The Veil (I) (2016) User Reviews

A film defined by one performance......

[s3276169 · 5/10 · 25 January 2016]

In most respects The Veil is a very ordinary film. It takes a well trodden path that mixes the notion of re-incantation with an invasion of the body snatchers/possession twist.

Most of the performances in this flick are pretty forgettable. Jessica Alba's character, who is supposedly the lead, spends most of her time looking like she's about to have a painful visit to the dentist. She's perpetually afraid, from the opening scenes to closing credits, with little in the way of emotional range, in between.

What holds this film together and really defines it is the show stealing performance by Thomas Jane. Janes character, cult leader, Jim Jacobs, is a pretty transparent Jim Jones, Peoples Temple, knock off. But what a knock off! Jane is absurdly good and utterly convincing as Jacobs. So much so, I kept watching what is otherwise a rather mediocre film.

Its a shame we don't see more of Jane in leading roles, he clearly has a lot to offer. I think for one thing he'd make an outstanding Jim Jones, should anyone decide to revisit that sad story. As to The Veil, I'd say watch it for Jane's remarkable performance but beyond that, don't come to this flick with big expectations or you will be disappointed. Five out of ten from me.

Actually based on a real cult

[omendata · 6/10 · 18 January 2018]

A lot of people think this is basedon the Jim Jones famous cult massacre but its actually based on the Hale Bop comet cult and its actually a true cult who poisoned each other with an apple pie special over 3 days as they believed aliens were coming to transport them to another world - how some people can fall for these cults is beyond me but it makes for fascinating viewing.

Thomas Jane was utterly superb and worth renting just to watch his scenes and reminds me of David Koresh another cult nutjob. Jessica Alba was just a bit of fluff on a stick and could have been substituted with any actress! I quite like cult type movies and there haven't been many lately!

It is a bit slow but there are some real jump scares - I messed ma pontaloons on at least 3 occasions so its not without its scares.

Overall though its pretty standard fair but worth a watch if you are a horror fan!

Excitingly chilling and grimly surreal, although few of its grander vows are only partially kept

[quincytheodore · 6/10 · 22 January 2016]

The premise of cult suicide eerily resembles real life tragedy, perhaps it is such intended effect. A cult leader Jim Jacobs (Thomas Jane) allegedly leads his congregation to their deaths in a promise of unworldly reward. In a pleasant surprise Thomas Jane is bizarrely fitting cast for the charismatic leader. He's been delivering good characters in last few years and he seems to get better each time.

After the events of mass suicide, a sole survivor is found, Sarah Hope (Lily Rabe). It takes her 25 years but she eventually returns to the site with a film crew. The Veil already produces anticipation more than the usual documentary crew fumbling into uncharted territory.

Its premise and ambiance are presentable, often using grey tone and cryptic air to its advantage. Although it uses found footage element, it doesn't force the gimmick for the entirety of the movie, thus it could show the past and present sequences freely.

Most of the horrors are based on foundation of Jim Jacobs' cult, which effectively produces a creepy setting. Furthermore, Thomas Jane as the prophet role has a way to allure interest as well as secretively shows some hints of violence. He's magnetic but still a shady person. The dark forest gives a proper visual for the ordeal, maintaining the sense of isolation well.

Unfortunately, few of the potentials for the scare end up in predictable fashion or blunt jump scares. Aside from Sarah Hope and the lead director Maggie (Jessica Alba), the rest of cast are not fully fleshed out. Still, the mystery effect and the appropriately crafted presentation manage to construct overall frightening atmosphere.

The Veil rallies and promises a great horror from its harrowing cultist vibe. It stutters a bit towards the end, contrasting the good basis it has set, yet the narrative and atmosphere still create gratifyingly creepy experience.

Wonderful Potential Mired by Myriad of Flaws

[ladyladyingtonnb · 3/10 · 29 July 2017]

The premise is that filmmaker Maggie Price (played by Alba, who runs on empty in every scene until you forget she's the main) takes her crew to investigate a Jim Jones-esque massacre from 25 years ago, along with the lone survivor of the killing, Sarah Hope (played by Lily Rabe straddling general boredom and genuine creepiness). What Maggie forgets to mention to Sarah until THE DRIVE UP THERE is that she has a personal stake in this: her father was the lead agent in the FBI sting, and he killed himself some months later, "tearing their family apart".

