sommel-98024

I was really skeptical with the slow start, but there were moments where I was totally captivated with the mystery. Not the kind of mystery where I feel helplessly frustrated about not knowing what was going on, but the kind of mystery that made my mind start working creatively to imagine the worst horrors I could think of. I appreciate that.

The dialogue is strange, sometimes in a jarring way. Is that part of the overarching theme? Maybe a clever checkpoint to keep us engaged? There was just something kind of "off" about their conversations at times (like, why was a background character written to be a ped... nevermind, forget I asked).

I found it fairly captivating! Can't relate to comments of the film being too long... about 2/3 of the way through it seemed like it was winding down, but there were so many interesting questions at that point that I quietly hoped it would keep going, and it did! Didn't feel like there were any loose ends, everything made reasonable sense, it didn't try to be complicated, I don't know what to tell ya.

The mood leans more grounded human than sci-fi, and much more jurassic park than alien. Come to think of it, it's not very alien at all but more of a creature film with a few moments that felt a touch paranormal.

Maybe it helped that I hadn't watched any trailers or heard anything about it beforehand.

If I could go back in time, I'd rather have watched this in the dark, alone, in my own creepy childhood home. Or in a different, strange home. Or on a projector outdoors with my back to a forest or something.

(Except the constant light strobing is so nauseating on a TV in a lit room, I can't imagine what it would be like in the dark.)

I'd still give it 5+ because I appreciate what it's doing. It reminds me of many nights spent with friends when we would creep each other out with spirit boards, or that unsettling fear of journeying the dark hallway to the toilet at 3am, or all the various night terrors and visual hallucinations.

This story seems to be from the house's perspective. There wasn't very much tension, as the kids were left so empty. I felt like a ghost stuck in the floor, my worst nightmare of what the afterlife would be like. I suppose that has thoughtful merit, but I didn't exactly /enjoy/ it.

I suspect how we choose to watch the film would matter a LOT. Just casually flipping it on blind with a plate of supper in hand was the wrong one!