David Charbonier and Justin Powell’s horror about a mute boy who wishes for a voice is let down by its weak script and CGI
David Charbonier and Justin Powell’s debut The Boy Behind the Door was a well-executed abduction horror scored through with both tenderness and an uncommon cruel streak. Their follow-up, The Djinn, stars one of that film’s lead actors, Ezra Dewey, and locks him once again into the same kids-in-confinement genre. Despite light 80s stylings on the soundtrack, this is unfortunately a much weaker effort that both lacks internal logic and struggles for inspiration.
Dewey plays Dylan, a mute boy living with single father Michael (Rob Brownstein), who believes his disability has caused his mother’s absence from their life. So one night, when Michael is out doing his radio DJ gig, Dylan – who earlier found occultist tome the Book of Shadows at the back of a closet – lets three drops of his blood fall into a candle and into the black flame makes his most fervent wish: to have a voice. Only he doesn’t pay enough attention to the small print: that to receive the boon, he must survive one hour in close quarters with the djinn granting it.