You get the notion that the people who made the film didn't take magic seriously enough. I don't mean they should believe in it; but they should have made a film that pretended to.

The Mephisto Waltz is sophisticated enough to be worth a revival from A24 or anyone seeking the road less travelled in terms of horror tropes

Largely dismissed upon its initial release, the film is enhanced by a suitably dense ambience that helps smother many of the scripts deficiencies.

...tedious and predominantly interminable...