With Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring franchise, James Wan has delivered a steady stream of spooky and sinister supernatural horror films. Now, teaming with screenwriter Akela Cooper and his wife, actress Ingrid Bisu, he’s concocted a far-fetched yet stylishly schlocky tale.
Set in Seattle, the plot revolves around a vulnerable young woman, Madison Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis), who has suffered multiple miscarriages and is pregnant again when her abusive husband (Jake Abel) beats her, smashing her head against a wall so severely that the back of her head is bloodied. After he's killed by an intruder, distraught Madison wakes up in a hospital and is devastated to learn that she has lost her baby.
Soon after returning to their Victorian home, Madison experiences horrific ‘visions’ of other people being brutally killed by the same unrecognizable intruder. Comforted by her devoted sister (Maddie Hasson), confused Madison tries to explain what’s she’s experiencing to doubting homicide detectives (George Young, Michole Briana White).
Meanwhile, Madison is receiving mysterious psychic messages from a creepy entity called Gabriel, which was the name of her childhood imaginary friend. Gabriel’s shadowy emergence then unlocks memories of a psychiatric hospital that she’s suppressed for years. While much of the campy action is ridiculous, filmmaker Wan delivers a weird, totally surprising twist.
In publicity blurbs, he refers to this as his take on the giallo films by Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, and Sergio Martino made popular in Italy during the 60s and 70s. They always involve a female protagonist who sees a grisly, gruesome murder and is then subject to paranoia and hallucinations. FYI: The Seattle Underground is a real tour that’s open to the public. Optional.