The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) - Another Mediocre Ableist Horror

Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. It’s heart breaking for family members and heart breaking for the one suffering from it. The idea of losing your own memories and identity is a terrifying one. One, perhaps, that could make for interesting horror, if done sensitively.

The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) is not that.

The premise is that we are watching a psychology student’s thesis on the disease and how it affects not just the subject, but the caretaker. The second part is interesting, and is enough to make one wish they were watching a documentary focusing on that, and not a horror movie. Because, unfortunately, there is more to Deborah (Jill Larson)’s illness than meets the eye.

Firstly, this movie is a found footage style film, which already puts it at a disadvantage. The card at the beginning informs us we are seeing real events clipped together – a tired trope which I’m sure no one believes. (Unless its real events buried beneath grains of salt.) Its particularly damaging with this film because the documentary style gives us no opportunities to meet our teens. We have no idea who is behind the camera most of the time or anything to do with their personality. Mia (Michelle Ang) insists on staying with Sarah (Anne Ramsay), Deborah’s daughter, but there’s no reason why. There could have been, if Mia didn’t lie about her connection to Alzheimer’s – which immediately makes her an unlikeable protagonist. More is shown about Sarah, who opens up about her childhood and relationship to her mother, though she doesn’t seem to have much to her life and character beyond her mother.

And Deborah herself is simply a spectacle. Whether she is genuinely having an episode linked to her illness, or showing signs of possession, her whole purpose in the film is to be scary and menacing. Whilst Alzheimer’s can lead to distressing episodes, including violence, is that really something to display? Can comparing this to scenes from The Exorcist do anything but harm to sufferers of this disease? Sadly, this is what the horror genre falls into all too much. Mental illness (asylums) and physical differences are played on as something to dread and fear, instead of show compassion towards.

It’s a tired and damaging trope.

It can still be said that in terms of found footage, it is shot well, with a good mix of overnight recordings and handheld that keeps things tense. The larger story, as it comes together, makes use of all of its pieces neatly and creates a competent plot. It brings something more interesting to a standard possession plotline, and the use of snakes as a motif is very creative. It makes for some interesting powers and ideas, using snake venom and snake swallowing, that at least bring something different to the table. The twist is a good ‘gotcha’ moment, but unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to care that much about it – we don’t know these characters very well and there doesn’t seem to be immediate danger.

So, The Taking of Deborah Logan comes across as an iffy-premised movie that would have been much more successful had it taken the approach of ambiguity. There’s not enough to the characters or plot other than a string of someone acting ‘crazy’ for it to make a compelling watch.