The rest of the crew is made up of obviously future-dead people, so here's how I remember them: Christian, Maggie's soon-to-be-dead brother whose actor gives a performance that is both sleepy and subtle; Matt, the dead practical one; Nick, the dead asshole played by Dan Egan, so he has maybe two funny lines before death; Ann, the dead whiny one; and Jill, the dead annoying one. There's also Ed the grip.

This is my first problem with the movie. Other than those generalizations of the characters, I could not tell you anything else about them, and I don't really care to. I know horror films haven't tried to make you care about the dead meat in about two decades, but this film doesn't even try. Instead of allowing the audience some time to relate to the characters and be, y'know SAD when they die, we instead watch multiple-angle tapes of cult leader Jim Jacobs (Thomas Jane in a divisive performance that I'm going to say errs on the side of goofy) doing cult things.

The film essentially aims to explore one question: What if Jim Jones was totally right about whatever nonsense he was spouting at the time and it was the government that wrongly killed hundreds? That is not a question I would choose to entertain, but if done well, I could suspend my disbelief and discomfort with it. But the film makes the fatal flaw of introducing a supernatural bent in the third act. It turns out the cult was right and learned to basically astral project their souls, but they were interrupted when the Price siblings' father burst in, killing them all unintentionally.

This movie simply did not need to be supernatural in the slightest. It had definite legs in being an honest suspense horror that instead explored how cultist ideologies affect its victims, how suicide affects families, and how we perceive cults as intrinsically "wrong".

Instead, I was left with endless questions. How did every member of the cult achieve the "three nails" needed to gain full astral projection? Some were children who definitely would not have the discipline to do this, and yet they all take the poison together. Also, they expected one woman to revive all of them after six minutes but before a single person died?

What happens to the crew's souls when they're killed and taken over? The person in Christian's body says he's "not here anymore" but within two lines of dialogue Sarah says "who wouldn't want eternal life?" to appeal to Maggie and then at the end Jacobs in a new body says they're going to eat souls and make an immortal army (???), so are their souls in purgatory,are they completely gone, or have they passed through the veil? Sarah also does her "they're not dead; he'll bring them back" spiel when surrounded by the crew's bodies at the end, so are they next in line for the resurrection train? If so, why not just resurrect them in their own bodies?

Was there an FBI investigation after the sting? If not, why not and has the person who didn't sign off on an investigation get justly fired? If so, why didn't they scour every ounce of land that was owned by the cult? Sarah leads them to a hidey-hole with invaluable tapes that further the plot, but the fact that it was "hidden" doesn't mean much. A real investigation into a crime of this proportion would have had FBI boots on every pebble, river, and ramshackle structure that was on Jacobs's land and maybe even the land surrounding it.

Besides character and plot flaws, the direction is somewhat unmemorable, the special effects were passable, and the cinematography of dirty sadness that every horror cinematographer likes right now is getting old. Perhaps the best part of this film was the length. It was a standard 90 minutes, but it felt like half that time. Maybe I went into a fugue during most of the bickering between the crew and that shortened the time for me.

This film is mostly just sad to me because it really had a lot of potential but chose to take a route for which it wasn't interested in explaining the rules behind, and this frustrated me more than anything. If the found footage bits were a) significantly shortened and b) only from one angle, the way they should be; if the characters and their motivations or at the very least more personality traits were more dynamic and better defined; if the supernatural angle was removed and replaced with a sense of dread and shock that this man really had an innocent group of people (and maybe even himself) fooled; then maybe The Veil would have been a better movie.

A promising premise that, ultimately, fails to deliver.

[cheekysausage · 21 January 2016]

25 years (not 30 as the synopsis claims) after the mass suicide of a quasi-religious cult led by the charismatic Jim Jacobs, the sole survivor, Sarah (Lily Rabe) reluctantly agrees to revisit the remote house/church where the tragic events unfolded, accompanied by a documentary film crew led by Maggie (Jessica Alba).

It soon transpires that Alba's character has a personal agenda for making the film - her father was the FBI man who led a raid on the cult's HQ and, for reasons I won't go into, subsequently committed suicide. Her desire to get to the bottom of what drove her father to kill himself is mirrored by Sarah's need to understand why she alone survived the mass suicide. Throw in some decent, naturalistic acting and we're off to a good start. Sadly, this is where things start to go south.

