Plot Summary
The Lukens family is tired of living in their old, creepy house, so they want to downsize. However, an unexpected addition to the family throws them for a loop, as does a disturbing presence their daughter keeps seeing and hearing in her room. As they must make difficult decisions regarding the life of their future child, the evil presence seems to tighten its grip on their lives, pushing them to the breaking point. Will they be able to survive the onslaught of the paranormal force?
Production Quality (1.5 points)
For another independent Christian horror film, Wraith doesn’t have that bad of a production, but it is still mostly average on the whole. Video quality is mostly fine, but there is some poor lighting throughout, perhaps by design. A lot of the dark scenes appear to be for dramatic effect, but there are other typically cheesy elements that seem to always come with a cheap horror production, such as wild camera work and dizzying cuts. Though the sets and locations are somewhat limited, also by design, the props are fine, and there appear to be attempts to create authenticity throughout. The editing is mostly fine, but there are too many issues with this indie effort to give the production anything more than an average score.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
Making a pro-life Christian horror film is an interesting endeavor, and it is not one without potential, but Wraith has too many problems in the plot department to reach this possible potential. When setting out to make a Christian horror film, it’s like it’s a requirement to totally disregard character development. This film is no exception as the characters are extremely bland and empty due to cheap and stilted dialogue. Though there are some interesting attempts at flashbacks and creative psychological elements, they are too muted and downplayed in the midst of wasted time that is mostly filled with stupid jump scares and incoherent moments that are meant to be ‘thrilling’ or ‘scary’ but really just end up being stupid. Randomly vague things just happen as opportunities to build real characters are squandered by kicking the proverbial can down the road just to get to the ending. Unfortunately, this storyline gets worse and worse as it goes as it slowly reveals a very ill-advised approach to dealing with demonic entities until it finishes with an extremely cheesy climax that endorses dangerous practices. Overall, this plot is just a mess and really needed to be completely reworked.
Acting Quality (1.5 points)
While some of the more experienced cast members, such as Ali Hillis, are mostly fine in their performances, some of the younger cast members, particularly the younger female lead, are quite bad at acting. Some line delivery is painfully forced, and emotions are uneven throughout. Other moments are far too dramatic, which is an unfortunate byproduct of the difficult horror genre. In summary, this film squandered whatever potential it may have had.
Conclusion
Christian horror films desperately need a better basis. It is important that the core concepts of psychological thrillers are well-thought-out and have some logical basis before they are thrown into a movie. Pro-life themes are great, but this consistently has been one of the worst sub-genres in Christian film. Besides the fact that the basis for the horror elements in Wraith are difficult for most audiences to grasp, the practices that are seemingly endorsed (trying to cast demons out of houses) are extremely dangerous to practice in real-life and should be heavily discouraged. Unfortunately, this is just another awful attempt at Christian genre-busting.
Final Rating: 3 out of 10 points
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