Eerie atmosphere right from the start, sharp direction and editing, the mood is heavy, oppressive. You're invited to delve into an intriguing mystery in the most immersive way.
Contributing to the unsettling sound design, the actors are voiced over, a little off key, and oh-so-slightly out of sync. And the scarce dialogue also is somewhat weird.
Okay now snap out of it. Let's solve that mystery for you : in fact the acting is just bad, the script is just awful, and the story is as unsurprising and trivial it gets - disappointingly so, I mean, all these.bells and whistles for this ?
Don't get me wrong of course it's awful and dramatic, of course it's awful and dramatic to abduct and use children for this - oh sorry, I just spoiled THE WHOLE PLOT by saying nothing. Yep, you have just guessed THE WHOLE PLOT, congratulations.
It would have helped if some absolutely ludicrous story elements had been avoided.
Like, for example, let's say you're chasing a kid around a house with a loaded gun. Let's say the kid is utterly stupid, yet a wiz at close up magic, so he.handcuffs you to some pipe. What would you do with your full round of ammo ? Everything but freeing yourself of course.
It would have helped if it had more than a couple of decent ideas to fill the running time. How do you fill the running time then?
Let's say... the.aggressor runs after the KID with an AXE. The kid hides in the BATHROOM, and the aggressor tries to BREAK through THE DOOR with the AXE. While the kids stands in horror AGAINST THE DOOR FRAME INSIDE.
Wait, there's more. Let's say a SAVIOR EX MACHINA enters the house out of a STRONG HUNCH that something is going wrong in there. Let's say that after a handful of SECONDS inside he gets STABBED IN THE BACK with the AXE.
Yes, I typed in bold in case it wasn't obvious enough. And it's everything but an homage, even Ready Player One was more an homage than this.
Who greenlights such a weak pile of scenario? How comes this thing is so praised on RT, second best reviewed horror movie of 2021?!
Yet I don't think it deserves anything less than a 6/10, as the cinematography is really good, the editing precise, and the sound direction is remarkable, excellent even, most of the time. To my taste.
Edit : reading some other users reviews, I realize I forgot about the ridiculously massive and highlighted and showcased MAGA bumper sticker on the bad guys' car. How stupid can you be to feel clever about pulling out something like that? They heard about "social/political messages" in horror movies and that's the best they could do? Hammered, puerile proselytism has nothing to do with social commentary. Talk about scoring an own goal.
Contributing to the unsettling sound design, the actors are voiced over, a little off key, and oh-so-slightly out of sync. And the scarce dialogue also is somewhat weird.
Okay now snap out of it. Let's solve that mystery for you : in fact the acting is just bad, the script is just awful, and the story is as unsurprising and trivial it gets - disappointingly so, I mean, all these.bells and whistles for this ?
Don't get me wrong of course it's awful and dramatic, of course it's awful and dramatic to abduct and use children for this - oh sorry, I just spoiled THE WHOLE PLOT by saying nothing. Yep, you have just guessed THE WHOLE PLOT, congratulations.
It would have helped if some absolutely ludicrous story elements had been avoided.
Like, for example, let's say you're chasing a kid around a house with a loaded gun. Let's say the kid is utterly stupid, yet a wiz at close up magic, so he.handcuffs you to some pipe. What would you do with your full round of ammo ? Everything but freeing yourself of course.
It would have helped if it had more than a couple of decent ideas to fill the running time. How do you fill the running time then?
Let's say... the.aggressor runs after the KID with an AXE. The kid hides in the BATHROOM, and the aggressor tries to BREAK through THE DOOR with the AXE. While the kids stands in horror AGAINST THE DOOR FRAME INSIDE.
Wait, there's more. Let's say a SAVIOR EX MACHINA enters the house out of a STRONG HUNCH that something is going wrong in there. Let's say that after a handful of SECONDS inside he gets STABBED IN THE BACK with the AXE.
Yes, I typed in bold in case it wasn't obvious enough. And it's everything but an homage, even Ready Player One was more an homage than this.
Who greenlights such a weak pile of scenario? How comes this thing is so praised on RT, second best reviewed horror movie of 2021?!
Yet I don't think it deserves anything less than a 6/10, as the cinematography is really good, the editing precise, and the sound direction is remarkable, excellent even, most of the time. To my taste.
Edit : reading some other users reviews, I realize I forgot about the ridiculously massive and highlighted and showcased MAGA bumper sticker on the bad guys' car. How stupid can you be to feel clever about pulling out something like that? They heard about "social/political messages" in horror movies and that's the best they could do? Hammered, puerile proselytism has nothing to do with social commentary. Talk about scoring an own goal.