Kandisha

This cross-cultural shocker from French horror maestros Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Inside, Livid, Leatherface) borrows so heavily from Candyman it feels like it could have been pitched as a sequel. In the Parisian projects, three bored teens (Mathilde La Musse, Suzy Bemba and Samarcande Saadi) summon the eponymous demon, a vengeful Moroccan spirit who takes the form of a beautiful, robed woman with cloven hooves, and begins killing off the men they know. Lamusse and co's characters are sparky and rounded, their interactions are spiked with race and class anxieties, and the urban environment is brought vividly to life. But the writer/directors seem much more interested in serving up gruesome special effects sequences than frightening the audience, and the mythic qualities of Kandisha's mission are squandered in favour of mangled limbs and crushed heads. It's never boring, but it fails to summon a single memorable scare.