The Chosen (2015)

When a child-stealing demon attaches itself to a little girl, her family is thrust into a battle against time in order to save the girl and send the demon back to Hell (Source-Imdb.com)

The Chosen Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuUZ_5Yue7I

(On poster: The first kill is the hardest)

On a whim, I wanted to make a quick review about one of the thriller movies I watched on Netflix called 'The Chosen.' Created by director Ben Jehoshua, The Chosen is about an young man's distressing predicament as he attempts to save a little girl from being stolen away by an ancient demon. The only way he could save the girl though is if he preforms several sacrifices for the demon using only his blood relatives.

The plot sounded familiar to me before, and watching the movie solidified that with its predictability. Once the child is in danger, your first thoughts on what's going to happen throughout the rest of the story might be pretty spot-on; I know my predictions were. The movie strongly highlights the obvious relatives who will ultimately be the demon's meal and it leaves the main character with little to no choice in the matter, meaning that he didn't have a very tough decision on who should be killed.

Besides that, the sacrifices themselves were used as convenient plot devices, with a few of them willing to surrender to the demon instead of forcing the main character to push his family into that situation. Thus, this leaves us with no sort of tension and the main character is left with no major guilt since some of the sacrifices were satisfied giving their life away if it meant to save the child.

Speaking of the main character, this movie stars youtube personality Kian Lawley (will put links to his channels below, before spoiler section) playing as Cameron and from what I researched, The Chosen is the first movie he's ever starred in.

I don't remember being upset with Lawley's performance at all, but I do feel like he was dealt with an easy role. Because of the constant use of *dues ex machina, his character does not go through any major development for better or worse.

It's sweet to see him trying his hardest to save a child, but that's all it really is to it and with a story such as this where he must make unthinkable decisions-choosing whether to sacrifice several people for one young soul- there never seems to be a moment where his emotions and physcological state start to work against him.

For example, maybe they could have added him doubting his actions and see what happens if he purposely stops sacrificing people. Or maybe he could even have his conscious tell him to let the girl be kidnapped by the demon forever if it meant saving more lives in the process.

I think even with those who would never think of letting their loved one succumb to a supernatural monster, when we're forced into a stressful situation, sometimes we say and do things we wouldn't normally do. So I wanted to feel more of that and not have the main character's journey be-mostly-an easy ride.

Youtube personalities starring in professional movies is always a bit risky, and I don't think that this was the best first movie to start off with, but it does give Lawley some footing in the acting world and I would hope to see more of him in the future.

The child who is the main center of the chaos is named Angie (Mykayla Sohn) and I can't say much about the actress herself  because through a majority of the movie, we aren't witnessed to her interacting with other characters. I wish there was more complexity to the character aside from her being the poor little victim. We see just a small fraction of how the demon controls her and that could have been very interesting to see. Maybe the demon could have disfigured the girl the longer it went without a sacrifice, therefore the girl will become more deformed looking and peculiar to look at even when she is simply staying in one spot and not trying to jump scare other characters.

While there are a few, there are not too many cheesy jump scares, but something that I disliked about the movie is that it also took away the fear that the audience could have felt by not allowing us to see much of the demon nor the sacrifices as they are getting killed. 

Judging by the sound effects made when the people are being sacrificed, it sounds like their bones are being broken, but all we really see (at most) is just them being dragged into darkness never to be seen again and at the very least, just Cameron horrified as you hear sound effects in the background. For a horror movie, The Chosen felt like it tried to be as kid-friendly to an younger audience as it could be.

I do not think watching The Chosen was worth it because it felt predictable to me and left no extra tension for characters. It was like Cameron was given a cheat sheet of who to kill and again-some of them were mainly satisfied with their outcome for the sake of the child. It is a cohesive story however, and you wouldn't get lost by not know what's going on, so if you were to watch this, then I was suggest doing it on a lazy Sunday when all of your work is complete and you just need something to entertain your mind.

Overall, I would give The Chosen a 2 out of 5 stars.

Definition/s

Deus ex Machina- An unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel.

Link to Kian Lawley Youtube Channel 

(Don't know him much, but I don't mind promoting him on the blog. If he ever reads this (which I doubt) don't be discouraged by my comments, Kian. You keep practicing on being a great actor and prove to me how The Chosen doesn't define your fully ability!)

Main Channel, superkian13- https://www.youtube.com/user/superkian13
2nd Channel, kianlawley- https://www.youtube.com/user/kianlawley

3rd Channel (with Jc Caylen)- KianandJc- https://www.youtube.com/user/KianAndJc

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
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Rude uncle will be one of the sacrifices because he's MEAN and RUDE. Thanks for the foreshadowing, movie.

Was the demon beckoning Angie to go into the room to get possessed? If not, then why are you snooping around the house, little girl?

Let me guess: Uncle, grandpa and grandma will die.

Granda was already near death, so Cameron didn't need to put her in that situation. First kill is always the hardest? Please, it was the easiest kill for Cameron.

So the uncle is nice now? Trying to add complexity so it's harder to kill him.

This movie did add some challenges for Cameron, I suppose. With the adopted guy in the basement.

Is Cameron going to kill his girlfriend? But she's not...oh yeah, she might have a baby by him.

Why couldn't the grandpa talk until his very death? Did the demon do that? Was he strong enough to say a word at that time? If it's the latter, I wouldn't have spoken like he did. If I was being dragged to my death, I'd be too shocked to even say anything.

Mother comes home and quickly admits how she caused her daughter's child's death. Did you feel like dying today, mom? Because it really feels like you wanted to die. "Oh no, my grandchild is possessed, I know this is all because of a totally random time years ago when I killed my other grandchild" Speaking of that, that's extremely cruel. You didn't think adoption would work?

I honestly think the mother of Angie should have died. She has more things going against her. She was an alcoholic (or drug addict, haven't watched in a while) and is probably being watched by officers in order for her not to relapse.

I bet the Kian Lawley fans are swooning over how badass and brave he is for sacrificing himself for his niece.

Now we finally see the demon! Not very threatening considering she's been under the bed most of the movie.

Okay, the child is safe now. So how is she going to live with the mom? She has little money and again, she's a recovering alcoholic. Not saying people who were alcoholics can't change for the better, but it's certainly a struggle for them to get back on their feet.