Passable Spanish Horror The Communion Girl (2023) Musters Up Weak Scares
Title: The Communion Girl
First Non-Festival Release: February 1, 2023 (Premiere)
Director: Victor Garcia
Writer: Guillem Clua, Víctor Garcia, Alberto Marini
Runtime: 98 Minutes
Starring: Carla Campra, Aina Quiñones, Marc Soler
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
The nature of curses has always been a fascinating element in horror. The idea that something beyond this world can deliver a person to a pre-determined fate is both scary and compelling. Curses can be used for a myriad of reasons in stories.
In The Communion Girl, the central curse stems from revenge. Sara (Carla Campra) finds herself trapped in the clutches of a terrifying curse from a spirit in a new town after she and her family recently relocated due to a job opportunity. When out with friends already way passed curfew, Sara believes she sees a lost girl in the middle of the woods. Varying reactions to this news all yield one result: each of her friends dragging Sara back into the car. Soon, Sara and her friends begin having strange experiences that slowly escalate in danger. Sara believes this all comes back to the girl and makes it her mission to find out if she is the same girl that vanished from her communion years ago.
Generic and inoffensive, The Communion Girl is a fine little supernatural curse film that doesn’t set out to reinvent the wheel.
The beginning of this supernatural slasher starts promising enough before devolving into a standard affair for this type of film. After a strong showing from its prologue, wrought with mystery and cool imagery, Sara is introduced to the audience. As Sara goes about her day, she picks up that things aren’t right in the village before eventually crossing paths with the titular spirit. Things fall apart rather quickly as she teams up with her friends to uncover the truth behind the local legend. The Communion Girl, however, doesn’t do much with its premise leading to a generic supernatural horror film.
Curse based horror films thrive on the hopelessness of their main character’s dilemma, The Communion Girl flounders on setting up an interesting or truly terrifying consequence for failing to break its curse. As the crew wanders through town to find answers to the legend, they are mildly tormented by the ghosts that crossed their paths. Since they are so unaware, the rules often change. There isn’t much of a rhyme or reason for why things happen other than the cursed doll initiated everything. As the cliches pile up, the film gets more undifferentiable from other horror films. Being forgettable isn’t the worst thing a film can do, but it does feel disappointing given the ideas in the film aren’t all too bad. They are merely unrealized.
Capable performances bring out the life from the various stock characters inhabiting the small town where The Communion Girl is set. Carla Campra gives an impassioned performance as Sara, balancing the desire to help those around her with the usual teen angst that has her rebelling against authority figures. Aina Quiñones and Marc Soler do fine jobs as Sara’s closest friends, with Quiñones delivering some particularly haunting moments as the audience gets a better glimpse into her home life.
Strong cinematography and capable directing add credence to the weak script while evoking imagery of more successful paranormal horror films of the last two decades. There’s nothing wrong with retreading familiar territory; with the right script and cast it’s still possible to create a stellar horror film. The Communion Girl certainly understands how to follow the greats. Still, the team behind The Communion Girl finds ways to make the quaint Spanish countryside look menacing and adventurous all the same, especially late at night. The church and surrounding area offer some seriously spooky scenes that give the film just a bit more punch to it.
There isn’t much left to say about The Communion Girl as it is a generic supernatural horror offering without much new to say. It manages to eek out a nice scare or two along the way of its familiar tale. Solid production values and fine performances mean that the quality is there, if only the story followed. If you are looking for a few hours to kill on Shudder, The Communion Girl isn’t the worst way to take up your rites as a horror fan.
Overall Score? 5/10
