Rish Outfield's reviews
I don't believe this film did very well when it was released a couple of years back. No one I know went to it, and it wasn't heavily publicized (they used the T-word, of course, in the ads). But you know, this was a great movie.
Denzel Washington plays detective John Hobbes, who helped catch soon-to-be-executed serial murderer Edgar Reese. But after Reese's death, the killings start up again, leading Hobbes to realize that there is a demon at work, that moves from body to body like a. . .a. . . . a demon, I guess.
Clever and eeeevil, as I said, this was a nice flick, an much better than expected. I never get sick of telling you that having my expectations exceeded is the best thing about seeing movies. It featured a nice cast, with good performances by Washington, Donald Sutherland, Army of Darkness's Embeth Davidtz, and big ole John Goodman. There were more than a couple real creepy moments in the film, and I don't know if I can ever hear the Rolling Stones song "Time Is On My Side" again without looking over my shoulder. The demon, Azazel, was scary because he was able to jump into his hosts simply by touching them, so he could be anyone, anywhere, and his hosts didn't even know they had been ‘occupied' by him after the fact. Plus, he was one evil sucker. Often, when Azazel travels from one host to another, we see his floating POV. The camera tricks were novel and fun, even though I've seen it done a few times on "Star Trek" episodes. I wasn't thrilled about the title (still ain't), but it wasn't bad enough to merit a skull.
Very well-written, the best thing about this film was the script. Clever, scary moments, intelligent characters, and dialogue that went the extra mile, I found it endlessly interesting. Me, I'm a smart guy, and I had found a pretty major plothole in the story. I figured I had one thing over on the finale, but even that wasn't so. For once, it was nice to be wrong.
Best Scare: Well, there was one very tense scene when Washington was walking around an abandoned cabin (but how abandoned?). But also, the whole idea of a demon that can leap from host to host in a second was very frightening, especially in a scene where it attempts to catch and possess one of our heroes.
I'd Recommend It To: Detective-Horror fans. Check it out.

The tyranist's thoughts
I thought the trailers for this were intriguing, but I never bothered to see it in the theatre. I wish I had. While there is a little bit of predictability to the story, I think that the big screen would have made the creepy bits even creepier and the whole experience a little more immersive.
I like Denzel Washington and I've been fond of Embeth Davidtz for a while. Add to them Donald Sutherland and John Goodman and you have some fine performances. The script is solid even though it seems to have been cut in a few places for time. There is just the feeling that there should have been a little more, a few more things explained and maybe just a little more character development. Still, when the movie gets creepy, it gets really creepy.
Not as violent or even as scary as most horror flicks, this has that extra little Biblical edge to push it into a higher grade film.
I guess my only real complaint was that it felt too short. It isn't really, clocking in just over two hours, but it felt that way and that is what is significant. It's confusing, but I'm not sure who would like this movie. I dug on it and wanted to see more and I think most people would get into it, but who knows really? It was an odd little film that some people will probably really enjoy and some will be annoyed by.