On their first night at the house, one of the crew is so terrified by something he's seen that he takes off in their van and is discovered dead behind the wheel having apparently driven at speed into a tree. Rather than pack up there and then, Maggie insists on seeing the project through to its conclusion and, at this point, we descend into standard, seen-it-all-before horror.

Despite the fact that they have set up camp at what is effectively a major crime scene there are several film reels lying around that steadily reveal what Jacobs (Thomas Jane) and his acolytes were up to in the weeks leading up to their deaths. Why they were never removed as evidence is left unexplained as it would get in the way of the story. As the remaining crew go through the tapes one-by-one we discover that Jacobs was a foaming at the mouth, Waco-level wacko who was inducing his own death and subsequently being brought back to life after penetrating the three 'veils' of some higher consciousness, apparently represented by the three nails that held Jesus to the cross.

As each of the tapes is viewed Maggie's crew is picked off one-by-one until only Maggie and Sarah are left. At this point we realise that Sarah isn't quite what she first appeared and has lured Maggie and her crew to the house so that the spirits of Jacobs and his acolytes could take their revenge on Maggie for her father's sins and also give them a new 'host' body allowing them to return to earth in human form and execute their plan of building an army of immortals to take over the world. So much for the plot.

Technically, the film is well-enough executed with the mood and atmosphere creepy enough to keep you on edge as you await each shock moment. The acting is solid with the exception of Thomas Jane who, by the end of it, comes across like Billy Graham on crystal meth. He's a better actor than this and any blame for his caricature of a performance should be aimed at the director rather than Jane himself. The stand-out performer, in my opinion, was Lily Rabe who, as she did in American Horror Story, effortlessly moves from vulnerable to outright creepy with equal believability. Strangely enough, Jessica Alba - the lead - turns in such a low-key performance that she seemed to get lost in the proceedings for long periods of time. So much so that it was easy to forget that this was supposed to be Maggie's story.

In an overcrowded genre, it's difficult to bring anything new to the table. When I read the premise I had high hopes for The Veil but it's rapid descent into the formulaic was disappointing. That said, it had its moments and would by no means be the worst horror film I've ever seen.

Not too bad

[laurenreyes · 5/10 · 26 January 2016]

First of all i went in not knowing anything about this film it just caught my eye especially w the actors in it.. I believe this movie took certain big elements based on the actual Jonestown but completely made it their own and portrayed it with its own twist, theories and ghost stories. It did have it's spooky moments and it did its part in keeping you interested from beginning to end but I felt it could've been a little better in which I feel it was a little cheesy at certain parts and had a few plot holes.. I've seen worse and scarier movies but it's a nice quick watch if you're looking for something not too intricate or too scary with supernatural elements.. I feel like the ending could've been better but then again you can't expect too much with these type of movies so I guess it did fit for with the theme they were going for.. I did like the way they didn't do a footage style movie since they were filming a documentary based on this cult, also I liked how they portrayed two different angles such as flashbacks and present day it helped explain everything and give you a better visual on what happened, how it happened and why..aside from that give it a shot like I said if you take it for what it is it'll be a decent watch!

Pull the veil over this dud!

[chrismackey1972 · 4/10 · 23 January 2016]

In a way it was disappointing, but in another, it's what it claimed to be. A Jim Jones-type of guy (Thomas Jane) commits suicide with is cult, and several years later, the lone survivor -- Sara -- returns to the scene with a film crew headed by Jessica Alba. I won't give away any spoilers, but it was not good in my opinion. The acting was fine, but the story line was wanting. It was very slow to the point that it dragged in many places. I started it around 9:30 in the morning, and I was falling asleep half-way through. Much of the coloring looked like a transition between black-and-white and color, giving it a somewhat grayish look. Maybe I just saw a bad copy. It's not a found-footage film. I do not recommend.

I was ready to slam this...

[crdnlsyn13 · 7/10 · 15 May 2016]

...But, when all was said and done, I just couldn't. Could it have been better? Yes. Was it as bad as others here have written? No. I think the reason people here have given it a bad review, is that it IS lacking in some respects, however, it's an interesting story, original in it's execution. It's filmed beautifully, for a horror film. My kudos to the Cinematographer, it looks amazing.

