Diabolic combines religious trauma and the occult into a horror flick that manages to be unsettling if not entirely satisfactory.
[Note: There are some very light spoilers in this article, though nothing that hasn’t already been revealed in trailers.]
Diabolic
Directed by: Daniel J. Phillips
Written by: Mike Harding, Daniel J. Phillips, Ticia Madsen
Starring: Elizabeth Cullen, John Kim, Mia Challis, Robin Goldsworthy, Genevieve Mooy
Release Date: February 13, 2026 in Select Theaters and On Demand February 20th
Escaping from, what’s essentially, a fundamentalist cult is no easy feat and for many people, would mark the beginning of a whole new life. For Elise (Elizabeth Cullen), however, the trauma of her past is preventing her from moving forward. Between unexpected “blackouts” in which she does things (sometimes violent things) with no recollection of them later, and major gaps in her memories, she knows something must be done.
Unfortunately, that means going to a pair of faith-based healers from the very religion she fled from. She, along with her boyfriend Adam (John Kim) and mutual friend Gwen (Mia Challis), take a camping trip to an isolated place of worship from her past. Hyrum (Robin Goldsworthy) along with his Mother—both of whom have connections with Elise’s childhood—set out to help Elise confront her past, but when answers begin to finally arrive, more questions quickly follow.
As the truth begins to reveal itself, it becomes clear something far more dangerous might be at play. The longer they stay out in those woods, the reality of what happened to Elise when she was younger begins to take even more sinister turns. Alone in the woods, the three friends must contend with the ever-growing supernatural threat of a witch who’d once terrorized Elise’s religious community.
As you can see, there are a number of elements at play in this little horror flick. And yet, Diabolic does a pretty good job of keeping the focus small. By and large, the film keeps the attention on the three friends in the woods, limiting their interactions with the outside. There’s definitely a Blair Witch element to the structure (albeit not the story or found-footage style). It keeps the story small/focused on the main characters, while offering hints of a bigger story at play.
I really loved this approach to how it tells the story. You know, as the viewer, something wrong is going on here and actually start out with more information than the characters themselves. As such, it’s almost like we’re waiting for them to uncover what’s awaiting them, but never knowing how it’ll manifest on the screen. The result is a palpable tension in even the quietest moments of the movie.
You’re constantly waiting for the “real threat” to finally pop up. So even in moments of calm, where Elise is doing nothing more than staring out the window as the landscape scrolls by, you feel your anxiety spike. This unsettling feeling pervades throughout most of the film, heightening those moments when the scares come into play.
The problem, however, is when the truth behind the witch and her connection to Elise is ultimately revealed all that tension begins to fall flat. Namely because the paranormal elements in the film rob the story of its teeth in crucial ways.
Religious trauma is a known, well-documented thing. There are plenty of real horror stories we’ve heard about from various groups both in the past and modern times. Combine that with the almost cultish nature of many fundamentalist groups, and this is ripe territory for a horror flick that’ll mess you up. Truly, Diabolic is at its best when it’s pulling on those narrative threads; when you’re not entirely sure if the things going on are supernatural or just the way Elise is processing the latent trauma from her experiences.
This is especially true when it comes to Hyrum and his mother. Their interactions throughout the film are constantly suspect, even when they’re ostensibly there to help. Hyrum’s infatuation is particularly unsettling and there are a number of times where it seems like he’ll ultimately be the main “threat” in the film.
Thus, it’s frustrating when the movie ultimately falls back onto a paranormal explanation. It almost feels like a cop out. Rather than committing to the idea that all of Elise’s problems and horror she’s dealing with originate from her real experiences in the church, it boils down to it being a malevolent witch’s spirit. Worse, based on what happens in the finale, it almost makes all the things the church did seem…justified. I mean, they were dealing with an actual witch intent on eating children. Lots of them.
There are definitely solid things to enjoy in Diabolic. When it’s hitting on those religious horror aspects, it’s firing on all cylinders and kept me invested. Too much of it though, tries to hammer in a typical possession story that takes away it’s best stuff. There are also some character decisions/reveals in the final third (which I won’t spoil) that just add nothing to the overall story. If anything it made me care a whole lot less about all of their survival.
