He's Out There

If you like your suspense/horror/cabin in the woods films without having to think too hard about what's going on, do yourself a favour and check this out. Laura and her daughters Kayla and Maddie arrive at their holiday home, and Dad is due to turn up later than night for reasons. Throw in a possibly creepy stranger, a story of a missing boy and a mysterious tea party deep in the woods, and you have the setting for this tale of one woman fighting for her life and those of her daughters. The film is entertaining, but if you prefer your thrillers with a plot twist or two, this might not be for you. Keeping some mystery around your bad guy is usually a good idea, but if you're looking for at least some semblance of a motive, you're out of luck. One positive however is that Laura, the heroine of the piece, is not a typical dumb victim. She doesn't really do anything stupid to put herself in extra peril. She basically does everything right, but the killer is always just a step ahead of her. My biggest complaint about the film is about the elder daughter, who I'd guess is aged around 10 (I'm not good with guessing kid's ages). Both kids act quite well, and I'm sure they were directed to perform in the way they do in the film... but I was honestly hoping the killer would just take her and shut her up! Yes, she was scared and panicked, but please - be quiet, let your mother think and don't make me shout at my TV!

Well contrary to the negative reviews I thought this film was actually pretty good. Im an old hat at horror from zombies to Siberian Film, I've delved into most genres. Nothing scares me or is a new concept anymore but this was a good tense 1 1/2 hours. Some jumpy bits and some gore all the great ingredients needed in a horror pie. Yes the kids screams where shrill, but they are kids and were scared after all!! There were also some anomalies where you think, nah that person should be dead, but hey arent a lot of films like that?! Decent film and good to see a strong female lead!

Wow. So, mom and girls arrive at their isolated, lakeside vacation cabin with the promise of dad showing up late the same night. However, there is a lunatic lurking in the woods and he has some plans for the family. Will anyone survive? This is your plot.

The thing that will irritate you most about this film is not the search for reasons why this lunatic is doing all this or the fact that children go into the woods and find a creepy "tea party" setup and think they should eat the food that has been laid out for who knows how long. The number one thing that will irritate you will be how the children are behaving. I have never seen a film that has kids that are so downright annoying. Mom can't even begin to figure out what to do because the girls are so distracting. "Mommy!' "Mommy, No!" "Don't leave us alone!" "I'm scared!" "Mommy, you're scaring me!" It just went on and on. I was ready for this guy to take the kids OUT.

Aside from the kids, this isn't too bad. Location is right, timing is right and there were a couple of nice problematic scenarios setup. There isn't much of a story for the killer, simply meaning you won't find any explanations as to why things are happening. So, if you are looking for it to all come together in the end, you'll be disappointed. This would've been a much better film had there been more attention to how the kids were reacting and making sure that the story made a bit more sense.

It's not just downright awful but it leaves something to be desired.

This movie reminded me a bit of the movie The Strangers in a good way. While we didn't get a ton of backstory on the family, the Mom's character was very likable. Her acting was quite good which makes sense as she is Emmy nominated actress. The story was fairly straightforward and had some scary moments with good tension and scares. My only gripe was the Dad character who seemed unbelievably gullible to the point where it didn't even seem realistic. A few small plot holes but overall a decent thriller movie!! Worth a watch

Yvonne is the only real redeeming quality of the movie. The kids whine ALOT, and it almost ruins the film. Yvonne, however, is the saving grace. There are some significant gaps in the plot, and it does make the film less enjoyable than it could be. It almost felt like a watered down version of The Strangers.