A Review of ‘It’s Coming’: A satisfactory study of a demon-infused household
A mother tries to save herself and her children from the onslaught of spirits in their home.
‘It’s Coming’: A satisfactory study of a demon-infused household
Cast: Ashley Roland-white, Javier Vega, Chris DeFlorio, Harmony DeFlorio, Alexis Vega, Selena Vega, Soledad Haren
Critic’s Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
Director: Shannon Alexander
Duration: 1 hour, 26 minutes
Genre: Documentary, Horror, Thriller
Language: English
Release: 2023
What’s it about?
A mother tries to save herself and her children from the onslaught of spirits in their home.
Review:
Audiences are in for a quite the paranormal experience courtesy this documentary about an African American family in Brooklyn, NYC who encounters intrusive spirits. The often frightening and unsettling entities have taken over their apartment abode, leaving the quintet to resort to whatever help is available in order to keep their unwelcome visitors at bay. This daring film sets out to examine the presence of these beings and the history of their involvement with their victims as well as the ghouls’ strange modus operandi and the human recourse to control them. While the film is mostly interesting, there are a few lulls while it lacks the perspective of more professionals in the ghost-busting field. Still, this documentary is a pretty worthwhile eye-opener to the virtually invisible.
Ashley Roland-white and her young children are the unwilling hosts to spirits that pervade their humble home. The oldest child Alexis, her younger brother Javier, as well as their Mom were reticent to publicly share their unsavoury experiences over fears of being subject to disbelief and ridicule. That was until they came under the focus of writer-director Shannon Alexander’s sympathetic lens as it sets out to investigate this jarring supernatural entanglement. The related respondents describe the ghost or recurring apparition as one draped in black with a glowing face and usually appearing at night-time in the apartment’s hallway. Alexis says it has “evil intent” and Javier adds that it makes him fear for his life, while their mother recounts how it would assault her.
Though there are others of its ilk, this main demonic force would even smother Ashley’s attempts to catch its appearance on camera. So overbearing is its presence that the distraught lady considers having her house “cleansed”. Enter the medium – Soledad Haren. This psychic lady pokes around Ashley’s place, noticing changes in temperature and radio frequency in different rooms and pointing to an old mirror as a potential trapped energy field. Ashley confides in her visitor that she often hears the spirits talking about her, sometimes even seeing them staring at her, while on other occasions, she would turn the target of thrown items. Ashley also shares a sinister history on her dwelling that was previously inhabited by her grandparents-in-law.
Pervasive smells of stenches and cooking gas as well as shadows and nosebleeds also characterise the experience inside this cursed house. What’s more, little Javier is in regular contact with a spirit he calls “Kitty” who talks to him and plays with him on a daily basis, but who is a non-entity to the others in the household. Haren is sceptical about Kitty’s influence on the boy, while at the same time recognising that the spirit in contact with Ashley might have her best interests at heart. Haren also advises Ashley to follow some pious exercises to help ward off the evil entities while the two do a séance-like writing strategy to get the spirits to identify themselves. But will this pay off? And will the demons return with a vengeance? Plus, what role can the exorcist couple of Chris DeFlorio and his wife Harmony play to avoid this possible eventuality? Are some portals to other dimensions left best untouched?
While this film is no doubt watchable, there is nothing incredibly original that it has to offer. We have seen more substance of this nature in such films as the true-to-life Paranormal Activity and The Conjuring franchises. Also, some of the interviews with the respondents in this film could have been more provocative, insightful and concise. Indeed, a few scenes tend to drag and some of the presented information get repetitious. Also, Javier seems so unfazed and matter-of-fact about his rattling revelations when any other children his age would be spooked beyond his belief. The filmmakers could have made references to other spirit-related situations and confrontations in recent history to put this story into better perspective. Still, It’s Coming has most of the elements to keep you… going.
