Plot Summary: Cristina is a journalist who visits a forbidden place in the jungle. She is then captured by locals who claim she is now possessed by a demon.
Tradition demands that you adhere to a set of rules that is passed on from generations and will keep on being distributed to the descendants.
There's much to like about how things were done in the olden days. Things were simple, methods that were thought to be painstakingly slow brought better results.
There's much to appreciate about progress and modern society, especially how everything is about convenience. But what we think is convenient is what sometimes makes us lazy.
Why chop onions with a knife when it can go in machine? Why send a handwritten note when a sentence in a text will do? Why walk anywhere when there are so many modes of transport available? Why read a book when you can watch videos online or get a summary of that book on a website?
Why put any effort at all? It's all about doing things fast anyway, not efficiently.
Or at least that's what the mindset becomes.
The modern world is about doing things fast. So when we don't find success that easily, we wonder if we have some shortcoming. And that leads to a whole new area about psychological damage and stress.
The thing about the olden days is that everyone knew things were going to take time and that's why several traditions and customs were introduced as distractions.
Bring these notions into horror movies and you can see why old customs matter. If not for them, then how would people get rid of curses after talking to strange old men and women? Of course, in most cases it is an old person who has cursed someone or the other or made a mistake that caused doom.
THE OLD WAYS Movie Plot
The Old Ways begins with a girl standing over her ill mother who is surrounded by people. At first it seems like they might be doctors before it is revealed that they are performing an exorcism.
The girl is Cristina and when her mother calls her, she goes to her only for her mother to scratch her arm. Cristina is led away as she watched a demon take hold of her mother.
Years pass, and Cristina is now a grown up who is roaming around a jungle when a sack is thrown over her head and she is brought into a hut.
She pleads with her captor to let go but the man ignores her completely and keeps lighting candles even as he removes the sack from her head. It is then that an old woman enters and she looks deep into Cristina's eyes and proclaims that she has it.
Cristina wonders if she has a disease when suddenly she is made to chug down a gallon of goat's milk.
Goat's milk has long been thought to be a cleanser and now it also gets rid of demons in the body.
But what if one is lactose intolerant?
Soon another woman enters. She is Miranda, Cristina's cousin. She tells her that the man is Javi and the old woman is Luz. Miranda then asks Cristina why she went to La Boca even though she warned her not to go there.
Cristina shrugs about not listening to warnings from locals as being part of her job as a serious journalist.
Miranda gets annoyed that her warning wasn't taken seriously and tells Cristina that she must let Luz and Javi help her since she has a demon inside her now.
Cristina doesn't believe in any of this. She manages to convince Miranda to get Javi to give her the bag so she can show her photography. Javi gives it to her but the minute he steps out with Miranda, Cristina removes a pouch from the bag and then grabs her phone to call her editor, Carson, for help. She just about makes the call when the phone is confiscated again. Cristina doesn't care. She has what she wants: heroin.
The very next thing she does is inject herself with heroin so she can escape captivity in her mind at least. At night she sees disturbing visions and wakes up the next morning to be told she showed signs of possession. Cristina almost tells her cousin about the drugs but then decides against it.
She decides to fake possession to get out of her and screams and writhes during the ritual. Javi and Luz aren't impressed with her performance and continue with the ritual to draw out the demon from inside her. Cristina sees snakes and cries for help. No one comes to her aid.
The snakes slither to her belly and that's when Javi comes in to grab the snake in a sack. Was it the same sack that was pulled over Cristina's head?
Luz enters puts a hand on her belly and then puts her handprint on the wall over a chalk drawing of monster's teeth.
Later Cristina complains how no one came to her help and Miranda tells her she's doing everything to help her. She gives her some books about demons so that Cristina understands what is going on. Cristina asks which demon is inside her and Miranda tells her it's in the red book.
Cristina reads every book except for the red one late into the night when she senses a presence. She later finds a roosters corpse in her room that Javi takes away in the morning.
THE OLD WAYS Ending Explained with spoilers!
Now Cristina starts to believe something weird is going on. Later Luz has her tied up again and an operation performed on her wherein the elderly lady pushes her hand inside Christina's abdomen and pulls out teeth one by one. Cristina freaks out and begs to Miranda for help who watches her in shock. Luz then tries to pull out a snake and Javi helps her too but the snake returns inside Cristina. Her stomach magically heals.
Cristina now believes there is something inside her body but that she must also get away from all this weirdness. That night she puts her escape plan into motion and chokes Javi. She reaches the door but finds herself unable to step out. She sees a trail of powder on the doorstep and understands a spell is put in place. She then proceeds to vomit hair and realizes the demon inside her needs to be taken out.
Javi is fine and Cristina and him spend some time together where the older man voices concern that Luz is the only one knowledgeable about the Old Ways and he doesn't know what to do after her.
Cristina finds out she's being possessed by the demon Postehki who wants her because Cristina was mentally disturbed after her mother died and then scratched her, sort of marking her for demon possession.
Cristina throws away her heroin, determined to get the demon out of her body.
Everyone starts getting ready for the ritual when the demon appears scratching out Cristina's eye. Cristina then asks the others if they too have seen a boy lurking about. Everyone gets stunned asking which boy.
Cristina turns around and now the boy decides to reveal his mouth full of jagged teeth.
Cristina agrees to go through another risky ritual which is to draw out the demon from inside her body. She is told of the risks but she doesn't care. It's after all Luz whose life is going to be at risk.
The ritual begins with Luz nailing a rope triangle to the floor which also nails Cristina to the floor. The demon comes out and Luz grabs its heart. Luz weakens and dies but the demon enters Miranda because Cristina had scratched her earlier.
Everyone thinks the demon is vanquished and Javi goes on his way after burying Luz. When the demon is revealed, Cristina decides she must take on Luz's role as a bruja. She paints her face, her eye is already scratched, and she wears the attire. A ritual takes place and the demon is expelled from Miranda's body. Cristina grabs the demon's heart and throws it to Miranda who stabs it.
The demon is gone forever.
Later, Christina's boss Carson comes looking for her after failing to take care of her fish for her. He screams to be let go but Cristina makes an entrance like Luz, looks into his eyes and sees his eyes shifting. He has a demon inside him but he has nothing to fear.
There's a new bruja in town.
Carson is made to chug down goat's milk.
The movie has interesting horror and cultural components although the time jumps can be confusing. Are they memories? Dreams?
And how is it that demons have hearts?
And the most important question: should we all drink goat's milk so that a demon can never possess us?
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