Devine and Omari Hardwick Invoke Chocolate Misery Voodoo in Spell

Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to run away or forget your past? You can try, but you ultimately can’t run from yourself and your DNA.  Marquis T. Woods (Omari Hardwick) was born and raised in Applachia where voodoo and spells were the norm.  Now, he is a successful business owner with a beautiful wife Veora (Lorraine Burroughs) , daughter Samsara (Hannah Gonera)and son Ty (Kalifa Burton) who all travel back for his father’s funeral. After a plane crash in the backwoods of the Kentucky mountains, Marq finds himself totally alone in the care of a seemingly kind elderly couple.  That’s when things go awry and now the audience is privy to a twisted, eery version of Stephen King’s ‘Misery’ married to ‘Hereditary’ with a Black cast and witchcraft at the helm.

Being Halloween and Horror-Lite, I jumped and screamed way more than I needed to.  But, was all in for the performances from Omari Hardwick and Loretta Devine.  Their characters were equally crafty and thriving in a lane I’d neither seen portrayed by either one of them. Devine’s Miss Eloise is unapologetically diabolical as with that sweet edge placing the audience indecisive as to whether you want to hate her or love her. But, there is no doubt you will absolutely fall in love with her performance, as well as, Omari Hardwick’s.  Hardwick showcases an edge to Marq that we only got a taste of when he starred as Ghost in the Starz hit ‘POWER.’  In Spell, Hardwick is equally cunning, but throws in some charm to take the bitter with the sweet as he gets pulled in deeper and deeper into a past he has trie desperately to escape.  He ultimately prevails, but not without a little peak that a sequel could be lurking around the corner.

The pacing suffers a tad here and there, but even still makes for an enjoyable watch mostly for the performances of this spectacular cast.  Directed by Mark Tonderai and produced by Paramount Pictures, Morris Chestnut, Gordon Gray, Brian Wilkins and Screenwriter Kurt Wimmer, Spell is now streaming.