LULLABY (2022)
Silly and cliché-ridden horror has a couple with a newborn, Rachel (Oona Chaplin) and John (Ramón Rodríguez), moving into an apartment with a dark history including the death of a baby. That’s believable! Some of the deceased infant’s things are still there, including a creepy, looking old book. So of course, Rachel opens it up and picks an old Hebrew lullaby out of it to read to their baby, who is keeping Rachel awake and stressed out. Obviously, as in all the other times we’ve seen this scenario, the lullaby actually summons the demon Lilith (Kira Guloien), who is the malevolent, baby-stealing first wife of Adam. Now the couple must find a way to fend off this ancient demonic entity and save their child.
Flick is directed by John R. Leonetti (Annabelle, Wish Upon) from a routine and derivative script by Alex Greenfield and Ben Powell. It is as cookie cutter as a horror flick can be with yet another scenario having a new mom and her baby being stalked by a malicious entity. Adding Hebrew culture and folklore to the proceedings does little to make it fresh, and in itself has been done frequently lately with better horrors like The Vigil, The Golem (2018) and even The Possession. Lilith is presented as a generic old scary hag and her baby-like minions are obvious CGI boogie babies. There are simply no scares or suspense, and the film ends exactly as we expect, being that we have seen this flick so many times before. Leonetti seems like a competent director but keeps getting attached to generic and routine nonsense like this. Production-wise the film looks good, and the cast do well enough with what they are given to work with, but there is little to recommend with so much familiarity and so little suspense, surprises or scares. Oy Vey!
-MonsterZero NJ
MonsterZero NJ's Movie Madhouse 