The Containment Movie Review

“The Containment” is not a movie about a large metal shipping box. No, instead this movie closer to spooky demon possession movies. But unlike ‘The Exorcist’, this deals with a cut-rate alternative to drive out that demon. Things do not go as planned…

As portrayed in the first few scenes, there is an evil demon on the loose. It takes the form of a scarab beetle. It finds its way to Midwestern town where a recent widow lives. Jules (played by Charlotte Hunter) is heartbroken that her husband died from a fall in the home. But now, she is concerned about the children.

Her daughter is a mid-teen ball of angst named Caroline (played by Gia Hunter). Caroline blames her mother for the car accident that made her dad wheelchair-bound years ago. That accident in a car took away his legs and arms. The accident last week took away his life.

Jules cannot stop Caroline from always talking back to her. But the youngest, a boy named Don (played by Gabriel Bonilla), has not spoken at all. Since his father’s death, the boy has refused to speak. It’s almost like he is hiding something…

Caroline gets in trouble at school. So she and her friend Marnie (played by Lelia Yvette) would rather skip class. They go to the old abandoned water tower. There are stories of children who were killed in there many years ago.

On top of the family drama, Jules notices that there are more bugs around. She talks to her friend May (played by Alice Coulthard) about the big black scarab beetle she saw. May says it is not as scary as some of he bugs that end up smashed on her helmet after riding her motorcycle.

One night, this evil demon spawn of a scarab beetle finds Caroline sleeping. Opps, that was a bug swallow, and now Caroline feels sick. She was always a bit sarcastic and mean-spirited before. But now, that feels like it has multiplied.

Strange things start to happen. The house cat is found dead. Caroline is found sleepwalking by May, who is riding her bike. She found Caroline standing in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night. Caroline does not remember anything.

Before you can say “Linda Blair”, Caroline has convinced herself that she has become possessed. Her friend Marnie thinks the new scarab beetle on Caroline’s shoulder is wicked. But it is not there later on. Not wicked, just weird.

Caroline undergoes many medical tests. There is nothing found wrong. She is sure she can cut that scarab beetle out of her skin. But she is wrong about that. She might need more professional help.

Caroline goes to a local church. The pastor there is named Father Robert (played by Edmund Dehn). But he has his own issues to resolve. Caroline and her family do not attend any church, and they do not believe. There is nothing that the Church can do for them. Maybe there is a different route to go…

Jules finds an unusual fellow at her front door. This is Professor Desmond (played by Darren Clarke). He claims that he knows all about evil demon possessions and scary scarab beetles. He is an expert, after all — he tells everyone about how smart he is on his YouTube channel. Caroline found him and told him to come over.

Caroline is alone with Professor Desmond in her room. He says he knows exactly what to do to solve her problems. But the things he has in mind are nasty, freaky things that would cause Caroline more problems. The demon speaks, and causes Desmond to be tossed like an old sock. He leaves the house a little bit lighter…

Jules is crazy upset that everything is out-of-control. All of this started after her husband died. Don is still silent, locked up in his own world. Caroline is not able to keep the demon at bay. But help comes around, someone who ready to pitch in.

It is Sister Esperanza (played by Fernanda Romero), who works at the church with Father Robert. She says the reason that Father Robert could not help is that he is very, very sick. The Bishop has told the helpful Sister to stay away. He does not want her, or the Church, to be involved.

But in her heart, Sister Esperanza knows that it is the right thing to do. She wants to step up and help Caroline. After all, it’s not like she found out what to do for an exorcism off of Tik-Tok. No way, she got all of her information from YouTube!

So, now it is just the three of them: Caroline, Sister Esperanza, and the Scarab Beetle. But, when you come to a battle unprepared, you might get clobbered. Put it this way, there is not going to be a very happy ending for one of them.

The evil Demon has a different idea about why he is there — maybe he is a ‘container’ for something more evil. Could he be speaking about the inner wild rage spirit of Caroline?

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“The Containment” is what you might call a ‘dark’ movie. That is both senses. The subject matter is pretty dismal to start with — a fractured family, with a dead husband. But even most of the visual frames are really gloomy dark, almost hard to see what is there. Maybe that is for more ‘atmosphere’.

The story is mildly interesting, but it goes in odd directions. It goes the ‘demon possession’ route and offers up an exorcism. But is a pale reflection of almost any other movie with the same topic. Then it veers off at the end with a nod to the old movie “The Bad Seed”.

There are many sections where the dialogue is just too clunky for its own good. One minute Caroline thinks she is fine, and then turns around and states she ‘has a demon inside’. Her friend Marnie does not believe Caroline is possessed, because she has been throwing up green pea soup.

I think all of the actors are trying to do the best that they can. But the plot and the dialog decisions keep pulling the rug out from under them. This movie is not to the point where you could put it into the ‘so bad it’s good’ category. But there are a handful of times that Cinematography works well, and the tension gets built up pretty good.

“The Containment” shows that when a cut-rate exorcism is performed by a Sister, not a Priest, it will fail. It could above her ‘Pray Grade’.