Written by: Liz Taylor and edited by Lance Reedinger
Who ever said that dolls with a killer revenge tale aren’t creepy? As horror fans we are all familiar with Annabelle, Chucky, the underrated Dollie Dearest and of course the little fiendish friends from the cult hit “Dolls.” Director William Brent Bell, best known for The Boy and Devil Inside put both his feet forward and composed a film with a little bit of creepy dolls and an evil resentful entity called, divorce. Even though the word is just a household name now days, we don’t always see the ugliness that is left behind. Mamie Gummer (Maggie) and Rupert Friend (Jeff) are the perfect personification for what divorce does to their daughter Jenny, (Violet McGraw) who is always in the spotlight of her parent’s tirades.
Maggie and Jeff are in a loveless marriage and their daughter Jenny is caught in the middle. When Maggie decides to leave Jeff, everything falls apart. After Maggie is killed in a hit and run accident, Jeff (not the father of the year) is left to care for Jenny. The father daughter duo start seeing sinister spirits sprouting through their home like dust bunnies sent from the devil. Only to find out the real evil lurks closer than they know.
“Separation” is one of those films not unlike any other recent paranormal film. It lacks the general idea of a simplistic storyline. There were times when many effects and scenes made as much sense as a screen door on a submarine. Not sure what exactly the “beings” were in the film other than to call them a spirit or demon. The nonsense was eye curdling and drawn out especially when it came to the film making any sense. The predictability level was strangely on par with “Mama” and does not even treat the audience with a once in a while scare scene, that is a staple in paranormally based films. The film was not all sup-par and did have its moments of freaky effects and the performances were on par with the bland written word. If you are a fan of slow burning paranormal ghost revenge films then this one may entertain that select audience, if not, file your separation papers and get divorced from this slow, sloppy, supernatural spook fest.
Rating
💀 💀/ 5 skulls