The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) Review!!

Synopsis – Mia Medina (Ang) has finally found the perfect subject for her PhD thesis film on Alzheimer’s Disease. For the next several months, cameras will record the everyday life of mother Deborah Logan (Larson) and her daughter Sarah (Ramsay). But as the days progress, strange things begin to happen around Deborah that are not consistent with any findings about Alzheimer’s. It becomes apparent that there’s something besides Alzheimer’s that has taken control of Deborah’s life. It’s an evil that is far worse than the debilitating disease with which she was first diagnosed.

My Take – There has been a recent wave of found footage possession films, ranging from down right terrible to mildly enjoyable to pretty good. They can be pretty generic for the most part, and mostly contain the same elements. I have been fortunate to enjoy a few of them, & this one falls into one of mentioned categories, lets find out. The difference between this film & other possession based films is the route it decides to take, especially the Alzheimer’s angle. Having witnessed it first hand in a grand parent, if this film would have just focused on the disease, it would have been scary enough. The illness robs its victims of their minds, and in turn, their humanity. The plot of this film walks a dangerous line in how sensitively it treats its subject matter, but the experience outside of its horror-premise is authentic enough. The film follows a documentary crew led by Mia (Michelle Ang), a young graduate student who along with her team Gavin & Luis (Brett Gentile & Jeremy DeCarlos) is making a documentary on Alzheimer’s disease for her thesis. She finds a woman in Virginia, Deborah Logan (Jill Larson), who agrees to participate in documenting her illness, with the assistance of her daughter Sarah (Anne Ramsay). What starts out as an investigation into Deborah’s disease soon turns into an investigation into her soul, as Alzheimer’s is the least of her worries. The premise is excellent, and the first half hour sets up some interesting possibilities.

I guess horror is all about fear of death – the still of a dead Alzheimer patient with her mouth open sums it up.It’s a horror movie, by the numbers, by the book. Sure, the scares are well-crafted, and there are comparatively less annoying jump scares than normal. On occasion, the scares are stale, cliche offerings that have been performed in previous features, and in other instances, the tension fades as repetitiveness takes over. Moreover, the perpetual darkness of the evening scenes sometimes felt a little too deliberate, as I myself personally contemplated why no one was turning on any of the household lights. But when you get down to it, the movie has the same skeleton that most run-of-the-mill horror movies have. What sets The Taking apart from the others is its humanity. Sarah Logan loves her mother and tries desperately to help her however she can. She doesn’t understand what’s happening but she’s damn well going to fight it anyway. This isn’t a “love conquers all” story, but love sure makes a valiant effort. Despite this, a number of other moments are uniquely original, and in these instances, the film not only captivates the audience, but just as easily disturbs them. A majority of this is thanks to Ms. Larson, who is brilliant in this role. One minute, she is sweet and caring, while the next, she is fearsome and formidable, and neither us, nor the characters, are prepared for who we are going to meet whenever she appears on screen. terrifically acted, especially by Jill Larson and Anne Ramsey. Jill Larson’s performance was gut wrenching in its authenticity. We imagine ourselves as Alzheimer’s victims, frightened of what we’ve become; of what we’ve lost. But that’s just not how it works. Deb Logan isn’t frightened, because she’s only aware of what she’s doing while she’s in the driver’s seat. You’ll find yourself unnerved and saddened by Deborah’s confused states and struggles as she loses her memories to what appears to be Alzheimer’s Disease. The movie is not without its flaws. It overplays various horror staples like creepy kids or people walking slowly up to a possessed person who’s facing a wall. Dude, they’re gonna turn around and scream at you or something. Mia Medina’s camera crew makes a believable enough vehicle for the “found footage” style the movie’s going after, but she doesn’t actually have much to do once the plot gets going.

Police seem oddly unable to stand in the way of a middle-aged woman, a girl in her 20s, or a camera man. Attics and basements are still bad places to go. The ending of the movie is inconclusive for some characters, and the sub-plots mentioned during the film, including Mia’s grandfather and his battles with Alzheimer’s, and the relationship between Sara and her paramour, could have been further developed to have greater significance, the film instead choosing to focus solely on Ms. Logan’s dilemma, which consistently helps to ground us in the moment. The first half of the film is genuinely terrifying, and had me in suspense.It is the film’s second half, which I will not divulge here, that was a bit of a letdown. The found footage gimmick is used to good effect, showing just what needs to be shown. The movie is frightening in all the right places and the ending is just what it needs to be, escalating the terror for a great finale. Overall, ‘The Taking of Deborah Logan’ is a mildly enjoyable horror film with a unique premise and a lot of promise gradually works its way back into the cliches of jump-scare Hollywood.