Communion

Directed by Alfred Sole, Communion follows a rebellious young girl (Paula Sheppard’s Alice) as she’s accused of murder after her sister (Brooke Shields’ Karen) is brutally killed during a religious ceremony. It’s a reasonably promising setup that’s employed to increasingly tedious and tiresome effect by Sole, as the filmmaker, working from a script written with Rosemary Ritvo, delivers a sluggish horror effort that contains exceedingly little in the way of compelling, interesting attributes – with the pervasively uninvolving atmosphere perpetuated by a continuing (and egregious) emphasis on the entirely underwhelming mystery at the movie’s core. (It doesn’t help, certainly, that the bulk of the picture’s ludicrously overlong running time is devoted to the aggressively dull investigation into the various deaths.) The periodic presence of melodramatic elements does little to allay the predominantly interminable atmosphere, and although the film admittedly boasts one solid murder, Communion is otherwise dominated by shockingly lame (and tame) kill sequences that only exacerbate the terminally lackluster vibe. (There’s also a needlessly mean-spirited kitten murder that just heightens the movie’s overt worthlessness.) The end result is a thoroughly objectionable and forgettable slasher that wears out its welcome almost immediately, which is a shame, undoubtedly, given the relative potential afforded by the admittedly intriguing opening stretch.

* out of ****

Leave a comment