Director
When it comes to the paranormal, I'm more skeptical of people who call themselves "experts" than I am of the existence of demons and ghosts.
If outer space is the great unknown, life after death is even more so. And the outer-space experts study years to become such.
In regards to spirits and the afterlife, there's so much unknown which we'll only find out after we shuffle off our mortal coil. Do human souls really haunt locations? If so, why would a soul stay in a certain spot for years, even centuries after death? And why do they stay in abandoned homes, attics, and basements? Self-proclaimed paranormal "experts" in movies and programs that surround the topic of ghostly activity often give audiences an answer to the "whys." They might claim with absolute certainty in front of cameras that spirits are bound by "unfinished business" or "they're scared to go towards the light." But what do they know for sure and how do they know it? Being a researcher is one thing. Being an expert of the unknown needs a lot of substance.
I question how someone can claim to be an "expert" in the field of the paranormal. It's a lot speculation and conjecture that's passed off as certainty.
The independent thriller documentary Malefice: A True Story of a Demonic Haunting was released through the streaming service ScareNetwork.tv on June 15. I was invited to watch an early viewing of it.
The documentary surrounds paranormal investigator Sean Austin, a lead investigator on the Travel Channel series, Ghost Loop, who believes he assisted the souls of deceased women into the next life while conducting a paranormal investigation inside an old house in Ohio five years ago.
He claims these souls were trapped inside the house by malevolent forces, with audio recordings of alleged spirits and demons to back up the claims. According the Austin, these women were kept in the house against their will during their lifetime by someone who tortured and killed them.
Austin also claims that in the five years following this incident, demonic forces have been trying to retaliate for his stealing those souls from it.
Now, he attempts to rid himself of this demonic infestation in his life once and for all by returning to the original Ohio home with fellow investigators, Dave Spinks and Eric Conner to help him send these demons back to hell.
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| Paranormal investigator Sean Austin. |
I don't think you can discuss the existence of spirits without going into religion because religious institutions are the front runners in any discussion of an afterlife. So, pardon me if I sound preachy.
Austin's claims his knowledge of what took place in that home- the women who were supposedly tortured and killed - comes from mental images he received during the investigation. All claims are presented as being understood that this is how it all works. There's nothing to back these claims up other than Austin's mental vision. We have to take this history at his word.
One thing I find frustrating about many paranormal investigation programs is the lack of any serious inquiry towards the spirits people think their communicating with. Not many ask about the reality of the afterlife nor what death is like. Rather, they ask spirits how many fingers are they holding up, and if they can kick a ball around.
If these investigators are actually in contact with a spirit from beyond, and maybe they are, that's a huge breakthrough as far as any investigation and research is concerned. There's so much to ask about life after death, heaven and hell, and why spirits take up residence in the basement of an abandoned house rather than someplace that's less of a drag.
To Austin and his team's credit, their questioning is taken more seriously than many popular TV ghost hunting show.
On one of their nights investigating, the crew use radio devices called a Gateway which eliminates radio interruption so ghosts can speak more freely through radio signals.
They use three of these Gateways in order to provide a wide spectrum of frequencies. I don't follow why spirits need radio signals to communicate. Regardless, Austin does ask the supposed voices he claims are the spirits and even the demon(s) about what took place while these women were alive, and what they endured. These radio voices supposedly back up his claims. And it's all presented as understood.
The claims would certainly be more credible if some historic documentation was presented. But it's not. The only claim of veracity to the backstory of this building is paranormal investigator Austin's mental visions and voices on the radio. How does that verify anything? It would certainly be more believable if there was something substantial indicating what the house was previously used for, and who used to live there.
Where's the police involvement? Where's the factual history of the house? Who was the previous owner? All the audience has is what Austin saw in his head.
Catholic prayers and practices are used in the attempt to exorcise the demonic entities. This includes Austin's use of the Roman Rite of Exorcism used by Catholic priests.
As a Catholic myself, I was under the impression the Roman Rite of Exorcism was reserved for ordained Catholic priests with the explicit permission from their Bishop, following an investigating into the claim of demonic activity, according to Canon Law. That's one thing these paranormal experts don't seem to mention. Exorcist, after all, is one of the minor orders a seminarian receives on his way to becoming a priest. Would the Catholic Church, or any religion, consider mental visions and some radios to be evidence of demonic activity?
And while anyone can say certain prayers of exorcism, such as the Catholic prayer to St. Michael the Archangel which is recited in the movie, the Roman Ritual is reserved for ordained clergy in the Catholic Church. I mention this because of the way those in the documentary present themselves as experts to the audience.
Nevertheless, I have to cheer for their resorting to Catholic prayers. Call me biased, but how could I not do so?
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| Demonologist Ralph Sarchie |
The intriguing part of this documentary is its "what if" aspect. What if hauntings are real? That's what most of the paranormal programs have going for them as far as keeping an audience's attention.
It's the ghost story aspect that kept me sticking around to the end. I took the ghosts, or rather the idea that maybe they're actually there, more seriously than the actual living people in the film.
Otherwise, the documentary comes across as pretentious, and with little to fall back on. Aside from the creepiness of the whole scenario, which is done well, the rest is irritatingly self-conceited and frustrating.
There's hardly anything informative in this documentary for the audience to take away. I'd still like to know if there were, in fact, women who were tortured and killed in this house, and if their remains were ever found.
Malefice is more of a showcase about this team trying to gain evidence of ghosts, and their thoughts along the way. For audiences watching this, thoughts and questions about death, ghosts, and demons are a byproduct of watching a few guys "hunting" ghosts for an hour and a half. The solidity in the documentary's reasons as to why I'm supposed to believe the word of these experts is just ridiculously lacking. All we have is their word. Why? Because they're "experts" of the unknown.
