a troubled artist, we’re given hints as to what might unfold – the film opens with her painting little more than the ominous cellar door as well as periods wherein she’s reduced to digging holes in her backyard – so her descent here isn’t without a bit of creative nuance. Once she succumbs to full possession, actress Cullen almost gleefully goes about dispensing her brand of bloody justice, as a good demon should; and – rest assured – these are the sights fans of Horror show up to see. Those who’ve put troubles upon Elise’s shoulders suffer as a consequence, though there’s really no logic behind why Laru would’ve deemed it necessary … well, other than the fact she’s pure evil.
All things said, some might celebrate Diabolic because it understandably takes aim at the institution of faith, a kinda/sorta cultural boiling point amongst the cultural elite. Over the years, Mormons have been criticized for their doctrines, their practices, and some of their stances on social issues; so is chucking a soul-jumping witch into that critical bonfire really all that much of a stretch? Honestly, I’ve no bones about assessing religion at all: as I said in the opening, my only bugaboo as it applies to stories of any backdrop is that they’re accessible and everything properly coalesces in the narrative. I’ll concede that happens to a small degree for Elise, Clara, Adam, Gwen, and Alma here, but the true narrative spine – Laru’s origins – remains incomplete. Ultimately, this lessens the film’s ability to fully stand on its own in the pantheon of Horror.
Diabolic (2025) was produced by Empire Road Pictures, Diabolic Productions, SunJive Studios, and The South Australian Film Corporation. A quick search of Google.com indicates that the film is presently available for viewing via a variety of streaming platforms. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the film boasts some excellent practical effects work and some winning cinematography that definitely goes a long way in crafting the picture’s thrills, chills, and spills: some of it is a bit overlong – pacing in the second half is dreadful and could’ve used some modest trimming here and there – and there was a continuity gaffe (regarding a certain cellar door) – that didn’t need to be. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Since I viewed the flick via streaming, there were no special features to consider.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
The difficulty in not only ‘getting’ Horror – especially Folk Horror – as opposed to ‘getting Horror done right’ is on full display in Diabolic: its good elements are too few and far between, nestling between not enough backstory and far too much exposition to give the effort anything greater than entirely circumstantial thrills. Lacking a clear origin story to Laru – much less something clarifying why she’s got such a chip on her spectral shoulder regarding Mormons (beyond the obvious systemic misogyny) – leaves what story there is being entirely predictable if not downright leaden from the largely stoic performances we’ve already seen elsewhere hundreds of times before. While jump scares and technical merits are impressive, if that’s all there is then why bother to make this road trip in the first place?
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Brainstorm Media provided me with a complimentary streaming access to Diabolic (2025) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
In other words, I – as a consumer of frights – prefer understanding these worlds in toto as opposed to showing up to merely be scared silly. I have to know how the world works and why these particular characters are deserving of my attention. Each should be one piece to the total puzzle; and, while I don’t have to know exactly how each may or may not figure into the overall story, there should still be a sufficient enough foundation so that what we share in the dark makes perfect sense. Jason Voorhees’ best efforts were directed at adulterous camp counselors because – when he was young – their inability to control their own hormones led to his ‘death.’ Similarly, the wildest campaigns of Freddy Krueger saw the lunatic targeting the children of townspeople who bullied him in his youth. Knowing this core motivation means fully grasping why evil does what it does; and the lack of a clear, concise, and relatable through-line has a great many chillers falling apart on closer examination.
This is why a picture like Diabolic (2025) – an affable enough possession story from writer/director Daniel J. Phillips – might be highly regarded by some but fails to muster much attention ‘round here at SciFiHistory.Net. A Folk Horror woven into the fabric of a backwoods Mormon community, it has great moments of palpable tension and frightening atmosphere, all built around performances pitting uncharacteristically good-looking young folks coming face-to-face with the oppressively ‘plain Janes’ of this nearby polygamist sect. Yet, Diabolic fails to establish a mythology sufficient enough to explain just who Laru is, the central witch or demon or entity or ghostly what’s-it inhabiting young Elise from start-to-finish.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the film’s IMDB.com page citation:
“A woman's hope for a miracle cure turns into a nightmare when she confronts the vengeful spirit of a cursed witch, determined to claim her as a vessel for her evil power.”
Elise (played by Elizabeth Cullen) is a young artist with a troubled past. Exiled from the Mormon community of her youth, she’s found herself struggling to recover the memories of yesterday and what actions may’ve lead to her excommunication. Plagued by blackouts and now unable to move forward in a healthy relationship with her beau Adam (John Kim), she’s finally encouraged by her psychiatrist to try ‘Exposure Therapy,’ a practice wherein she re-immerses herself – alongside a Mormon healer – in her past environment with hopes of unlocking whatever trauma has her living a life beside herself. So with Adam and her gal-pal Gwen (Mia Challis) in tow, the trio embark on a road trip to what remains of Haventon, the backwater Mormon enclave where she was originally baptized in her faith.
