Une obsession venue d'ailleurs

This is my first review, and after watching this movie, I just had to write something about ratings in general. Yes, 7 to 10 is considered the standard rating for a "good" movie, but there are multiple brilliant productions that are hiding in the 5 to 6 rating, that really don't deserve to be marked by that. This is one of those movies. My message, to whom ever is reading this, is really; don't reject a movie based on the rating by default. There are more entertainment hiding in the average shadows. The actors are really satisfying to watch, and combined with a fresh storyline, and paradoxical mix of thrill and comedy, this movie is one I will recommend.

Ruth and Harry venture into the woods for a bit of a ramble, although if they knew what was ahead I'm sure they wouldn't have taken such a gamble, especially as Ruth has some serious anxiety that she struggles to overcome, and often relies on pills to stop the depth of her despairing, downward plumb, all brought about because of a traumatic childhood, that to this day leaves her confused and misunderstood, as she knows that people can change, their emotions and personalities can range, one minute this, the next minute that, sometimes calm and caring, the next getting ready for combat and overbearing. Suffice to say the lovers walk on the wild side reveals more about themselves than they could ever have imagined.

I'm seeing a lot of negative reviews from critics calling it a "waste of time", and audience reviews of 3/5 stars. But remember, people tend to dislike things that are different. And this film is definitely different.

As a Shudder user, I see SO many 1 star reviews of films that I LOVE, saying that they're "boring" or "not horror movies" (it got so frustrating, I stopped reading them). I've come to the conclusion that the average mainstream-movie watching person only defines a "horror movie" as one with a monster/demon/ghost/psycho killer, 90 minutes of interchangeable jump scares (usually of the antagonist appearing BEHIND the characters where only the audience can see), and a high body count.

So brilliant films like Garland's Annihilation, Strickland's In Fabric, Benson & Moorhead's Resolution, or in this case, Olsen & Berk's Significant Other, get passed up because they aren't understood, and therefore raves about, by the casual movie-going, mainstream majority.

I loved this film because it had all of the criteria you'd hope for in the ever-evolving horror genre... tension, suspense, atmosphere, a fitting score, and even a twist you don't see coming. Just because there aren't gory kill scenes every 7-10 minutes by some grotesque creature does NOT disqualify a film from being classified as horror.

So if you truly appreciate horror as an artistic form of film art, something that can make you feel unease and suspense while making you think, then give this a shot and form your own opinion. Fans of horror films like Pontypool, Braid, Hereditary, Come True, or any of the aforementioned films will definitely love and appreciate this one.

I wanted to see this as soon as I saw that Maika was in it because she is fast becoming my new favorite actress, particularly as she seems to be the go-to for good horror/thriller films, and she has not let me down yet. There are some minor issues with the movie itself; some pacing problems - this could have been a bit shorter overall, especially if the twist had come earlier, and once there, I loved the surprisingly humorous turn the story took, but I was left wanting just a few more shocks and surprises. The twist reminded me of the twist in Malignant, which I did not guess, and which then signaled utter craziness to come, so I was waiting for that to happen, but it was on a much lesser scale..still, this is enjoyable and unexpected, and best of all, it fooled me.

This was a survivalist type sci-fi that was well shot, directed and acted. All casting and performances were on point. The story had a few nice twists, but nothing revolutionary or jaw-dropping. It was well shot with great cinematography and a decent score. Even at a mere 84 min runtime and fairly decent pacing, it still felt longer due to the lack of any constant suspenseful narrative. It did have its moments of intrigue and suspense, but those were too few and far in between the basic camping survivalist theme. Nevertheless, it's a decent genre crossing film that's a decent one-time watch by a relatively newb co-writer and co-directing duo.