A Gentleman (2024)

Scary Religion

This film stands on the shoulders of instant classics like The Wailing and Exhuma as a religion-based horror mystery, but it fails to retain even half of the atmosphere or authenticity those films possess. Their strength lies in how convincing they are—the viewer genuinely believes in the spiritual forces and religious elements—whereas here everything feels superficial. We have a Christian pastor, some kind of private shaman, a Japanese shrine and a Hindu deity/demon named Rakshasa. It’s an intriguing setup, but the film fails in its execution to capitalize on the spiritual heritage it draws from.

The plot progression also feels somewhat fragmented, with scenes jumping from one to another without clear development of events, so for part of the film I was confused: where are we now, how did the characters get here, what does this have to do with the story? Horror fans will at least get a few “gross-out” gore scenes that look creepy and scary, but all in all, in my opinion, this is a below-average horror film.

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