It’s surprising that voodoo or hoodoo-based horror movies aren’t more prominent. The most notable entries in this niche subgenre are imbued with mystery, the mysticism of its magicks lending a sense of newness. That’s why hoodoo horror movie Spell and its promise of hoodoo exploration via boogedy dolls, arriving just in time for Halloween, intrigues. Unfortunately, despite a fascinating concept, Spell fails to conjure up any magic.  

Marquis (Omari Hardwick) long ago left his Appalachian roots behind to become a highly successful businessman with a family of his own. He’s forced to confront his roots, however, with the passing of his father. While flying to rural Appalachia to attend his father’s funeral, a sudden storm causes him to lose control of his plane. He wakes in the attic of a strange home, owned by friendly local Ms. Eloise (Loretta Devine). Wounded and alone, with no trace of his family anywhere, Eloise promises she can restore his health by using his blood, skin, and bodily fluids to create a boogedy doll. It quickly becomes apparent that Eloise is a dark magic practitioner and has no intention of letting him go.

Directed by Mark Tonderai (House at the End of the Street) from a script by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium, Sphere), Spell is clunky. From the first intro with protagonist Marquis, the heavy-handedness in hinting toward his childhood abuse at his dad’s hands perfectly captures the messy storytelling that will ensue. The family dynamics are presented haphazardly, allowing only just enough time to sort who’s who, before Marquis is ripped away and confined to a Misery-type film that sees him bedridden and subjected to torture by a madwoman with a friendly face.

Motivations are scarce or slow to reveal themselves until far too late. Plot beats prominently showcased wind up not amounting to much or lacking in meaning, removing any stakes or nuance in the process. Before Marquis even appears on the screen, his character arc begins aurally, setting up deep-seated daddy issues that don’t factor in with any purpose outside of possibly explaining why he might be predisposed to surviving a clan of rural hoodoo practitioners. It takes far too long for Eloise’s reasoning for keeping Marquis prisoner to present itself, and when it does, the knee-jerk response is that we’ve seen it handled much more coherently before already. Devine gives it her all to imbue Eloise with charming menace, but there’s nothing for her to sink her teeth into. Marquis is a character forced to make baffling choices. All of which to say that Spell lacks characterization. There’s no rooting interest at all, and only extreme moments of torture or body horror elicit any viewer reaction. 

The boogedy doll’s introduction is fresh and offers up glimpses of entertaining horror- mostly courtesy of the production design and set dressing- but it too is mainly sidelined until the third act. When the third act does arrive, it’s hard to care about any of it. A paper-thin plot without stakes, build, or suspense makes for a lackluster experience. There’s a great idea buried deep within a clunky movie and a few moments of gruesome horror, but mostly Spell inflicts a curse upon its viewer by wasting great potential for intriguing hoodoo horror.

Spell releases on VOD and in select theaters on October 30, 2020.