I think most people now a days want their ghost stories to have more 'jump scares' and less 'story' and THAT'S why it's getting bad reviews. If they were more familiar with Rod Serling, or had seen some of the Hammer Film movies, they'd appreciate this one more.

This movie takes the typical 'abandoned cabin in the woods' story to an entirely different area, tying into 'true events' and putting a solid twist ending to good use.

I rated it a 7-10 because I think what this movie really needed was MORE Thomas Jane, and maybe some John Carpenter-esque sound tracks, but over all I enjoyed this movie more than I expected it to.

Nightmare On Nail Street

[modernmonstersdotnet · 3/10 · 21 September 2016]

A grim answer to the question "What the heck happened to Jessica Alba?", The Veil starts with a blasphemous mass and ends with a crucifixion. Heavily relying on the Jim Jones' mass suicide with just a dash of the Manson family, it mixes classic cinematography with post-modern seasoning, found footage (please Lord, make it STOP!) and an unreliable narrator. Mix the whole in a Cabin in the Woods environment (after carefully expunging all said movie's cleverness and voilà, here's your bad movie of the week. You watch what is filmed of the characters; you watch what the characters film; you also watch a lot of the characters watching the movie they found. Call it meta if you wish. One calls it crap.

Sarah Hope, natch (Lili Rabe, of American Horror Story's fame, here given absolutely nothing to do) is the sole survivor of Heaven's Veil, a cult led by Jim Jacobs (Tomas Jane, hamming it up as if the world was really about to end). Maggie Price, natch (Jessica Alba) wants to shoot a documentary on the massacre, because her father, an FBI agent, committed suicide after such an horror happened on his watch. She has a crew, which bears no importance whatsoever since they will all die anyway. OK. Let's share a moment of non-nonsense approach now, shall we?

So: jump scares (at least 6), rocking chair, moth, whispering ghosts, scary doll, spiritualism seance, demonic mumbo-jumbo, torch lights running out of battery, no cellphone coverage. All checked. Everything that could possibly go wrong does so from the start, but the characters are real troopers, so they carry on. Also, they are dumb as dumb can be. Wait a minute, no cymbal-crashing monkey?

For some reason, there is ONE videotape, labeled "Experiment 23", and it's shitty as hell, but all the rest is shot in glorious Super 8 Cinemascope, immaculately edited, of course. What Experiment 23 shows makes no sense whatsoever to what will follow, but they all get hooked on it like a 20$ hooker on her first crack pipe. "We need to watch the rest of these films", someone says. NOOOOOO! RUUUUUUN!

Not to spoil much, but Jim Jacobs aims at retrieving the three nails of the Cross to acquire eternal life, a project absolutely as legit as ruling the world via the creation of a social network or creating new California property development land through an earthquake. Jesus was nailed to the Cross, so the spirit is nailed to the body, you know. Of course you do.

Embarrassed by so many references it would be pedantic and tedious to list them, movie pedestrianly proceeds to its bitter end. FBI has ESP. Sarah is not what she seems to be. Jessica Alba gets immortal the hard way. Now let's all have a quizz: why is that thing called The Veil? Oh, rutabaga.

Surprise

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 5 May 2016]

Not only that this was actually pretty decent, but also looking at the rating of this. While other (mediocre) efforts in the horror genre have been lauded and got better reviews, this actually builds suspense and can sustain it, but does not to hit the spot with at least a lot of people here on IMDb.

The story is out there, even if it is based on something real and something horrible (cult, mass murder/suicide), which might be something some people may have an issue with. If you can detach this from reality (it's a movie after all and if any of it were true it would be more than frightening of course), you can have fun and be scared - all the things this movie promises as entertainment

Predictable as hell

[davish_wulf-1 · 3/10 · 22 January 2016]

It seems some people get offended when non-movie experts review a movie. Well I might not be a "movie-expert", a director or whatever, but I sure know what works for me or not. A review is ALWAYS personal and there's no genre in movies more personal than Terror/horror movies - what works for me might work for a few and not work at all for many.

That being said, movie starts well, good balance between "lost-footage" (that i hate BTW) camera-type and "normal" camera view. Eerie music and atmosphere, movie is good until about an half, then it starts going down and down the drain, with a very predictable story and ending.

