Yellow Eyes (2026) Review: Korman's Haunting Vision

The story centers on young couple Julia (Nena Martins) and Brad (Michael Kunicki), who move into a dilapidated estate left to them by a distant relative. Among the dusty furniture and peeling wallpaper, they discover a strange, ornate box that practically hums with bad vibes. Naturally, they open it. The relic, it turns out, hosts the spirit of a powerful demon, which immediately leaps into the nearest host: Brad. Julia quickly realizes her husband is no longer himself - he’s cold, cruel, and occasionally speaks in a voice that isn’t his own. Desperate, she seeks help from a motley crew: a skeptical doctor (William Derrick III), a friendly but outmatched psychic (Margo O’Donnell), and a hard-nosed exorcist named Abbott Penrose (Brian Rooney). What follows is a race against time to purge the entity before Brad is lost forever.

The film’s greatest asset is Nena Martins, who carries the entire weight of the narrative on her shoulders. Her Julia is a portrait of escalating desperation, moving from confused grief to terrified resolve with believable conviction. She sells the horror even when the script doesn’t. Michael Kunicki, meanwhile, does his best with the "increasingly demonic husband" role, but he’s given little to do beyond glowering and twitching. His transformation is less a slow-burn possession and more a sudden switch to "creepy mode," which robs the story of its most interesting dramatic arc.

Director Jesse Korman demonstrates a solid eye for atmosphere - the house feels appropriately vast and lonely, with shadows pooling in corners and doorways framing ominous negative space. The sound design is equally effective in the first half, with creaks and whispers that genuinely unsettle. But these moments of craft are undercut by a heavy reliance on jump scares that are more startling than scary. The film starts to unravel as it introduces its supporting cast. The exorcist, Mr. Penrose, is a walking cliché, complete with a dramatic backstory and a penchant for cryptic warnings. The doctor is so one-dimensionally dismissive that he feels like a cartoon, and a subplot involving a neighbor (Joette Waters) appears and disappears without meaning.

The story’s biggest problem is pacing. The middle act drags, spending too much time on Julia’s frantic research and not enough on the escalating threat within her own home. When the exorcism finally begins, it’s a whirlwind of flashing lights, falling objects, and rapid-fire Latin-sounding incantations (translated, naturally, to English for our benefit), but it feels rushed and over-edited, losing any sense of tactile dread. The climax tries to pull off a twist involving the relic's true purpose, but the logic is muddled, and the resolution feels unearned. It’s a movie that gestures at bigger ideas about grief and inherited trauma but never bothers to explore them, settling instead for a generic "demon says no" finale.

Pros

• Nena Martins is excellent, delivering a genuinely grounded performance amidst the chaos.
• The early atmospheric setup and sound design create a palpable sense of unease.
• The central premise - a haunted relic and a possessed loved one - is inherently compelling.
• At 86 minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Cons

• The supporting cast is filled with paper-thin stock characters.
• Relies too heavily on cheap, predictable jump scares.
• The plot drags in the middle and rushes through its climax.
• The lore of the demon and relic is frustratingly vague and underdeveloped.
• The ending feels abrupt and leaves too many threads dangling.

Yellow Eyes is the horror equivalent of a fast-food cheeseburger - you know exactly what you’re getting, it fills a void, but you feel a little greasy afterward. It’s not a complete disaster; the lead performance and some solid visual choices show flashes of a better film struggling to get out. But the script’s failures and the generic scares keep it firmly in the realm of mediocrity. Its low TMDb score of 4/10 feels about right. If you’ve exhausted the good horror library on OTT and need something to play in the background, Yellow Eyes will do. But for a title that promises such a striking visual, it’s disappointingly forgettable. A cursory glance at this demon’s yellow eyes reveals nothing beneath the surface but more of the same old darkness.