"The Old Ways" Review: An Awakening through Witchcraft

Platform: Netflix

Release Date: August 25, 2021

This film would not have been on a lot of people's radars had it not been widely touted by cinema news sites across social media for holding a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Now, I know that there is a large group of people that either put no weight in the site or no longer trust it following the "review bomb" fiascos from a few years back. I do not consider it gospel, but I do quite frequently use, as well as write reviews for, Rotten Tomatoes as a gauge for which movies to prioritize for viewing. A horror movie having such a high rating is an immediate attention grabber and the fastest way to jump to the front of the line. Being a possession-based film I was not too keen on jumping in on this one. There are very few possession films that I hold in high regard, "The Conjuring" and "The Exorcist" being the only two that come to mind at the moment. But again, seeing the critics highly praising a film from a genre that is typically belittled and treated as an afterthought took my curiousity by the reins. I could only hope that it was not another "Get Out" scenario (it was not a game-changer, just an ok movie, yeah, I said it).

After traveling to Mexico and back to the village she knew only as a child, reporter Cristina Lopez (Brigitte Kali Canales) defies warnings against visiting La Boca, a cave on the outskirts of Veracruz believed to be cursed. She suddenly awakes to find herself chained in a room by a couple of locals, Javi (Sal Lopez) and Lus (Julia Vera), the latter of which is a bruja, a local woman that practices in the ways of witchcraft. They keep her trapped in the room as they are preparing to perform a number of rituals to rid Cristina of the demon they believe has possessed her. Remembering back to the unfortunate death of her mother during an exorcism, Cristina fails to use modern logic to reason her way past the native culture of her captors. When Cristina's cousin Miranda (Andrea Cortes) arrives, Cristina begins to realize that family wounds cut deep and that she can not outrun the beliefs she left behind. As she plans to play along with rituals to appease her captors so they release her, Cristina slowly reveals the true intent behind her trip to Mexico and finds herself fighting against a darkness that had been preying on her for quite a while.

Similar to many modern horror films, "The Old Ways" uses a framework of horror influences to disguise deeper, more meaningful themes outside of the literal demons it portrays. The movie leads a conversation on the dangers of drug use and on the appreciation of one's heritage and generational knowledge. The anti-drug equation makes itself clearly known as Cristina hides a supply of drugs and needles under her pillow while being held captive. In what appears to be a heroin addiction, the movie draws clear parallels between the hallucinogneic and deadly effect of the drugs to the growing influence of the demon possessing Cristina, called Postekhi. As she overloads her body with the drug, she has visions of the darkness consuming her and allows Postekhi to gain more influence over her. Of course, she equates these visions to her drug use and turns her nose to the primitive ideals of Javi, Lus, and Miranda. I found this to capture how those born in the modern age turn their noses to the wisdom of their elders, thinking that the evolving times and technology leaves "old" thinking null and void. This movie looks to shed light on how relevant one's roots still are and that the modern age does not, alone, hold all the answers. The movie helps elicit these feelings of danger, both for Cristina's drug use and the denial of her heritage, in its color scheme of primarily red and orange hues.

As the movie progresses and the demon's possession grows more real, Cristina slowly reveals that she is not just a overzealous reporter intentially caught up in local folklore. Rather, she went to La Boca on purpose with plans to end her life, as she has struggled with a broken existence since her mother's death. The visions of her mother's exorcism continue to haunt her and the herion is her self-medication to help her forget. What we learn, though, is that Postekhi is the "death god of broken things" and had preyed on and lured Cristina to the cave to instill its influence on her. Agreeing to a risky ritual known as the broken man, Lus draws the demon out of Cristina and sacrifices herself to destroy the demon and save the young reporter. When they discover that the demon has not been destroyed, but rather transferred into Miranda, Cristina must find peace in adopting the old ways to save her cousin. Now that she has assumed the position of bruja, Cristina embraces her heritage and becomes the next in line of perserving the shaman-like practices of her people.

Strictly as a horror film, it was pretty average. It relied too much on the sudden jump scare but also found a way to nestle in a couple of good tension pieces. It clearly did not have the budget to polish off its minimal CGI use, but that feels aligned with its raw setting rather than a detriment. Honestly, I found myself disappointed in the film considering the expectations I had established, but as I wrote and analyzed the movie I've found myself appreciating it much more. It straddles a strange line between delivering its messages in explicit and implicit ways, whereas you will usually encounter movies attempting to hide them better in the undercurrent to not distract from the entertainment portion of the narrative. There are few things worse than a movie unexepectedly becoming a public service announcement, which this movie did not become. It does lend itself to more confusion than it should, with aspects of the film's lore not explained enough and exposition being traded out for character developmental dialogue. That is a directorial choice that leaves the horror-aspect of the film feeling incomplete, a few plot holes left unfilled, and the film's themes feeling too heavy-handed at times. Still, I found this to be an enjoyable watch, even though it drastically switches in tone from a Saw-esque thriller to a fun, Spanish Exorcist, that can carry its heavy themes within a well told character drama.

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RATING: 👹 👹 👹 👹 / 5

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