Porcelain (USA) (2024)

⭐️⭐️1/2

I guess people should never go back home. There’s always some horrible entity working as the physical (or metaphysical) manifestation of childhood trauma. Returning home following the passing of her estranged father, Elise and her boyfriend Caleb arrive at her childhood home to handle the estate. It doesn’t take long for Elise to pick up on the fact that something dark and sinister is residing in the place and it’s getting triggered by her interaction with various objects in the house. Such objects as some antique dolls she used to play with as a child. Now, is there actually a malevolent force in the works or is Elise dealing with some deep mental scars thanks to a rough childhood? Why can’t it be both? Some disturbing flashbacks and troubling behavior are cause for concern and a few old faces from her past are around to act more than a little suspicious and one doll found discarded in the attic seems to have a disturbing effect on the young woman. An old flame shows up to reignite a spark and a local barfly fills in Caleb on the troubled past that played out in the house. Going as far to call the place cursed. The truth comes out and the inevitable tragedy that’s been on the horizon finally hits. Nicole Cinaglia co-writes, directs, produces and stars which is not only impressive in itself but even more impressive when you consider how professional it all comes off as. She’s definitely one to keep your eye on from the filmmaking standpoint, even if her performance may struggle just a bit with the dramatics needed. But performances in this type of indie horror ain’t really much of concern for me. Have you ever seen me act? It’s fucking horrible, so I won’t complain when these folks ain’t making a bunch of money for their performances. Not that anyone is awful or anything… hell, I’d say most of the cast is between capable and solid… even our leading lady is for a good amount of the time. It may be a bit predictable but it still has some atmosphere and a couple likable characters to anchor yourself to, making everything watchable and intriguing up to the point where it just goes on a little too long and gets a little too melodramatic for the actors to handle.