Starring Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen and Joe Bird

Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou

A24, in cinemas now

 

When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.

What Danny and Michael Philippou’s teen horror movie lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in its shocks and brutality, right from the very beginning.

When friends Mia (Sophia Wilde) and Jade (Alexandra Jensen) go to a party, they can’t resist taking part in the latest craze – talking to the dead via an embalmed hand. And because we’ve seen these setups so many times before, we know that children shouldn’t play with dead things, because bad stuff will follow. And it does.

Holding the hand for too long means that spirits can use this as a gateway into the real world, particularly if the portal is not correctly closed. And as we expect (hope?), the spirits start taking hold of the living, and holding one young victim to ransom. This variation on the old cliches of Ouija boards, seances and curses picks up the pieces and runs with it. There are effective jump scares, some gore that pushes the 15 certificate to the max, and a satisfying ending.

Verdict: Solid, low budget movie that delivers far more than you’d expect, even if we’ve seen it all before. 7/10

Nick Joy