11-11-11 is a movie which I had first came to know about back in late 2011 but after seeing the trailer, I wasn’t too impressed by what seemed to be a cheaper production. As I sat down to watch this movie this afternoon, it was a unique experience for me as I didn’t know anything about the storyline (which I usually do about each movie that I choose to get). 11-11-11 is a 2011 supernatural horror film written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is set on 11:11 on the 11th day of the 11th month and concerning an entity from another world that enters the earthly realm through Heaven’s 11th gate. The film was released on November 11, 2011 in 17 theaters domestically.
The movie starts with Joseph, a successful author, having a recurring nightmare of his son & wife being trapped in their burning house, set by a crazed fan and dying in the flames. As he wakes in his hotel room on November 7, 2011 at 11:11AM. His manager, Grant, arrives and urges Joseph to write his next novel after telling him that his previous book sold over 5 million copies. Joseph begins writing about how after his wife and son died, he lost all faith in a higher power and God, and writes God is dead, or maybe he was never alive. On the 8th he goes to a support group meeting where he never speaks a word and always leaves before the rest. Sadie, who has spoken up about her husband’s death, follows him out and asks him to be open about his feelings. She gives him a new notebook to write. Joseph drives but ends up in a car crash where the other driver is killed but he himself is without a scratch. Joseph tells Sadie that he feels that he has no purpose and prays for God to kill him every day. He then examines his watch and sees that it stopped exactly at 11:11. That night, Joseph gets a call from his estranged brother, Samuel, who is living in Spain with their father, Richard. Samuel tells Joseph that their father is dying.
On the 9th Joseph goes to Barcelona and meets up at his father’s house where a wheel bound Samuel runs a church. His creepy father warns Joseph and tells him that he is to save his younger brother and his chosen. Samuel urges Joseph to put aside his hatred for the Church and asks Joseph to stay the night. Later Samuel tells Joseph that his congregation dwindled away, and asks him to try to get some of his fans to follow his church. The housekeeper Anna makes Samuel show Joseph a security video taken on November 3 that depicts the faint outline of what appears to be a demon at 11:11PM. Joseph tells Samuel that he’s been seeing the number 11-11 frequently in the past few days. Joseph then goes to talk to Ana and finds a diary, only titled El Libro de Ana. When confronted about it, Ana tells Joseph that it’s the gospel according to her. That night, Joseph reads that people who frequently see the number 11-11 have been “Activated”. Joseph then saves Samuel, who is being strangled by demon-like creatures.
The next day, the 10th, a man named Javier brandishes a gun at the brothers, just after Joseph sees a demonic looking figure peeking from the bushes. Joseph knocks the gun from Javier’s hand and the latter runs away. Joseph and Samuel then visit the cemetery where their mother, Lauren, is buried. Joseph points out that Samuel’s birthday and Lauren’s death both took place on November 11. Joseph tells Samuel that the attack the night before, Joseph’s accident, David’s death, and the apparitions all occurred at 11:11 on the clock. Samuel urges Joseph to not look for meaning where there is none. Joseph then goes to find a shop to develop the photos on Javier’s camera, and they tell Joseph that the photos will be developed the next day. Joseph goes to an Occult Book Shop where the keeper reads a passage from a book, detailing that on November 11, 2011, a sacrifice will be made that will destroy faith and the Serpent will rise. Joseph becomes convinced that Samuel is a prophet to save the church and that on November 11, 2011, at 11:11, Samuel will be sacrificed by these demons for the Devil to rise.
On the 11th Sadie comes to Barcelona to meet Joseph and they are cornered in a maze by Javier, who brandishes the gun at Joseph before fleeing. When Joseph and Sadie return to the house, they find that Richard has died. Joseph breaks into Javier’s home, and finds Samuel’s photos in a diary with the word SACRIFICIO scrawled on its pages, along with 11-11-11. Javier finds Joseph and shoots him. Joseph runs out and calls Sadie to tell her to get the photos from the store. He then runs back to the house and finds Samuel, who urges Joseph to save the notebooks that chronicle the church’s history. Joseph and Samuel, with the notebooks, are cornered by the demonic beings in the house, and they take Samuel at 11:02PM. Joseph attempts to find and rescue Samuel as Sadie gets the photos. Joseph finds Samuel, suspended in the air, surrounded by the beings. A sinkhole opens, causing Joseph to fall away from rescue. Joseph manages to crawl out of the sinkhole as one of the creatures readies a blade to stab Samuel. Joseph steps in the path of the blade exactly at 11:11, and the beings disappear.
Samuel tells Joseph that 11-11 was not a window opening, but one closing, and that the end of the world could only be stopped then. Joseph finds the notebooks and reads one that Samuel wrote, depicting his own death. Samuel stands, collects the notebooks, and leaves Joseph to die after revealing that the beings were, in fact, angels and that he was the devil that needed to be stopped. A new religion will start, and Joseph’s, Samuel’s, Sadie’s, Grant’s, and Ana’s books will become the new gospels. Some time later, a large church is filled with Samuel’s followers, each bearing a book titled The Book of Joseph.
I liked the ending so much more than the rest of the movie. So a new religion is created? Hail Satan, lol. 5 out of 10!