Thomas Jane as a serious case of over-acting here and just gets worst and worst towards the end. Jessica Alba is almost a secondary role. Movie turns into a possession average flick, with a twist in the end that every one is expecting already.

End-shot before the end sums it all perfectly. A movie full of holes that lacks charisma, suspense and surprises.

Nothing new here, the same old "get in a shack, kill'em all" style of movie that's been tirelessly done for some decades now.

Creepy and unnerving

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 19 April 2018]

Troubled Sarah Hope (a fine performance by Lily Rabe) is the sole survivor of a mass suicide committed by a religious cult headed by the crazed, but charismatic Jim Jacobs (an amazing and electrifying live-wire portrayal by Thomas Jane, who channels the spirit of both Jim Jones and Jim Morrison). Sarah is convinced by a team of documentary filmmakers to return to the place where the tragedy occurred back in the mid-1980's only to discover that those terrible past events aren't exactly over yet.

Director Phil Joanou relates the absorbing story at a constant pace, makes the most out of the spooky fog-shrouded forest main location, and ably crafts an eerie and unsettling atmosphere. Robert Ben Grant's grim script puts a novel and inspired supernatural twist on the religious cult premise as well as remains fiercely true to itself to the literal bitter end. While Rabe and especially Jane cop the top acting honors, Jessica Alba contributes a solid turn as eager and obsessive reporter Maggie Price, Aleksa Palladino impresses as loyal follower Karen Sweetzer, and Shannon Woodward registers well as the sassy and sensible Jill. Steeven Petitteville's bleached-out widescreen cinematography provides an appropriately gloomy and grayish look. Nathan Whitehead's shivery score hits the shuddery spot. A worthwhile horror film.

I'm hard to please and I liked this

[elizrug · 7/10 · 20 April 2016]

I am the biggest critic of horror films. If there's just one thing that doesn't seem right, I automatically dislike a film. I really liked this, though.

It has a unique story, one that hasn't been touched upon very often: scary cults. It has a good cast who all work well together. There's not too much crappy dialogue, like the ubiquitous "Die you f-ing b****!" that is found in a lot of movies. (I've never understood how someone, who is fighting for their life, could be thinking of screaming cuss words at an attacker, and I curse like a truck driver.) I'm not a huge fan of Jessica Alba but this role worked for her.

The scares were a success. I jumped a couple of times.

Overall I think it's a very good scary movie. Is it Oscar-worthy? No, but that's not why I watched it.

Epic Veil.........

[FlashCallahan · 3/10 · 4 February 2016]

So the story goes.

The girl from American Horror Story who looks a bit like Benedict Cumberbatch is the only survivor of a cult mass suicide which happened in the eighties.

So what's the best thing to do to get over watching so many people die under the influence of a mad man? Why, you take a documentary team to the actual place that hasn't been touched by hand in a long time, film all the events there, and not just that, stay there as well. Because that's good counselling........

Another Blumhouse release, another damp squib for the horror genre, and to be brutally honest, if it wasn't for the fact that Jessica Alba is one of the main stars, I wouldn't have given this a second look (I'm an Alba fan, and not for her acting skills), as it just looks like a sort of sequel to the found footage film Th Sacrament, which was released a couple of years ago, and miles better.

So it ticks every single box in the 'something bad happened here a while ago, let's go and film there' sub genre.

People walk off to get something from somewhere along way away.

There are ghostly images when camera footage is being played back.

People see things, that no one else can.

Certain people start to act weird.

And there's always that strange old man who is standing at the gate for reasons unknown.

And the film is as boring as it sounds, which is a shame. Because Joanou has made some wonderful movies (State Of Grace is a classic), and the flashback sequences are pretty effective.

And then there is Thomas Jane. For some reason, Jane has been channeling Michael Hutchence in his last few films, and as his parts are all set in the eighties, he performs in excess to his requirements, and the white suit just adds to his pantomime take on the cult leader.

And this is the fundamental problem with the film, if you can't take the antagonist of the narrative seriously, then the rest of the film is pointless.

Yes, there are the jump scares, and the weird people standing in corridors who weren't there before, but we've seen this a thousand times before, and it doesn't get effective with each film, and the jump scares are more annoying than thrilling.

We have the obligatory twist come the end, but you'll be as bored as Alba, I'm sure she was yearning for Sue Storm, so she could disappear........

