Shaman
August 5th, 2025
MOVIE: SHAMAN
STARRING: SARA CANNING, DANIEL GILLIES, JETT KLYNE
DIRECTED BY: ANTONIO NEGRET
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 1 ½ STARS (Out of 4)
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 93 MINUTES
Good horror sticks with you for days, months, even years. Bad horror, on the other hand, is just sad and painful. The unfortunate truth is that horror demands effort, no matter the approach. Makeup, special effects, jump scares—all those technical elements can reflect the hard work of a cast and crew, but even that isn’t enough without a compelling story. Shaman, written and directed by Antonio Negret, is a possession film that quickly becomes tedious and uninspired.
Set in the mountains of Ecuador, Shaman follows a missionary family: Candice (Sara Canning), Joel (Daniel Gillies), and their son Elliot (Jett Klyne). They live among an indigenous community, hoping to convert those who will listen. While the experience is fulfilling for the parents, young Elliot is bored and struggling to connect with the village children. His idle wandering leads him to a mysterious cave, where he encounters a local shaman and is cursed with a demonic possession that soon takes over his body. Desperate, his parents search for a way to save him.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to emulate classics like The Exorcist, The Conjuring, or even The First Omen. The problem with Shaman lies in its screenplay. The idea of exploring indigenous spiritual practices as a source of possession could have offered something fresh. Instead, the film becomes a loop of tired tropes: black ooze leaking from Elliot’s eyes, dark goo spewing from his mouth, and his parents scrambling for answers. And then it repeats. For 93 minutes.
Repetition wouldn’t be such an issue if it served a greater narrative purpose, but Shaman never builds beyond its premise. Once the possession begins, the film stagnates. The story teases depth, faith, cultural conflict, parental despair—but never commits. The locals are cryptic. The titular shaman remains elusive. And though Negret seems to be reaching for Exorcist-style themes of faith lost and regained, the film never fully explores them.
In the end, Shaman is a missed opportunity. Canning and Klyne do their best to inject emotional depth, but their characters are ultimately reduced to one-dimensional figures in a generic horror plot. The poster promised something eerie and intriguing. That’s about where the excitement ends. A demon possession film shouldn’t be this dull, but Shaman neither scares nor surprises. You might say it fails to cast a spell.
1 ½ STARS
SHAMAN IS PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS AND ON DIGITAL FRIDAY, AUGUST 8TH, 2025.
Written by: Leo Brady