There, Elise and her friends are greeted by Hyrum (Robin Goldsworthy) and Sister Alma Jessup (Genevieve Mooy), two practitioners who have agreed to assist in the young woman’s recovery. In the nighttime ceremony, the trio of outsiders are given hallucinogens to induce a kinda/sorta spirit journey into the land of memory though why Adam and Gwen needed to partake of the drugs is a bit dubious and unclear. Eventually, Sister Alma senses that Elise has been infected by the spirit of a trickster we’ll learn is named Laru; and the woman manages to pull the being out through the young woman’s mouth with what looks to be a long, wet, bloody black ponytail. Now that Elise is presumably free, Hyrum encourages them to – ahem – get out while the getting’s good.
But because they’re all young and presumably irresponsible, they stay. Elise is intent upon knowing more about her time in Haventon; and – lo and behold – it isn’t long before she comes to realization that it was her partaking of lesbian shenanigans with the bishop’s fetching daughter Clara (Luca Asta Sardelis) – who claimed innocence – led to the young woman’s banishment. Before leaving the community in shame, Elise choked her jilted paramour to death and (apparently) stowed her body in a nearby root cellar. Precisely how all of this ties specifically back to Laru, however, is never clearly (or clearly enough) explained, though Sister Alma makes a brief and confusing confession on her death bed later in the picture.
Additionally, there’s a bit more to the chronicle that’s equally vague.
Hyrum appears to have been smitten with young Elise’s charms back in her days with the community, so much so that he now tears her face from a picture and places it in a heart locket he wears about his neck. What this is supposed to mean remains unclear, but there’s the suggestion that he expected more from their reunion than to help her put the past to rest. It’s this baffling development that symbolizes a great deal of my frustration with Diabolic: what writers Phillip and collaborators Ticia Madsen and Mike Harding think they spelled out perfectly winds up being murky, counterproductive, and sometimes downright befuddling. As a viewer, I shouldn’t have to fill in the gaps, but – because I do – there are events that just don’t make enough narrative sense. For example, why did Laru possess Elise in the first place, during her baptism? There’s never any grounding to it – other than apparently Mormons will baptize others by proxy, a practice which seemed a bit unusual to my untrained eyes – and I needed to know more. Barring further answers, Diabolic felt diabolically nebulous too much of the time.
What Diabolic does well is craft some of its nightmare visions for the benefit of the audience. Watching Elise as a troubled artist, we’re given hints as to what might unfold – the film opens with her painting little more than the ominous cellar door as well as periods wherein she’s reduced to digging holes in her backyard – so her descent here isn’t without a bit of creative nuance. Once she succumbs to full possession, actress Cullen almost gleefully goes about dispensing her brand of bloody justice, as a good demon should; and – rest assured – these are the sights fans of Horror show up to see. Those who’ve put troubles upon Elise’s shoulders suffer as a consequence, though there’s really no logic behind why Laru would’ve deemed it necessary … well, other than the fact she’s pure evil.
All things said, some might celebrate Diabolic because it understandably takes aim at the institution of faith, a kinda/sorta cultural boiling point amongst the cultural elite. Over the years, Mormons have been criticized for their doctrines, their practices, and some of their stances on social issues; so is chucking a soul-jumping witch into that critical bonfire really all that much of a stretch? Honestly, I’ve no bones about assessing religion at all: as I said in the opening, my only bugaboo as it applies to stories of any backdrop is that they’re accessible and everything properly coalesces in the narrative. I’ll concede that happens to a small degree for Elise, Clara, Adam, Gwen, and Alma here, but the true narrative spine – Laru’s origins – remains incomplete. Ultimately, this lessens the film’s ability to fully stand on its own in the pantheon of Horror.
Diabolic (2025) was produced by Empire Road Pictures, Diabolic Productions, SunJive Studios, and The South Australian Film Corporation. A quick search of Google.com indicates that the film is presently available for viewing via a variety of streaming platforms. As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I can still assure readers that the film boasts some excellent practical effects work and some winning cinematography that definitely goes a long way in crafting the picture’s thrills, chills, and spills: some of it is a bit overlong – pacing in the second half is dreadful and could’ve used some modest trimming here and there – and there was a continuity gaffe (regarding a certain cellar door) – that didn’t need to be. Lastly, if you’re looking for special features? Since I viewed the flick via streaming, there were no special features to consider.
Alas … only Mildly Recommended.
The difficulty in not only ‘getting’ Horror – especially Folk Horror – as opposed to ‘getting Horror done right’ is on full display in Diabolic: its good elements are too few and far between, nestling between not enough backstory and far too much exposition to give the effort anything greater than entirely circumstantial thrills. Lacking a clear origin story to Laru – much less something clarifying why she’s got such a chip on her spectral shoulder regarding Mormons (beyond the obvious systemic misogyny) – leaves what story there is being entirely predictable if not downright leaden from the largely stoic performances we’ve already seen elsewhere hundreds of times before. While jump scares and technical merits are impressive, if that’s all there is then why bother to make this road trip in the first place?
In the interests of fairness, I’m pleased to disclose that the fine folks at Brainstorm Media provided me with a complimentary streaming access to Diabolic (2025) by request for the expressed purpose of completing this review. Their contribution to me in no way, shape, or form influenced my opinion of it.
-- EZ
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