The Humans

This movie is based upon a book and a stage play. This movie has only got one small setting: a rundown house in New York City, with broken electricity, cockroaches and extremely noisy neigbours.

And exactly this rundown house is the place where a Thanksgiving dinner is taking place with a family, of whom everybody is crumbling under emotional, financial and health problems.

This doesnt sound attractive to watch. And it definitely is not a cheery Christmas movie. But it is still a decent picture. Here is why:

The good: it's so rewarding and refreshing to see actors concentrating on plain acting. And nothing else. Just that. Long scenes, totally uninterrupted by editing. I see a family get together, who are eating and drinking and talking together. Nothing much happens. But because the acting is top notch, it is still fascinating to watch this family chemistry during a Thanksgiving dinner.

The mood of this movie is (purposely) directed in such a way that I as a viewer get the sense that this place and this family is somehow cursed or haunted in some way. There is a really dark undercurrent. It is definitely NOT horror, but there is an intense depressing, gloomy undercurrent present all the time...which makes for an uncomfortable watch.

Any bad? This is NOT the movie you wanna see at the holidays with your family. Because it's quite depressing, sad and bleak. But it is still definitely worth a watch, although it is probably only suited for the die hard arthouse movie fans, who can stumach a depressing family get together in a cockroach infested house...

I just watched this on Showtime. I had no idea Amy Schumer was in it. Her part was very small. Not sure why there are so many haters. How she "ruined" the film escapes me. As for the film, I was intrigued. Not a lot transpired. I don't know why I had the impression it was a ghost story, because it's not. Moody and creepy. Reminded me of my apartment in NYC that was very old, with bathtub in the kitchen. I want to recommend it because I like Richard Jenkins (he's always good) but I just can't. Hard to embrace a story that doesn't really go anywhere. I still gave it a 5.

Twenty years after 9/11, the USA no longer feels like the land of opportunity. Instead, it is the country where the rich get richer, and the rest of the country sinks deeper into debt. Instead of blaming the billionaires who have transferred the wealth of the middle class to themselves, or the fragility of an economy dependent on foreign oil, Americans blame each other. They argue about "wedge issues," small differences blown out of proportion by politicians who know anger will get them votes. It's easier to hate your neighbors than it is to accept than to accept that there is an eventual time for accounting for all superpowers, and that time for America is now.

In this film, three generations of family gets together in a dilapidated NYC apartment to celebrate Thanksgiving. From the first shot of the film, it's clear that the family comes together out of duty, and not because they want to be together. They can't agree on anything, except that every family member feels as if the other family members have failed him. The resentment floats in a thick miasma in an apartment that looks like nothing good has ever happened there.

With the camera as silent witness, what's haunting each family member is revealed. It's exquisitely painful filmmaking, and an incredible lesson from the "show, don't tell" school of playwriting. Every actor delivers a restrained performance so knowing that you want to hug him, but you know he will slap you.

This is what movie making should be.

I truly enjoyed this movie, it was well worth the wait since I watched it during a free watchathon.

I've never been an Amy Schumer fan but I see why people are. All of the actors in this movie even the elderly Momo who only said gibberish was excellent!!

Totally believable family dynamics, with snide remarks in between. You know how we throw little jabs at family members with love but still kind of mean-spirited.

The visuals and the sound effects were the most important theatrical elements of the film. Without them it would be an ok film but with them it's almost perfect.

I'm going to address the low ratings. Just because a movie says horror or thriller, doesn't always mean it's going to have a lot of blood, guts and gore.

The jumpscares and visuals in this movie were enough to make me believe it fits in the horror category or at least the psychological thriller category. It put me in the mind of The Others.

So if you're expecting blood, guts and gore you might want to pass on this one. But if you're expecting great acting with jump scares and great visuals for a limited set and a sense of eeriness overall definitely watch this one!

I used subtitles due to the actors talking over each other or talking in the background.

Thought it was an interesting well made movie that was just a little too much like being at my family's own insufferable gatherings to really enjoy.

Confused by everyone else's Schumer fixation. She's not even a huge part of the movie. Richard Jenkins steals the show and everyone else plays their role fine.