Jinn – 2014
Jinn is a fantasy/horror flick from 2014. I would say it’s mostly horror though. I use the term fantasy more for films like Willow. Happy little tales that takes the form of fairytales. This is much darker. With that, I’m not saying that a fairytale or a fantasy movie can’t be dark. I just wanted to elaborate a little bit on that so you won’t get the wrong impression of this demonic film.
Domenic Rains plays the role of Shawn, who early in the film gets a package from his long-dead father. In the package, there’s a VHS tape. That’s not something strange if you at my age but the main characters in Jinn aren’t that old så they don’t have a VHS player at home. However, Shawn has one at the office (for some reason) so he can watch it. Immediately after he’s seen the footage of his father telling him that he is special and that he (the father) has failed Shawn now must take over the fight against the evil powers in the world. He’s told that he has friends and allies that he needs to seek out. However, I don’t think he gets a single clue where to look.
Fight for survival
But, of course, these friends find him just when strange things are starting to happen to him and his girlfriend. They explain that from the beginning God created three kinds of beings. Humans are made of clay, Angels are made of light, and the Jinn is made out of fire. Jinn ruled the earth for thousands of years before Humans became the dominant pieces and now they want that power back. Everything escalated pretty fast and soon Shawn needs to fight for his survival. There are ancient rituals he must go through, where the Jinn deceives him and tries to make him weak, or even go insane. He must conquer his innermost immense fear.
In the ritual Allah is called upon, yet there is some Christian connection in the movie as well. I think that Judaism is mentioned as well. That indicates to me that the Jinn is very old and mentioned in the most ancient of texts. So ancient that the great world religions haven’t even formed yet. Thus it’s a common enemy to all, regardless of religion. I like that. Unfortunately, Jinn is a slow-paced and fairly uninteresting movie. There are highlights, but it never really ignites. I think that’s a shame since the Jinns are one of my favorite monsters/demons in religious horror movies. But, I guess you can’t win them all…
