The major issue that most will have with this film is that it is sorely disappointing if you go into it expecting a horror/thriller/suspense movie. Not to be misunderstood, it DOES have elements of suspense; there are a couple of jump scares, and the concept might prove frightening for younger children--especially the last thirty minutes or so--but it is not a scary movie, in the greater sense. Rather, its plot is underpinned by disturbing themes that have been all but masked by the action. In a sense, it could be compared to the Stranger Things series but with less intrigue, tame imagery, and a weak plot. I would venture so far as to say even the Goosebumps television series was more suited to the genre.
That said, the film is a series of (not always tropes but) blatant cliches. Not to ruin it with spoilers, it seems even the writers acknowledged this through well-placed jokes about light bulbs, furnaces, and batteries. This isn't really a distraction from the movie, but some will find it predictable up through an ending that leaves you wondering... "what was the point of the last thirty minutes?" The plot is, otherwise, poorly constructed. There are a sundry of arbitrary devices and tangents that serve no real purpose and conflicts that are introduced but never resolved.
In the end, it's a pretty "meh" film, neither particularly interesting nor overly boring. The acting is great, and it's a movie that the whole family can watch (if not paying too much attention to the details.)
