Horror Movie Review: Deep Hatred (2022)

Coming from the writing and directing duo of Daniela Carvalho and Ale McHaddo, Deep Hatred is a loathsomely boring horror movie. Where an excruciatingly slow pace will put most asleep, way before it gets to its abrupt and rushed finale.

Sara Drust stars as Cindy, a young woman has returned to her childhood home farm in the country, with her boyfriend Mark (Jeremy Sless). Along for the ride is her childhood friend, Nathan (Evan Judson), and his girlfriend Jennifer (Marcella Marques). Here for support, as the reason why Cindy has gone home, is because her father has recently passed away.

Once back, the couples plan to have a nice time while she gets her father’s affairs in order. However, it turns out that he and Nathan’s grandfather were involved in some sort of religious cult. Drowning people in a nearby lake, one of which, now returns to extract its revenge on the family.

If Deep Hatred had spent more time focusing on the cult backstory and the ‘drowned’ villain, it might have been at least a passable movie. Instead, it focuses almost all its runtime on confected drama within the couples. Which is something that should have at least made them characters but even that is sacrificed at the altar of ‘who is into who’.

It doesn’t help that the cast play their roles with a dryness that will have you begging for the spirit to pick them up and throw them in the lake. At least then something semi-interesting would be happening.

The spirit itself is one of the few bright points of the movie. Specifically, how it looks. Yet, aside from doing standard ghostly things we’ve seen thousands of times before, it doesn’t make a proper appearance until the end. Where the movie suddenly hits a frantic high gear, turns into something akin to a slasher and then ends. It’s almost like everyone was just desperate to get it over with.

So, that’s Deep Hatred. A movie that is unimpressive in every way. A trite and tedious experience that lacks a good story, good characters, or good horror.