I'm a sucker for creepy houses steeped in unique lore. Let's talk about what it got right.
1. The atmosphere - Not many horror movies create it properly. Anyone can take an old dilapidated house and make it spooky. With very few shots, they make the house an oppressive force, with a life of its own. It only helps they create unique lore infusing an added punch to the thing.
2. Cinematography - We have some Kubrick influence. The shots with the stairs. The shots moving through the house. I've always enjoyed when they turn the camera into an invisible enemy. You can tell the director has an eye for setting up shots. They absolutely nail all the visuals.
3. The audio - The audio couples together with the visuals nicely. Ratcheting up the tension slowly. It's actually one of the few movies, where the chanting seems to work well. Maybe it's because it's very soft and in the background. When the sound rushes in, you really can feel it. One thing that gets overused is the counting. I get why it's there, but by the end you are like ok ok, get it. Besides that small detail the audio is top notch.
4. The Lore - Notice how I didn't say story. The idea of a building as a gateway, whether by modified means, or built from the ground up, has been underutilized in horror for the most part. We have some examples, but not many. They inject enough originality to keep you interested. The best kinds of horror lore, is the kind that gives you just enough to fill in your own blanks. They do a good job with that....
5. The Horror - If you have been a fan of the genre for a while, you will pick up all the nods to other movies and/or styles of movies. The crew that made this are fans, and you can tell. Is anything completely new? No. But, they nail just about everything when it comes to the horror. It's creepy and unsettling. It's gothic. Its lovecraftian? In everything but the lore, it's very much a kind of story you would expect from the man. I guess maybe with a nod to hammer horror as well.
And now for what they got wrong
1. The pacing - Things happen over and over again. It all seems to drag out for no apparent reason. I mean, what they do is done well. You can only take so many of the same scenes until you say, " get on with it". The characters and their actions at times make no sense. The initial thing happens, and there is a big effort in fixing it, then all of sudden, it's like the characters kinda just move on. I mean they still show they care, but they don't do a hell of a lot in the meantime. Things pick up towards the end, but the common viewer would have already turned off by this point anyway.
2. The characters and the story - Cuthbert really shines. She has the most character development and screentime. She is believable and pulls it off here. That being said, all the other characters either are there as plot devices, or are just bare bones as can be. The daughter hating her mom and having bully issues.... It was just filler, it had no relation to the story other than to make the character seem real after the fact. The husband was just a cookie cutter guy who played the disbeliever role. The little kid was a typical gets caught up in everything kid. They filled the characters like they would fill horror movie tropes. Mother trying to solve a mystery? Check. Disbelieving husband? Check. Weird little kid? Check. And the next one really got me. They had the one role that could have made the movie better, the mathematician. This is the character that added and could have added more, but they just decided to forgot about him towards the end of the movie. I mean, they even made it seem like he was in the process of solving this weird mathematical riddle, and then nothing, you never here from him again.
3. The ending - Maybe it makes more sense to say the third act. Now I think this where it all comes together in a good way, but it also becomes completely predictable here all the way until the end. With a movie that moves slow......the payoff has to be great....and while some visuals are done well, it ultimately becomes formulaic at the wrong time.
Final Thoughts
Ok I loved it too much to hate. I'll admit it. As a horror fan, it will pick off many boxes. I loved how there was zero CGI, and even at the end when you finally go to that place...it's practical. The scene in the depths of the cellar, that scene reminds me of The Beyond. Another world that looks all too similar to your own, that can be scarier than any alien world. Another thing to mention, this originally was a short horror. The director tried really hard to add lore and flesh this out into a feature. It works and it doesn't. I think if you are a longtime horror fan what works will outshine what doesn't. If not, the shortcomings will have the opposite effect, especially with the pacing....