Jump Scares for Lack of Substance

[codyalansmitherman · 4/10 · 9 October 2017]

I can see where they were trying to go with this movie and where they fell short. At first, I loved the concept and basic direction. But then the movie's plot holes and overall less than stellar writing make its appearance. At times I was almost offended how the director apparently assumed that the audience is stupid.

On the opposite side of that coin, the movie has an all-star cast of great supporting characters. Lily Rabe basically just brings her AHS character over but it fits well. Meegan Warner is just as believable and talented as she is in Turn. Shannon Woodward really steals almost every scene she is in. Alba is serviceable in the movie while Jane is guilty of overacting at times.

Overall its not the worst horror ever but with the cast, it falls way short of its potential. It fell into the same trap many horror movies do, relying on jump scares to overshadow bad writing.

Only Jessica Alba...

[Thanos_Alfie · 5/10 · 6 February 2016]

"The Veil" is a Horror movie in which we watch a documentary crew going to a house where 25 years before members of a religious cult committed a mass suicide.From this suicide only one person saved and this lone survivor accepted to be a part of this crew.

This movie is the definition of one woman's movie. The plot is not something special and the direction which made by Phil Joanou is also not something that worth to be mentioned. Because of the low budget of this movie the result is a medium type of movie. With only one famous actor playing, Jessica Alba they tried to convince people of watching it. The interpretation of Jessica Alba who played as Maggie Price was not so good and of course was not something that I expected.

Finally I have to say that "The Veil" is a poor movie and is not worth watching it because there plenty of other better horror movies to watch if you want. Now if you are a fan of Jessica Alba and you want to watch this movie just be prepared for the worst because you are going to be let down for sure.

sort of a mess

[jdollak · 3/10 · 29 March 2016]

I was a little surprised to see another movie based on the Jim Jones massacre after watching The Sacrament recently. This movie takes a strangely supernatural approach to the subject matter, which could be a decent idea. However, the movie gradually falls apart the longer it goes on.

The first misstep is the photography. I've seen this trend toward using washed out colors in horror movies, and every time I see it, I hate it a little more. I want to see what happens. I don't want to spend my time trying to figure out what I'm looking at. The approach comes across like a muddy black-and-white picture with very low contrast. Mix this with mostly dark interiors and exteriors, a bit of shaky-cam, and I have no clue why I'm still watching.

Then the story gets going. A documentary crew arrives at the compound where a cult committed mass suicide during the 80s. The crew has a guest - the one survivor of that mass suicide, who doesn't remember anything. Until, of course, she does.

A bunch of stuff happens, involving people moving around inside and outside a house. Ghosts are involved, and some sort of possession. All of this is a dull slog, since it's hard to care about it if you can't understand what you're watching. Mostly interchangeable characters also make this hard to follow.

The one saving grace that the movie has is the flashback scenes, which we get to watch in the form of videos that the crew watches. There are a few questions I have about this. Why are they using a projector when there are VHS tapes? When we go into watching one of these movies, how are these nicely edited with multiple camera angles? This is supposed to be a found-footage portion of the story, but it's actually better than the rest of the movie. At least, it seems that way because it's got better lighting than the rest of it.

The twist to the story is that the cult was actually right. They had found some path to immortality of the soul (or something like that). They were in the process of going through the last step when the police arrived and interrupted it, ensuring that everyone would die.

Why did the police arrive then?

The logistical and plot problems of the story aren't the biggest offense. What bothered me the most was how the story effectively tries to give credibility to Jim Jones. It sucks all of the horror out of these charismatic leaders that persuade (and force) people to do their bidding, and exchanges that for a cartoonish ghost villain.

In summary, this movie took a premise that was legitimately scary, then tried to justify the real horrors, then turned the source of that horror into a misunderstood ghost.

Nothing scary in it. Mostly boring, but also sort of puzzling. I have the feeling that the twist was so central in the writer's mind that he never considered if it was a good idea or not.

A good horror movie.

[Patient444 · 6/10 · 21 January 2016]

Finally! I saw something better! It's been a while, well, with the exception of Sweet Home, good productions are rare these days.

