9/7/19 - Pure (2019) - 3+/10

The creep promise was strong with this one, focusing on leering fathers trapping their daughters at a camp to have them “pledge their purity before God”, but it fizzled as a premature ember rather than the raging blistering inferno the material provided for. The casting was solid (McKaley Miller I thought stole the show), as well as the setting and the concept, it just flickered. There was so much kindling for this fire, but they could only clumsy swing their poker at it, which was a disappointment. 

It wouldn’t have been so poor, if they had leaned into some of the more disturbing, possibly incestuous, breadcrumbs laid out before them. They can only impotently hint, like a sweaty palmed 15 year old at the movie, inching their grip towards their awkward date. If they would have pushed that, or any of their elements, it might have succeeded. Like the implication of the violence and intertwined nature of religious Christian extremism and firearms that is blatantly slapped in your face but never capitalized on in a way that felt satisfactory. Every element is either torturously hinted at yet unfulfilled or grossly overemphasized and slightly poor.

Perhaps most damning is the weak and generic “supernatural” elements. That played out CGI grin and, frankly boring, Carrie mixed with a haunting monotony. Perhaps if you positioned these ghostly figures in interesting ways, things that an Insidious or any reasonably accomplished scary feature might do with ease, it might provide a skulking  intrigue. But we are left with somewhat droning peaks that don’t frighten, and certainly lose their verve as the film progresses. 

The end (after the gratuitous left-turn shocker which did not have the impact it should have) has a hopeful salvation ridden solution, but the consequences of the actions are not explored, nor are the further reaching goals of what could be. It, like the film, just provide thrown away little matches when we want  to be burned alive at the stake. It didn’t need to be B-movie kindling.