Eventually they seek unorthodox help. No good will come of this.
CW: jump scares but little else of note
The publicity for the latest in this horror franchise made me seek the first one out.
It's in two very clear phases. An initial haunted house section that morphs into child posession then a ghostbusting/exorcism phase. The two are quite different with the first being driven by jump scares and general spooky stuff then the exorcism getting in your face with astral travel, an array of spirits and a kind of "upside down" version of the house.
It's obviously a cheap horror (that did unexpectedly well) but saved by decent cast and being quite up front with its mumbo jumbo once we get to the exorcism. Not actually very scary but I can see how they've spun a franchise out of it as there's an effort to do worldbuilding both forward and back in time.
Decent by the numbers horror 6/10 but the score doesn't quite reflect how much I fancy going straight for the sequel.