Possession films are a dime a dozen. They have been done to death. That’s why it’s so refreshing when a film comes that does something different with this tired genre. One of the latest films to try to shake things up is Shaman. Did it succeed? Read on for my review of Shaman and find out!

A missionary family travels to rural Ecuador to convert the indigenous population. All is going well until their son ventures into a forbidden local cave and comes back with a demonic spirit in tow. Candice (Sara Canning) believes that an exorcism in the Catholic tradition will free her boy from the evil bonds that bind him. The local shamans know that this spirit is older than her religion and must be dealt with or the demon will take them all.

Shaman was directed by Antonio Negret (Overdrive) from a script by Daniel Negret. The film stars Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries), Daniel Gillies (The Originals), Jett Klyne (WandaVision), Alejandro Fajardo (Yellow Sunglasses), Humberto Morales, and Mercy Lema.

I was really excited to check out Shaman for two reasons: it claimed to do something different and because I am a huge Vampire Diaries and The Originals fan. I was excited to see Sara Canning and Daniel Gillies in a horror film. I’ll start with what worked before moving on to what didn’t work for me.

What Worked 

The acting was solid across the boards, with Canning and Gillies being high points. I also should mention Mercy Lema who plays Rosa. She held her own with Hollywood actors, and I would definitely check out more of her work if she did more horror. There are some creepy visuals and a few genuinely disturbing moments.

What Didn’t Work

I really hated the majority of the characters. The family at the center of the story are Christian missionaries who are ministering to people in Ecuador. They act all high and mighty, don’t respect others religious choices, dismiss other’s religion as complete bullshit and generally don’t practice what they preach. It made it really hard to give a shit about them when they were so awful. There was an over reliance on CGI during some of the possession scenes. I feel it would have been better if they leaned more into practical effects. The film boast its originality but honestly, its originality doesn’t really hit until the final act. By then, it’s too little too late. The ending genuinely pissed me off.

Final Thoughts

Shaman is a film that touts its supposed originality while leaning heavily into possession horror tropes, not showing any originality until the final act. The characters were genuinely unlikable and that made it hard to care about what was going on and empathize with them.

At first, as she undergoes physical and mental rehabilitation, the only trauma she undergoes is what she’s told are the expected side effects of readjusting to our atmosphere: bouts of tinnitus and an occasional nosebleed. She also experiences “antigravity hallucinations” of floating objects, though fairly early on, first-time feature writer/director Jess Varley makes it clear these sights are not just in her head. In general, THE ASTRONAUT eschews the question of whether Sam is just imagining the unsettling events that distress her while she’s alone in that house. It’s not long before they lead her to believe that something may have hitched a ride back to our planet with her.

Varley (who has had small acting roles in OFFSEASON, TAKE BACK THE NIGHT, 2023’s NIGHT SHIFT and others, and contributed to the anthology PHOBIAS) builds some basic there’s-something-outside/inside-the-house tension into THE ASTRONAUT, and Mara does strong work in the title role. As Sam becomes bewildered and creeped out by what’s happening around her–and to her own body–the actress keeps us feeling for her. Sam’s desperation for answers is tempered by her knowledge that admitting something’s wrong will jeopardize her chances of selection for future missions–a simple and understandable motivation at first for not disclosing what’s happening to her.

Yet as the bizarre events escalate, and are witnessed by others, it becomes increasingly difficult to believe Sam’s reluctance to relocate. Nor does her undoubtedly significant scientific background come into play as the action heats up, and she’s reduced to simply running for her life through the bowels of the house. These and the movie’s other settings are shot with a great deal of atmosphere by DP Dave Garbett (EVIL DEAD RISE, ASH VS. EVIL DEAD), and it’s all backed by an effective, sometimes aggressive score by Jacques Brautbar. What’s missing for most of the running time is a sense that movie is about anything more than it appears on the surface, despite a few hints at themes of family. Both Izzy and Sam herself are revealed to be adoptees, the latter not surprising considering that her father, a general who oversaw her mission, is played by Laurence Fishburne.

THE ASTRONAUT does attempt to bestow deeper meaning upon the proceedings with a latecoming story twist, but unfortunately, it results in an abrupt tonal shift that throws the whole film out of whack. It really needed a whole additional act to fully explore this new idea; instead, it’s rushed through quickly, ending the movie at 81 minutes before the final credits and leaving a number of questions dangling. One leaves the movie wondering whether it got heavily pared down in the editing process, or it needed more preparation before the launch button was pushed.

The right wing‘s war on Netflix wages on.

The Pentagon issued a statement blasting the streamer’s programming and leadership Friday following an inquiry about the new series “Boots” from Entertainment Weekly. While the response from Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson did not directly address the gay coming-of-age military show, it did slam Netflix for following an “ideological agenda” that “feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”

“Under President Trump and Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos,” Wilson’s statement said. “Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay, or straight. We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”

The Trump administration’s efforts to restore this “warrior ethos” thus far has included banning transgender people from serving in the military, body-shaming top military brass and other service members and declaring an end to “woke” culture and policies. The statement comes amid the Pentagon’s move to enforce a new unprecedentedly restrictive media policy that paints basic reporting methods as criminal activity.

Based on Greg Cope White’s 2016 memoir “The Pink Marine,” “Boots” follows Cam Cope (Miles Heizer), a gay teenager who enlists in the Marines at a time when being gay in the military was still a crime. Noting the show’s timely themes, Times television critic Robert Lloyd called it a “perfectly decent, good-hearted, unsurprisingly sentimental miniseries” in his review.

The show’s creatives also worked closely with several advisors with past military experience to authentically portray the Marines and military life in the 1990s.

The Pentagon’s criticism against Netflix follows the recent campaign led by billionaire Elon Musk calling for people to cancel their subscriptions to the streamer. The on-again/off-again Trump ally railed against Netflix on X earlier this month after clips of “Dead End: Paranormal Park,” an animated Netflix series featuring a trans character, was making the rounds on the social media platform. The show was canceled after its second season was released in 2022.

Despite being the target of right-wing ire, Netflix also has a history of being called out for its anti-trans programming. In 2021, transphobic remarks made by comedian Dave Chappelle in his special “The Closer” led to protests, walkouts and even a resignation of a trans employee. The streamer followed that in 2022 by releasing a comedy special from Ricky Gervais that also featured transphobic material.