I saw the Netflix film, The Ritual, a while back and it was a rather good horror film. I've watched a couple of others, not so much. This one falls into the latter category as once again something promising is wasted due to simply dreadful choices and bad plot twists. Seriously, I was hoping for a creepy ghost story, with perhaps a demon being present, not another in a long line of ghost films where the ghosts are poor lost souls who have been wronged. So the rather good setting of the house that also served as a schoolhouse is completely wasted on this stupid, slow moving film!

The story starts out with a brother and sister who like to con people by making them think that they are helping guide spirits to the other side. Well, many subplots later the two go to a house along with a tech geek and the brother's fiance or something to try and help this old woman who is having trouble with ghostly children. Of course, it is not the children who are the problem, but rather the old woman and her son who like sewing mouths shut while someone moves as slowly as possible to the rescue!

The only good thing this movie did was set the film in the 1980's because it would be very difficult for the brother and sister to con people in this day and age of the internet. Other than that it went in the wrong direction too many times. So many subplots that went nowhere such as the gambling one, the grandfather one, and the sister being in school for some degree. We finally get to the house where the ghost action is rushed in record fashion and we cut right to the culprit being the old woman and her son who somehow isn't in prison or something.

So, no, not going to be able to say this Netflix film was all that good. The settings (the date and the schoolhouse) are the only positives of this one. With a title like Malevolent I was sure this one would have something demonic about it, but it is another in a long line of ghosts trying to get their message across haunting film. The main characters could have easily escaped numerous times but one tends to forget how to drive during these situations and do not get me started on how slowly that sister moved while her brother is getting his mouth sewn shut pointlessly as they kill him afterwards. Why not just kill him? The movie did dispel the horror movie person with an injured ankle is useless thing though...

Waste of time Terrible terrible terrible terrible movie I have watched this movie to spare you the punishment You're welcome.

In mid-eighties Glasgow brother and sister, Jackson and Angela Sayers, run a fake ghost busting service. They, and a couple of associates turn up with various impressive looking pieces of equipment and Angela, with the 'gift' inherited from her late mother persuades the ghosts to leave. On their latest job she thinks she really saw something. Their next job takes them to a large country house which was once an orphanage. Owner, Mrs Green, tells them it is haunted by the ghosts of girls murdered by her son many years before. Jackson sees it as a great opportunity to make a quick buck to pay off his debts but things soon look more scary; Angela sees the girls, with their mouths sown shut and one of them is hurt in an accident... things will soon get much more dangerous for them.

This isn't a great film but it is solid enough. There is a decent twist and the end is suitably disturbing, and quite violent. The setting is good although I'm not sure why we are told it is set in the eighties as it doesn't really have a feel of that time; it could have been set anytime in the last forty years from what we see. The cast is impressive; Florence Pugh is great as Angela, I've yet to see her not impress; Ben Lloyd-Hughes is solid as Jackson and Celia Imrie is impressive as Mrs. Greene. The scenes in the house are nicely creepy and there are some decent jump scares. Overall this isn't a classic and those involved have starred in better things; however if you want a ninety minute horror film you could do a lot worse.