How does Eli compare to other horror movies that focus on haunted houses, demonic possession, the occult? She watched her son go on a supernatural rampage that left her husband, Dr. Eli is brought in for his first round of treatment, which Dr Horn says might make him worse before he gets better. They were not cured as he was promised; Perry, Lucius, and Agnes were each killed by this next treatment. Once Eli puts the pieces of this peculiar puzzle together, the ghosts back off and Haley waits. In the not-so-good doctor's bedroom, a buzzing mosquito draws his attention to an old photo of Thorn and her colleagues dressed as nuns in full habits. A much better twist than if Haley were just another ghost.
Since Eli earlier voiced the possibility, it's not much of a surprise when we learn that Dr. In a last-ditch attempt to cure him, his parents bring him to a secluded clinic — a clean house — where Dr Isabella Horn promises to make him better. When Eli removes his hazmat suit, he can breathe easy. By the end of the film, it's clear that Eli is not just Satan's son, but one of many children the Prince of Darkness has had a hand in creating. Immediately upon arriving, Eli has nightmares and hallucinations that suggest that things in this treatment center aren't all that they seem.
He also begins to realize his power. I, honestly, struggled to stay awake throughout most of Eli, as I was finding myself increasingly more bored by everything that was presented in the film. Is it a simple case of murder and arson, or will investigators arrive at something more complex? Dr-nun Horn begins to recite an exorcism prayer while showering him with holy water. The story's twists and turns result in a satisfying horror movie in which it seems all the adults are hiding something and they are. Characters' heads blow up, and characters are set on fire.
Horn , who treats cases such as Eli's in an old and remote mansion. Or did she get down and dirty with the devil? His parents made up his illness to protect the world from their son, who was sired by the Devil. But the bigger reveal is why all of this is happening, which Eli uncovers when he is fleeing from his parents, Dr. These are questions the movie doesn't answer, unfortunately. He's Satan's son, but she's still his mom. Paul confirms Rose's fear, that Dr Horn's treatment is not a guaranteed cure.
Hints Along The WayWith all the medical talk and spooky ghost kids, you might have missed the clues to Eli's religious core on a first watch. Will they go and look for other half-siblings out there in the world? How many other gauntlets do they have to run before they can truly be accepted? Horn had to kill them to save their souls when she couldn't save their physical bodies. Netflix But something seems to be haunting the clinic, reaching out to Eli from the windows and beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass quarantining the mansion's sterile areas. The film never tells us how close the nearest neighbor is, but it stands to reason that the burning mansion would attract attention, and that if authorities did respond to a fire call they'd find quite a lot of strange things in the rubble of the house. They stop just short of the outside door, leaving him in the decontamination chamber before it.
Rose sees Paul and Dr Horn whispering about something in the hall, but when she approaches they change the subject. He promised me you wouldn't be like him, Eli. After seeing—or possibly hallucinating—a burnt and mutilated boy while undergoing a brutal bone marrow procedure, Eli begins to suspect not everything is on the level at Horn's clinic. Only one other man Gary Oldman understands the power of what Eli carries, and he is determined to take it for himself. I can save his soul.
This explains why Paul acted colder towards Eli: he knows that he's not his real son, but the result of an unholy affair with the Devil. Desperate to find a cure for Eli, his parents rest their final and desperate hopes in Dr. From there, he finds a secret passage that leads to a hidden religious shrine, where the corpses of the children who came before him will be uncovered. People who like this kind of horror flicks a la , , The Last Exorcism… might actually enjoy Eli as well. Dr Horn, the nurses and Paul strap him down, but before they can do anything Rose attacks them with the knife hidden in the crucifix as good a place as any to hide a dagger, right? The main positive about this movie is the ending: the last 20 minutes completely subvert your expectations in a way that manages to be original, entertaining and visually engaging. From there, there will be more appearances, but many offer clues to their true intention. Patti Perret The first two-thirds of the film are nothing like final third, in which the ghosts and dubious medical procedures give way to a full-on child-exorcism tale.
Dull and uninspired flicks of this ilk can be saved, sometimes, by interesting characters that can either be intriguing or relatable or both. When it's clear that the treatment has failed once again, Dr. She, too, is a child of the devil — Eli's half-sister — and tells him that all of the Devil's children have to come to him in their own way. Haley hints at this along the way by telling Eli he's stronger than the other children who died, which she reaffirms at the end as they drive away together. This reaction is not allergic but fight-or-flight.