Tags:
Film: It’s Coming
Year: 2023
Director: Shannon Alexander
Starring: Ashley Roland-White, Javier Vega and Chris DeFlorio
Review:
This was a documentary that I got the chance to see thanks to the director, Shannon Alexander. She reached out to see if I’d be interested in the screener for review. Since I like to watch documentaries late in my day when working, treating them like a podcast, especially ones that are in genre, I agreed.
Synopsis: a Brooklyn wife and mother of 5 who's been beset by supernatural entities since the age of 11, attempts to rid her house of malevolent spirits now afflicting her children.
The wife and mother is Ashley Roland-White. Three of her children get interviewed as well, Javier Vega, Alexis Vega and Selena Vega. I’m not entirely sure which is the older daughter, I didn’t write it down, but she tells her experience with entities that she can’t fully explain. The one who Ashley truly worries about is Javier. He seems to follow in his mother’s footsteps with being targeted.
What I’ll say and I’ll give credit to Alexander is that this didn’t feel like it was trying to convince me of anything. Ashley is allowed to tell her story and there are odd things that happen while filming. She decides to do something about what is happening, including using a Ouija board while she was traveling for work. She also seeks the aid of a medium Soledad Haren and Chris DeFlorio, who looks to be a demonologist. This leads to even more manifestations and odd recordings.
Now I’ll then just include here, I don’t believe in ghosts, hauntings, demons, anything like that. There are things here that I can’t explain without further investigations. It could easily be faked, but I want to believe that the filmmaking team wouldn’t do that or the family would be filmed similar to the Lutz family for Amityville. I just wanted to say that I cannot discredit anything and won’t try. I’ll also say that I feel bad for the Roland-White/Vega family if they’re truly in distress from the hauntings.
I’ll then say that this is well-made. There is an intimate feel that you’d get from something like found-footage with our filmmakers holding the cameras. Seeing unexplained things happening as well as hearing it made me uncomfortable. The sound design to have Ashley record things and play it back made me uneasy. I mean that in the best way possible. Again, I feel bad for the family while also watching this for entertainment value.
In conclusion, this documentary offers a compelling, unsettling look into the Roland-White/Vega family's experiences. Utilizing found footage aesthetics and effective sound design, it highlights unexplained phenomena, creating an uncomfortable yet engaging viewing experience. Despite personal skepticism of the supernatural, the film serves as both entertainment and a poignant portrayal of a family grappling with inexplicable distress, making it a recommended watch.
My Rating: 7 out of 10