Evil Takes Root-- My take on the movie with spoilers!

PLOT SUMMARY: Paranormal Investigator Felix Fojas finds himself dealing with an ancient evil brought accidentally by a woman into a town. 

Going on a trip to another country is all fun and all but have you ever wondered if you’ve come back home with not souvenirs but something malicious.

Ghosts, demons, spirits, any of them could have taken a liking to you and attached themselves to you or your luggage. Or maybe they too want to visit other countries.

Whatever the reason, there may come a day when the airport might do screenings for supernatural beings smuggled into another country.

Evil Takes Root: The curse of the Batibat is a story about how a woman went abroad, brought along a vengeful spirit called the Batibat who kills this woman in the first five minutes of the movie.

The resulting story is about the characters who knew her. One of them is called Felix Fojas and for some reason, all the characters keep taking his name over and over. The full name.

Who’s waiting for you? Felix Fojas. Who called? Felix Fojas. Who had an affair with your wife? Felix Fojas.

EVIL TAKES ROOT: THE CURSE OF THE BATIBAT Movie Plot 

The first half is all about people going on and on about Felix Fojas and you will notice everyone taking his name like they were swallowing bitter medicine.

The woman who brought Batibat into the country was Mandy who is killed by the demon in a weird manner where she is hung from a tree and has her eyes turned black.

Her husband Dr Thane and daughter Sarah are devastated after the incident. Across town, another girl, Christina, Father Weller’s daughter, has lost her mother too. But she doesn’t seem to want to sit and be depressed. She’s looking for ways to bring her mother back.

And then there’s the Sheriff who although found Mandy’s death curious, doesn’t report it that way.

Felix Fojas comes to town after realizing that in the last minutes before Mandy died, she had called him but he hadn’t picked up. He has visions of her family being in trouble and goes to meet them only to be attacked by Dr Thane. He wants Felix to stay the hell away from him and his daughter.

Felix decides to stay in town anyway. He can feel something evil is taking root in this town.

Christina and Sarah meet in a therapy group and Sarah realizes that despite being deaf, Christina speaks well. She reveals she hadn’t always been deaf. They become friends and Christina checks up on Sarah regularly.

Sarah is experiencing weird nightmares and doesn’t feel like herself any more. For some reason, she finds the local mechanic interesting and goes to him in the middle of the night to seduce him before killing him.

Dr Thane finds her in the middle of the road but Sarah is being her bratty self and runs away. In her room, she claims not to remember where she had been.

Felix tries to talk to Dr Thane about his family being in trouble but the doctor invites him to the bar and publicly announces that Felix destroyed his family because of the affair. The regulars at the bar beat him up and throw him in the dumpster.

Felix is found by the Sheriff who drives around with him before he ends up in Dr Thane’s house. The doctor must have remembered his Hippocrates oath because he offers to fix Felix up. The sheriff receives a call just then to come to the murder scene at the garage.

Felix tries to convince Thane that his daughter might be in trouble but he doesn’t want to listen just yet.

Sarah and Thane’s relationship grows more strained with Sarah waking up from nightmares with bleeding ears.

Felix finds pictures of Sarah and other students pinned on trees in the woods. The sheriff top believes now that some witchcraft is taking place.

Meanwhile, the Father finds Christina’s books where she claims the dog is evil or something. He realizes his daughter is into witchcraft and that his beloved dog is in trouble.

Christina is dressed in black robes and without another thought, kills the poor dog who doesn’t even try to put up a fight.

The Father finds the body of his dog and wails.

Felix finally sees Mandy’s reports and realizes she didn’t commit suicide but that she was a victim of witchcraft and that was what his visions had been about.

With the help of Father Olawale, they convince Dr Thane that they are dealing with the Batibat, a demon Mandy brought with her from the Philippines. But it is too late because the demon has possessed Sarah.

EVIL TAKES ROOT: THE CURSE OF THE BATIBAT Ending Explained with Spoilers! 

Felix decides to draw diagrams on a tree in the woods so that the Batibat can go inside that.

The newly formed demon busters group is thwarted by the naked witches in the group who are shot at by the sheriff but who also manage to wound him.

Christina is shot but Felix shows her some mercy by letting her use his jacket for a pillow as she takes her last breath.

The trio decides to conduct the ritual which requires the help of a god-fearing woman too which the Doctor plucks from a village he offers pro bono services in.

She is tasked with lighting candles and then has her eyes start to bleed. She is rushed out. The minute Felix and Thane leave the room, the door bangs shut and the demon takes over the Father.

Felix enters the room and the demon has taken the form of Mandy who tries to seduce him. Felix is having none of it and begins the exorcism process. Mandy bursts into light and is sent to the tree Felix had arranged for the demon.

Everyone is saved.

Except for the tree. The tree doesn’t have a voice and can’t tell the woodcutters that it is harbouring an evil demon inside it and once it is cut, the demon will escape.

And that is exactly what happens and the last thing we hear is the sound of chainsaws.

The movie could have been better if there weren’t too many characters and too many stories going on at once.

The only thing you’ll end up remembering about the movie is the name Felix Fojas because everyone keeps taking his name several times in the movie.

Scare scale: 2.5/5