PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Hexing is definitely a horror movie, but it likely won’t terrify hardcore horror fans. In fact, it may have worked better as a straight up drama. Let’s examine why.
To begin with, jaded horror movie viewers abound, and B movies seem to be a dime a dozen (or, in the age of YouTube, even cheaper). So, when a movie like Christophe Lenoir’s (Focus: A Gate Is Now Opened 2018) Hexing comes along, there are already significant disadvantages against it. However, with this film, one could at least say there is some decent imagery scattered throughout, and the acting isn’t the worst one could find. In fact, it seems like an effort was made to keep Hexing out of the absolute bottom of the barrel. At the very least, the trailer looks okay.
The Convoluted Story of Hexing
The film immediately conjures up a Ouija board-style magician named Madame Estelle (Camille Solal: Focus: A Gate Is Now Opened 2018). She runs an antique shop, peddling her obtuse superstitious beliefs to her prospective employee, Adele (Zoe Corraface: Vanilla Poison 2011). For whatever reason, Adele listens as the oddball woman tells a lengthy, winding story of a girl named Hannah (Emma Eliza Regan: Darkness On The Edge Of Town 2014), which already requires a suspension of disbelief.
By the time Estelle gets to describing the PG sex scene in the café, it seems Adele would have said, “Okay, you know what? I don’t think I’m the right candidate for you. I’ve heard the KFC is hiring and the Colonel is less shrouded in mystery. Plus, you know what? KFC actually has some decent mashed potatoes, biscuits and gravy, especially for fast food…” Then again, by this point, one may have already forgotten what Adele was there for to begin with. Was it really a job? Was she going to get her fortune read? It doesn’t matter much, because Estelle’s story goes on like an ever-winding road.
We learn about Hannah, her fellow waitress, Alice (Dominique Swain: Lolita 1998, The 6th Friend 2018 – read our review here), and some creepy cop customer named Eugene (Conor Marren: Vikings TV series). In fact, Eugene is openly rape-tastic with Hannah, yet he’s still regularly allowed in the café/restaurant/diner/whatever the hell, for some reason. There’s also Hannah’s dad, David (Zeb Moore: The Quiet Hour 2014), who was supposedly having an affair, and it was tied to other extraneous soap opera crap. There’s some guy named Jake (Shane Robinson: Would You Die For Me? 2013) sprinkled into the mix, someone who seems to vaguely play some sort of role to Hannah. Suddenly, some magical malevolent force makes people start killing themselves… or something. It’s apparently some sort of curse tied to an object from India. What can be said about that? Cursed objects are cursed, you know? Don’t bring them into your lives, if you know what’s good for you! Also, Hexing reminds us that cursed people are bad, too. Stay away from them. They suck.
Other Stuff
As these details aggregate, it just seems like random, weird stuff that happens as opposed to some calculated curse. For example, at one point, the café owner, Rodney (Nigel Mercier: Fair City TV series), gives a nice, rage-filled rant. However, the customers seem oddly indifferent about it! Rodney’s really yelling his head off at them, but the customers are just like, “Ho-hum.” Honestly, chances are you’ll be feeling just like those customers by that point. Even when someone’s shouting and bodies are piling up, you’ll just sit there flatly like, “Okay, I guess that happened,” then forget whatever it was.
By the time you learn about some guy named Horace Granger (Ketan Anand: Shart 1986) in India in the 1920s, you’ll probably be like, “Oh, okay. Horace Granger. Whatever… is there a point to all this?” There is, vaguely. Hexing informs us that Granger was enamored with the hereafter, and there was some Indian Princess (Nanda Yadav: Why Cheat India 2019) that he loved, or someone loved, or at least had the hots for.
Seriously, the details keep spilling out like water from holes in a dam, and you almost wish it would just burst and take you out already. Anyway, by the end of the film, it’s apparent that love may conquer the demon (Natural Born Killers-style), and Hexing is all about re-bottling our secret hatreds like the fetid genies they are.
Final Thoughts
One may try to piece this all together, but it’s rather pointless. This film lacks focus. Although it has an occasional decent image, it’s not captivating enough to maintain the viewer’s interest. It ends up more like a melodrama with some forced horror elements, and the curse winds up being forgotten about rather quickly. It’s possible others will experience Hexing differently, but it seems tenuous at best. It’s not the worst movie, but I’ve seen better worse movies than this (if you know what I mean, and most horror fans will).
What are your thoughts on Hexing? Let us know in the comments!
