Leofwine_draca THE AFFLICTED is an example of the 'misery lit' genre writ on film. It's an indie drama that follows a quartet of siblings as they're subjected to abuse by their religious, crazed mother. Aside from the presence of Jason star Kane Hodder in the cast, this has no horror content and is merely depressing. If you just like seeing people getting abused for the entire running time then you might just enjoy it; otherwise, if you're looking for proper plotting, character development, etc. then I'd recommend checking elsewhere.

marywithrow555 Probley could have been made with a $100.00 and your phone camera. I seriously would not waste your time and money. Another "follow me around,shaky video tape me". (I can not call this a movie). film. The only half way decent part of this was the picture to advertise it. Really. So don't waste your time or money. It truly was not worth my gas to get there. Probley could have been made with a $100.00 and your phone camera. I seriously would not waste your time and money. Another "follow me around and shaky video tape me". (I can not call this a movie). film. The only half way decent part of this was the picture to advertise it. Really. So don't waste your time or money. It truly was not worth my gas to get there.

carmelahayslett I really liked this film! Don't get me wrong... it's not enjoyable or an easy film to watch but I highly respect how disturbing and depressing this film was. I originally wanted to watch it on Netflix because I saw Leslie Easterbrook is in it (I'm a big fan) and what I found was a riveting, well-performed thriller. Some elements of the film were a bit hard to believe but all in all I wasn't disappointed. If anyone gives this movie a lousy rating just for being disturbing than they don't understand that it was supposed to be disturbing. This isn't a happy family film. In fact, it's a hopeless film all the way through. There's no playing with emotions here. This is a heartless story about a human monster.

Corpus_Vile Maggie (A great, if slightly manic performance from Leslie Easterbrook, aka Callahan from Police Academy!) is a god fearing Christian woman, married to Hank (A nicely done cameo from Kane Hodder). When their marriage fails, due to Maggie's uncompromising fire and brimstone style views, Maggie becomes bitter, resentful and beset with financial woes. Taking to the drink, she begins endlessly watching the public access TV show of the Cowboy Preacher (JD Hart), who comes to visit at times. Spare the rod and spoil the child, the family must stick together, is what the cowboy preaches from Maggie's TV.As the financial difficulties worsen, Maggie begins to fancy she can converse with God, and that her children should pull together, and chip in anyway they can. If that means doing things they normally wouldn't do, then so be it. And if any dissent ensues, well, Maggie is more than willing to dispense her own quite vicious brand of discipline, because spare the rod, and spoil the child, after all...The Afflicted is a well shot and well acted horror, with good performances all around, from a nice cameo from Hodder to an excellent (if again, slightly ott) performance from Easterbrook.It's also pretty grim, with a bleak tone, and will probably inevitably draw comparisons with The Girl Next Door. However, my main beef with this was that it requires serious suspension of disbelief, and I'm actually wondering if it really is based on a true story as it claims or if this is just a marketing ploy, the way Wolf Creek was supposedly based on a true story, when in reality it was simply loosely influenced by a number of true life cases.The kids, who are all between 17 and 18, one of them a guy, have ample opportunity throughout the film (at least by default anyway) to either escape, report or even overpower Easterbrook, yet don't. This detracts from any tension, and makes it hard to take the whole thing seriously. Most if not all of the supporting characters outside the family are stereotypical rednecks, and towards the end, you're just kinda waiting for things to finish.The Afflicted isn't precisely a bad film, it's more of a flawed one, but overall, I found it neither stand out or substandard. It just failed to leave a lasting impression on me, well made and well acted that it was. 5/10 probably worth a look actually, to make one's own mind up.