When YouTube Meets Hell
If Dante had lived long enough to experience YouTube influencers starring in horror movies, he probably would’ve added a tenth circle of Hell just for this. The Chosen (2015), starring internet personality Kian Lawley, is the cinematic embodiment of a clickbait title: “We Summoned a Demon at 3AM—Gone Wrong!”
Directed by Ben Jehoshua and written by a small army of people who should’ve known better, the film tries to be a supernatural horror story about family, sacrifice, and demonic possession. What it ends up being is a 90-minute crash course in why Hollywood should never let social media stars fight Satan without adult supervision.
The Plot: Possession by Predictability
The story begins with Cameron (Kian Lawley), a young man who helps his family care for their elderly grandparents and his niece, Angie. Things are rough, but not as rough as the script. His sister Caitlin, a drug addict, is kicked out of the house after indirectly causing her son’s death. That’s right—nothing says “fun night at the movies” like guilt, grief, and a haunted child before the opening credits are done.
One day, Cameron takes Angie to visit her recovering mom, and everything seems sweet until—surprise!—the neighbors next door start screaming, fighting, and auditioning for Cops: The Exorcism Edition. Cameron, being the heroic idiot we need but don’t deserve, bursts in to “help,” interrupting what turns out to be a demonic ritual involving Lilith—the ancient child-stealing demon who apparently just got bored after centuries of haunting biblical scholars.
The neighbor warns him that he’s doomed everyone, which is accurate, but not for the reasons she thinks. Because now Angie is “chosen,” meaning she’s marked for demonic kidnapping, and Cameron must save her by sacrificing six family members in six days. That’s right—the only thing standing between this family and eternal damnation is a YouTuber with a haircut that screams “sponsored content.”
Kian Lawley: The Influencer Who Couldn’t Influence His Own Performance
Let’s talk about Kian Lawley. He’s not terrible—at least, not horrifically terrible—but watching him act is like watching a golden retriever try to do algebra. He’s enthusiastic, confused, and occasionally looks directly into the camera like he’s waiting for the like-and-subscribe button to pop up.
Lawley’s Cameron is supposed to be a caring nephew, tortured by guilt and determined to save his niece. Instead, he mostly looks like he’s trying to remember his lines while hoping his ring light doesn’t fall over. His emotional range runs the gamut from “mildly startled” to “sort of tired.” If this was meant to be a horror debut, it’s less The Exorcist and more The Existential Crisis.
The Demon Lilith: From Mythology to Mediocrity
Lilith, the first wife of Adam, has a rich and terrifying mythological history. She’s a symbol of rebellion, seduction, and vengeance. In The Chosen, however, she’s reduced to a Wi-Fi ghost with commitment issues.
Her entire demonic plan seems to be “sneak around the suburbs, snatch one child every few centuries, and hope nobody calls the police.” For a supernatural being who’s existed since the dawn of time, her strategy could use an upgrade. Maybe a PowerPoint presentation.
Even the scares she delivers are painfully generic: flickering lights, sudden noises, and the occasional “scary face” that looks like rejected Halloween makeup from Spirit Halloween. She’s less a harbinger of evil and more an inconvenience with bad timing.
The Family: Six Degrees of Sacrificial Separation
Cameron’s family could generously be described as “a group of people who technically share DNA.” There’s the overworked mom (Elizabeth Keener), the sister with a tragic backstory (Angelica Chitwood), a couple of random aunts and uncles, and two elderly grandparents who exist solely to pad the body count.
When Cameron learns he must sacrifice six family members to save Angie, you’d think this would be a gut-wrenching moral crisis. Instead, it plays like a bad reality show: Who Wants to Die for the Demon? Every conversation sounds like it was written by a chatbot that only knows guilt, yelling, and exposition.
The pacing drags, the emotional stakes are nonexistent, and the family’s collective IQ seems to drop every five minutes. It’s as if the script was allergic to logic. “Wait,” you might ask, “why doesn’t Cameron just go to a priest or call an exorcist?” Because then the movie would be over in ten minutes, and we’d be spared this flaming dumpster of melodrama.
The Horror: Jump Scares for the Attention-Deficit
Let’s be honest: horror movies live and die by atmosphere, tension, and the occasional spine-chilling moment of dread. The Chosen doesn’t understand any of that. Instead, it relies entirely on jump scares that would embarrass a haunted house at a state fair.
There’s no suspense, just sudden loud noises followed by Kian Lawley’s startled expression—which, to be fair, could also be his reaction to a new TikTok trend. The camera shakes so much you’ll feel like you’re watching found footage filmed by a caffeinated raccoon.
The lighting is murky, the editing is chaotic, and the soundtrack sounds like someone angrily mashing the “spooky violin” button on GarageBand. There’s no build-up, no escalation—just a random assortment of “boo!” moments stitched together by awkward dialogue and plot holes big enough to drive a possessed Prius through.
The Direction: When Ambition Meets Amateur Hour
Director Ben Jehoshua clearly wanted to make something meaningful—a supernatural thriller about redemption, family, and sacrifice. Unfortunately, what he made looks like a student film that got lost on its way to YouTube Premium.
Every scene feels like it’s begging to be taken seriously, but the production quality keeps tripping over itself. Characters appear and disappear without explanation, the demon rules change every 15 minutes, and the script doesn’t so much “resolve” as “give up.”
By the time the climax rolls around—complete with possession, shouting, and the obligatory “demon child voice”—you’ll be cheering for Lilith just to end it all. The final twist lands with the impact of a wet napkin, and the credits feel like a mercy killing.
The Lesson: Don’t Play With Demons (or YouTubers)
The real horror of The Chosen isn’t demonic possession—it’s realizing that this movie was written by three people. Three human beings read this script, nodded approvingly, and said, “Yes, this is ready for the public.” Somewhere, an entire team of editors, producers, and sound designers also looked at it and thought, Good enough.
Maybe the true demon here isn’t Lilith, but the cinematic system that greenlit this in the first place.
Final Verdict: The Devil Made Them Do It (But He’s Not Taking Credit)
The Chosen wants to be The Exorcist for the digital age but ends up feeling like Paranormal Activity made by a group project that forgot to meet. It’s slow, clumsy, and unintentionally hilarious—a supernatural soap opera where the scariest thing is the dialogue.
Kian Lawley fans might enjoy seeing their favorite YouTuber on screen, but for everyone else, this is an exorcism of patience. The demon may steal children, but this movie steals time—and you’ll never get it back.
Final Score: 2/10
A possession movie so lifeless, even the devil didn’t want it. The only thing truly “chosen” here is your regret for pressing play.