Let me start by saying I am a huge Thomas Jane fan, so of course I may get a little subjective here, but beside his great acting skills and the rest of the crew involved, The Veil does deliver. A nice plot, used so many times, way better job this time, some good jump scares, intrigue and a good ending. I would almost grade it a 7, but I'm going to give it 6 stars, cause it got predictable real fast. My only complaint about the movie.

The Veil is a nice surprise, a great start this year for horror fans, so far at least, lets keep our fingers crossed and see what else is out there!

Cheers!

There is so much more on Netflix

[sukanya-samy · 5/10 · 28 October 2016]

Jessica Alba, Lily Rabe (from the American Horror Story) and Thomas Jane (from The Mist fame) star in this low-budget horror film and I admit, the star cast itself made me want to see the movie. Its on Netflix and its fairly a recent release, so I was like why not. The movie has some surprises which I didn't anticipate, so I am making sure this review does not have spoilers.

First reviewed on broth of blogs

It connects to a true story about Jim Jones, played by Thomas Jane and how he ordered mass suicides, which resulted in the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a deliberate act until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Plot and Script

25 years after a cult commits what looks like a mass-suicide, the lone survivor Sarah Hope (Rabe) decides to go back to the house where it all happened. Only this time, she has Alba and her crew to film her reactions. Alba has another motive – she is the daughter of the FBI agent who raided the place and her father committed suicide just days after the raid. Alba feels connected to Rabe because the same incident destroyed both their families. Upon arriving at the crime scene, weird things start happening and they discover tapes that the leader of the cult, Jane had recorded. They find out the main purpose of the cult was not just to follow their leader, but more sinister.

Without going into details, the plot has major holes. There is no explanation about how the crew who is watching the tape is able to see the incidents like they were actually there – and so you as the audience, is even more confused. The first 30 minutes is really interesting but then it starts tumbling down without logic.

Characterization and Acting (C&A)

Thomas Jane gives a great performance as the leader of the cult and you can see why people would follow him. Its amazing how some of these guys can brainwash an entire sect but that's the power that ordinary people give these guys.

Alba and Rabe were just OK, no great shakes. The others didn't have much of a part to play.

The thing that annoyed me most was that when weird things start happening, they would be like, ya okay, this is nothing. Wouldn't you be on the edge? Wouldn't you not volunteer to go alone into a house where you heard whispers?

Well, our characters did all those stupid things and more.

Sounds and Effects (S&E)

Another thing I hate about horror movies nowadays are the nonsensical jump scenes. Just putting a loud noise with a sudden break in the visual is not called a jump scare people, its just noise. I think some of the more nuanced filmmakers understand that – like James Wan. When you see his movies, you will realize that he uses sounds to build up the tension, not just use a loud sound to make you jump.

Cinematography and Visuals (C&V)

A large part of the movie is in the dark, so it is a little difficult to see but the I like the look of the film. It is deliberately washed out to convey the tragedy. The old films of the cult also show the 70s/80s where everything was so sepia and hippie.

Direction and Overall (D &O)

I wish the movie didn't take a super-natural turn. The first half hour had so much promise. And I wish the story explained more of what was happening – the reactions to some of the incidents in the house were just idiotic and unexplained.

So here are my scores:

Plot and Script (P&S)- 0.5

Characterization and Acting (C&A) – 1

Sounds and Effects (S&E) – 1

Cinematography and Visuals (C&V) – 1.5

Direction and Overall (D &O) – 1

Overall Score – 5 out of 10

Watch it if you are really really bored and you have tonnes of time, its on Netflix. First reviewed on broth of blogs on wordpress

Not Perfect, but Still Entertaining

[shannonlong636 · 7/10 · 10 September 2020]

First, before I get into the movie, can I please just say that if you only watch the first 15 minutes of a film and then turn it off (as one reviewer said they did), please don't write a review of it. Clearly, you can't give an informed opinion if you only watch a fraction of the film.

OK, The Veil is not a big budget, blood and gore, jump scare heavy sort of movie, so if that's what you're looking for then this one is probably not for you. This one is more of a tense, unnerving film with an indie feel to it that works for the story and lends it realism. Its dark atmosphere is unsettling and lasts from start to finish. Thomas Jane is perfect in his role, which is unlike any other I've seen him in. This one just worked on many levels. It has its flaws, but all in all, I found it entertaining and worth watching.

Thomas Jane manages to save it.

