If you watched the film to the end and have no idea what was happening, this "review" is for you. There are spoilers galore, so beware....
First, the movie's timeline is not linear. It's in the present and the past and sometimes goes back to previous scenes to give you a different perspective from what you originally thought you were seeing. We see the story arc of girls left behind at an all girls Catholic school during holiday: Rose an older student (who stayed behind at the school because she thinks she's pregnant and lied to her parents about when to pick her up so she could see her boyfriend about her pregnancy), Kat, a freshman student whose parents haven't come to get her either and its not entirely clear why (later Kat says they are dead), and Joan, a girl on her way to the all girls school.
Ostensibly, this movie is about the devil and possession. It is not. It is about longing, loneliness, and mental illness.
Little Kat is lonely. At first you assume she's just a little strange; but near the end of the film, we see some scenes again (marking the days on a calendar until mom and dad come, singing at the recital, staring out of the window while sitting alone in a classroom) we come to see that she is a very lonely little girl and most likely not right in her head and we start to realize she may have been mentally ill all along.
Everyone is saying that her transition to wanting and accepting possession by a demon was too sudden; but it's not (once you see those scenes again), she was already "off" and with the right suggestion (Rose tells her when they are alone that two of the nuns are devil worshipers], she goes right for it (later she tells Rose, she's "too late", i.e. Her friendship is no longer needed, she has the devil for companionship now)).
Early on we see "Joan's" arc and through quick cuts we can surmise that Joan has escaped from a mental hospital. She's headed toward the school. At first you think the journey is being taken at the same time Kat and Rose are staying at the school But "Joan" in reality is Kat, nine years after she killed everyone left at the school. She's escaped and is using Joan's ID (apparently a of a nurse she strangled at the mental institution), whom she's killed to escape.
She's headed back to where she had companionship with the devil. Only to find out that the couple who give her a lift are the parents of Rose (whom she killed nine years ago) and are coincidentally headed up to the school. They apparently do not recognize her. When one of them goes outside to warm up the car because a storm is coming, Kat/Joan sees a knife on a plate and grabs it, which she later uses to kill Rose's parents while in their car, and then brings their heads to her old companion, the devil.
The devil never existed, of course. But this is a Catholic school, so her mental illness manifested into devil possession.
Her phone calls may have been partly real or imagined. Early on Kat says her parents are dead. Are they? We have a brief scene at the beginning where it appears her dad comes to get her and silently walks her to a wrecked car where we see black hair (presumably mom's) blowing in the wind outside the window. When this did happen? It may be a premonition and happened on their way to the school (we see police visit the school.) Did her mom's death and apparent father's abandonment or death, too, set off her mental illness and loneliness? That, I can't tell you. It does look as though they both died in a car accident and she's dreaming her dad came to get her and show her the wreck. They never explicitly clarify the parents' death, Kat does say that are dead.
The carnage starts when Kat gets a phone call and a distorted voice tells her to kill all the c***ts, which she does. The headmaster shows up with the police (did Kat lure them with a phone call?), finds the dead bodies of Rose and the two nuns who had been caring for them until their parents showed. The cop finds her in the basement and after warning Kat repeatedly to put down her knife, shoots her in the shoulder (you see the scar on "Joan/Kat" 9 years later). Presumably she's spent the last 9 years in the mental hospital making no friends or feeling love and is heading back to rejoin the devil, when Rose's parents pick her up and she gets a chance to sacrifice them. The devil being fickle (and only in her mind) doesn't show up.
I had to watch twice to get this.
Edit: minor typos.
406 out of 457 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink