Interesting idea, not made the most of
As it says on the box,
A hearing-impaired girl is visited by the Virgin Mary and can suddenly hear, speak, and heal the sick. As people from near and far flock to witness her miracles, a disgraced journalist hoping to revive his career visits a small New England town to investigate. As terrifying events begin to happen all around him, he starts questioning if these miracles are the works of the Virgin Mary or something much more sinister?
The film starts strongly with a hard-hitting flashback, reminiscent of Mario Bava's Black Sunday. Then, in the present day we meet Jeffrey Dean Morgan's burned-out, boozed-up journalist, who by chance witnesses the miraculous recovery of the deaf/mute girl. He becomes the church's official chronicler as the supposed miracle is investigated, but soon suspects that something else is going on. Unfortunately, after a solid first third, the film slides into pretty generic territory. Morgan, William Sadler, and Cary Elwes turn in their usual enjoyable performances, Cricket Brown impresses as the deaf girl (in only her second full-length feature), whilst direction and photography are fine. But there's nothing we haven't seen before. Picture a combination of pretty much any 70s/80s exorcism/possession flick and any 00s jerky-ghost J-horror, and you've pretty much got this.
I think Morgan's journalist character has potential, and I wouldn't mind a sequel (or two) centred around him investigating other supernatural phenomena, like a modern day Carl Kolchak. But for this one,
6.5/10 share