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 29 May 2021]

In the mid-1980s, a cult residing at the woodsy domain of Heaven's Veil committed mass suicide, at the instigation of their leader, Jim Jacobs (an eerily convincing Thomas Jane). 25 years later, a documentary film crew led by Maggie Price (Jessica Alba) returns to the scene of the crime, accompanied by Sarah Hope (Lily Rabe), the sole survivor of that massacre who was only five years old at the time. Naturally, horror and death are soon to follow; Maggie and company are cliched horror movie characters who are much too stupid to get out while the getting is good.

Although directed by a capable, experienced filmmaker, Phil Joanou ("Three O'Clock High", "State of Grace"), much of what goes on here is pretty uninspired. "The Veil" takes us on a gloomy, atmospheric, but predictable journey. The film eventually turns into "found footage" material, and said footage is certainly better than the present-day narrative. Unfortunately, so many of the characters are utterly bland and forgettable, including Maggie; they lack any interesting or entertaining attributes. Joanou tries to make this visually enticing, with decent widescreen photography and a desaturated colour scheme. But the only thing really worth watching in this routine shocker is Janes' performance. Here, he has one of his better roles and gives one of his best performances. Jim Jacobs is as scary a cult leader as you'll ever see in this type of yarn.

"The Veil" is moderately watchable, but its story & characters, for the most part, failed to really engage this viewer.

Five out of 10.

A good production in a genre with very few

[elfinspace23 · 8/10 · 7 February 2016]

Firstly, I agree with another reviewer, please try to not critically analyse a horror movie too much or there will never be a rating over 4.

Secondly, This is a very sound film, nervy, tense, suspenseful, with a good cast, script and production. It kept me relatively on the edge of my seat throughout the film. Yes it may have been a little predictable, but aren't most films these days. As it happens i really enjoyed this horror movie, Jessica Alba is obviously the stand out, but pretty much the whole cast puts in a decent effort.

The movie plays like it is based on a true story, i don't know whether or not this is the case, but the fact it plays like this adds to the scare factor. Usually the more fact based a horror is the more it can creep you out.

Anyway, its a good film, don't be put off by the naysayers and give it a shot. I gave it an inflated 8, as its in a genre where there is so few half decent films about.

Horror Worth Watching

[parsonm2 · 7/10 · 13 March 2017]

This is one that slipped by me.

The reviews seemed mediocre to average on IMDb which generally among horror ratings means it may be decent. I avoided spoilers on this one since there seemed to be a mystery of sorts involved. This is a decent supernatural horror movie. I've seen a couple movies based on Jim Jones type suicide cults, its been done before and as good as some have been, seeing more of the same generally doesn't interest me. This was something completely different though more akin to H.P. Lovecraft's "The Thing on the Doorstep" or the movie "Skeleton Key" which I won't go into detail about but I'd recommend for similar reasons. Needless to say, I enjoyed it. It's not stellar but it's good and well done.

Really, really bad.

[smither-13974 · 2/10 · 2 February 2016]

Anyone who appreciates real horror/suspense will not like this film. So predictable, so unoriginal. I gave it a 3/10 and that was being generous. Makes little to no sense whatsoever. Honestly, it wasn't even entertaining in a "it's so bad it's good" kind of way. Just straight bad. Predictable from the 1st 20 minutes. In no way surprising, exciting, original, suspenseful, nothing. It had a lot of potential, and I thought the story line sounded really interesting. Unfortunately, it fell very short of its potential. It felt like it took a variety of concepts from other, better horror movies and tried to mix them together in an unsuccessful attempt.

I'd Much Rather See An Actual Jim Jones Film...

[MovieHoliks · 3/10 · 1 February 2016]

Please check out all our reviews, plus lots of good interaction and group discussion about anything/everything movies/TV/entertainment at: I watched this brand new horror flick off Netflix over the weekend, and wow, this was god-AWFUL! Jessica Alba stars in this story of a documentary crew doing a film about a "Jones Town" like incident that occurred in the '80s involving a charismatic cult leader (Thomas Jane), and scary things start occurring. I would much rather have liked to have seen an actual movie about Jim Jones, and the whole series of events. I know there is that '70s TV mini-series with Powers Boothe, and I "think" Hollywood will actually be making a big screen movie about the story coming up-?? This movie, however, was just one big typical cliché'd horror fest.