Drug dealer Ryan James is kidnapped and finds himself forced to play games against other victims for his life. Having seemingly escaped the clutches of his mysterious captors, Ryan enters a police station and demands an audience only with detective Jen Porhowski. Initially disbelieving of his claims of a supernatural killer, she is finally obliged to accompany him to the underground car park where it all started, because of claims that more people are going to die that night. However, Ryan has done a deal for his own life by handing over Porhowski into the possession of a centuries old demon which feeds on people's sins past, present and future...

The Entrance is purported to be based on true events, and like most films that make this claim you feel it is only being said in order to bolster a script which might otherwise have trouble standing on its own two feet. The grip on true-life fact is tenuous, being a priest's ancient writings about a demon-possessed nun.

Although hardly compelling, this psychological horror flick is mildly intriguing. The enforced gaming reminds me somewhat of Saw and other similar examples. But I liked the idea of the losing player's sins being projected on to a wall for the others to see. Another nice touch is when Porhowski's father suffers a heart attack, which in reality is the demon tearing out his heart from his body - an event only us as the viewing public can see.

Although this film has acquired certain minor awards (mainly for Michael Ecklund's performance of Ryan James, which is admittedly convincingly unbalanced), it is only an average outing which is unlikely to whet the appetite of horror aficionados.

4

Ty Power