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A minister and his family move to Stull, Kansas, to take over from the current pastor who is retiring. This film avoids many annoying horror cliches at the outset. The people of Stull are friendly, not hostile; nobody warns the family to get out of town. The minister's new house is clean and modern with no mortuary in the basement and no legends about former tenants being murdered. The church is likewise modern and clean; the people in the congregation come across as neither cultish nor fanatically preachy. So the horror, when it happens, occurs without warning. It's pretty shocking, and the film isn't squeamish about killing children (or sheep!) It seems Stull is built over the gate to Hell. When the gate opens, letting out a demon, people must die in order to close the gate and return the demon to hell. This seems to happen quite often; the film ends with another unfortunate family moving to town. The behind-the-scenes special features were interesting, although they didn't explain the real story of Stull, Kansas. An internet search turned up a rumor that there is a gate to hell in the cemetery; the rest of the plot was created for the film. The Hell gate, and the necessity of sacrificing people in order to close it, is a great idea and I actually felt sorry for the old pastor and the congregation, who must regretfully cause suffering to preserve the greater good. This is how it was explained at the end, and it was very effective except ...earlier in the film, it appeared the old pastor SUMMONED the demon. At least, he did a ritual that caused it to possess a girl. It is possible the ritual was necessary to TRAP the demon in a human body so that it could be killed and banished to hell (I'm theorizing here); this fits with his obvious regret at performing the ritual, and his consistent praying to God and serving God, not Satan. But I would have felt more comfortable with the whole ritual if the film showed or explained what happens if the Hell gate opens and no host body is provided. Does the demon escape and wreak havoc? Possess people indiscriminately? [Or maybe the old pastor is simply a liar who summons demons AND banishes them, just to maintain control over his fearful flock?] The ambiguity was disturbing. Then again, horror films are supposed to disturb, and this one definitely delivers. Read full review
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Great Blu-ray!
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