Meet our protagonist Marquis T. Woods (Omari Hardwick) – he’s handsome, has a thriving career, and a wonderful family; basically all the trappings of success. He worked hard and made something of himself, so that he would never have to return to his roots. This all changes when he finds out his father has passed away, and he has to return to Appalachia to handle his burial and funeral. The whole family decide to accompany him, and they fly into the space via a small plane that Marquis steers himself.
The first act starts out with promise when we get the beginnings of interaction between the city and country folk, and the judgement heaped onto the latter group by Marquis and his son Tydon (Kalifa Burton). There is much to unpack here about stereotypes and the scoffing of certain beliefs and hoodoo practices. These moments are also rife with tension. However, once Spell kicks into the second act, all the tension and thought evoked in the first act just disappears.
After the plane gets caught in some nasty weather, Marquis awakes to find himself in the house of Eloise (Loretta Devine) and Earl (John Beasley). Despite asking repeatedly where his family is, he is given no answers by Eloise, and we are left to assume the worst. Even though Eloise claims that she is practising root magic on him to help him heal, the doll she has fashioned to resemble him just implies sinister connotations.
The second act is very repetitive: Marquis escapes, Eloise finds out and gets hired hand Lewis (Steve Mululu) to bring him back, and then it happens all over again. Eloise doesn’t seem a very competent hoodoo practitioner if he manages to escape all the time. There are some moments of body horror that I would rather not see again, especially since it doesn’t seem too purposeful, just a way to make the viewer squirm.
Instead of Marquis learning that the stereotypes that he holds fast to do not apply, the film goes out of its way to show that they do apply, with so many of these Appalachian folk condoning murder just so they can stick it to these uppity city folk. It’s hard to tell what lesson we are meant to take away from this. Is the film trying to say that we can never outrun the past, that no matter who we become, our roots still end up defining who we are? I’m not sure if this is something I want to agree with.
The final act does offer some surprises, but what it isn’t able to do is create a compelling villain. Her motivations feel rather shallow, where there isn’t much insight as to what drives her. As a result, there are no vulnerabilities or sympathies that can be attached to her. We basically want Marquis to triumph so we can pack it all up, which misses the point then.
If we’re truly meant to examine the city vs rural dynamic, we’re supposed to look at them both with equal measures of horror and relatability. The cast do the best they can, but conceptually, the movie isn’t really guiding us anywhere or into any form of discussion, which is a crying shame since there is certainly potential there.
Review screener provided.
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