After learning his girlfriend is pregnant, a pizza deliveryman decides to take a last-ditch job for the extra money by dropping off an order at a strange house in the countryside, but when he finds himself embroiled in a strange conspiracy tries to solve the mystery to get out alive.
There are a lot of positive aspects to be had with this one. The main feature to like here is the rather strong setup that introduces a rather strong and enjoyable central relationship. Since so much time is spent on the two with their living arrangements and discussions about the future together, they come off like a realistic couple in the throes of a lived-in relationship. Knowing how much she wants to settle down into a family with him and raise their unborn daughter together despite his financial concerns about all of them living as a family feels genuine and realistic. This plays off quite well in setting up the constant need to be working and taking odd assignments at work to help themselves along and prepare for the future which ends up generating a lot of sympathy and attachment to the couple so that the scares that emerge later on have a weight to them. The setup at the house comes off rather fun as well, with the introduction of the family at the house on his delivery route or the various side characters at work, have a lot to like while setting up the storyline quite well. This turns the middle part of the film into a rather impressive series of supernatural activity and hauntings. Things start off ominously with the daughter feverishly drawing and chanting in an eerie language to herself which is quite unnerving, but the later delivery that traps him at the house is where this gets terrifying. From finding figures impaled halfway up a wall with large knives plunged into their body, a series of chilling setpieces playing around with music playing from an object in the distance, or seeing objects disappear suddenly, there's a lot to like in this section. With the focus squarely on him the entire time, there's an unnerving quality attached to his walking around the darkened house unaware of what's going on. Escalating matters is a strong series of tactics that are generally amusing to watch while being generally terrifying in execution as bodies start piling up around the house, phone lines don't seem to work as they should and no one can be trusted, this highlights a rather impressive turn that the story takes. The twist that arises is incredibly shocking and quite well-written since it's quite surprising how everything gets revealed and impacts what's been known to that point which is where the film shines. These elements all combine into a fine series of positives although this one does have a few drawbacks to hold it down. One of the biggest detriments is an overlong setup that causes the film to be much longer than it really should. All the enjoyable setup that goes into making their relationship feel believable, including their arguments but also the times where it stops to focus on the happy times when they're on dates or enjoying time together, this also causes an excessively long build-up. It's around the forty-five-minute mark when he arrives at the house and things start happening which is a bit too long to spend before getting to the point of the film. As well, the other big factor emerges once the twist has been revealed and a lengthy backstory involving the origins of the twist and what led to everything taking place is rather problematic. Far too much of this part of the film relies on explaining in detail what happened and hardly any of it makes an impact at all based on being from a different film entirely which is the wrong kind of feeling to be had when dealing with a genre film of this kind. It ends the film on a bad note and is what brings this down overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.
There are a lot of positive aspects to be had with this one. The main feature to like here is the rather strong setup that introduces a rather strong and enjoyable central relationship. Since so much time is spent on the two with their living arrangements and discussions about the future together, they come off like a realistic couple in the throes of a lived-in relationship. Knowing how much she wants to settle down into a family with him and raise their unborn daughter together despite his financial concerns about all of them living as a family feels genuine and realistic. This plays off quite well in setting up the constant need to be working and taking odd assignments at work to help themselves along and prepare for the future which ends up generating a lot of sympathy and attachment to the couple so that the scares that emerge later on have a weight to them. The setup at the house comes off rather fun as well, with the introduction of the family at the house on his delivery route or the various side characters at work, have a lot to like while setting up the storyline quite well. This turns the middle part of the film into a rather impressive series of supernatural activity and hauntings. Things start off ominously with the daughter feverishly drawing and chanting in an eerie language to herself which is quite unnerving, but the later delivery that traps him at the house is where this gets terrifying. From finding figures impaled halfway up a wall with large knives plunged into their body, a series of chilling setpieces playing around with music playing from an object in the distance, or seeing objects disappear suddenly, there's a lot to like in this section. With the focus squarely on him the entire time, there's an unnerving quality attached to his walking around the darkened house unaware of what's going on. Escalating matters is a strong series of tactics that are generally amusing to watch while being generally terrifying in execution as bodies start piling up around the house, phone lines don't seem to work as they should and no one can be trusted, this highlights a rather impressive turn that the story takes. The twist that arises is incredibly shocking and quite well-written since it's quite surprising how everything gets revealed and impacts what's been known to that point which is where the film shines. These elements all combine into a fine series of positives although this one does have a few drawbacks to hold it down. One of the biggest detriments is an overlong setup that causes the film to be much longer than it really should. All the enjoyable setup that goes into making their relationship feel believable, including their arguments but also the times where it stops to focus on the happy times when they're on dates or enjoying time together, this also causes an excessively long build-up. It's around the forty-five-minute mark when he arrives at the house and things start happening which is a bit too long to spend before getting to the point of the film. As well, the other big factor emerges once the twist has been revealed and a lengthy backstory involving the origins of the twist and what led to everything taking place is rather problematic. Far too much of this part of the film relies on explaining in detail what happened and hardly any of it makes an impact at all based on being from a different film entirely which is the wrong kind of feeling to be had when dealing with a genre film of this kind. It ends the film on a bad note and is what brings this down overall.
Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.