Director: Kelly Schwarze
Year: 2020
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Ghosts
Plot:
Trying to get out of a bad situation, a troubled woman on the run returns to her childhood foster home in order to start anew, but as she spends more time inside the house the more she unravels a disturbing secret about the house and tries to save herself from succumbing to it.
Review:
This was a decent enough if somewhat troubled genre effort. Among it’s best qualities is the strong atmosphere and build-up that runs throughout the first-half that manages to build up a fine chilling quality here. Though it tends to work at a slow-burn tempo throughout here, the creepiness and unsettling energy on display are quite effective with the idea that something isn’t right within the house and there’s a presence inside that’s trying to do her and all who enter harm. With this being full of the traditional haunted house cliches of hearing strange noises in the distance, flickering lights hiding strange movements in the distance or having her mother repeat bizarre, broken fragments to her that she later comes to understand their true meaning, this gives off a rather creepy atmosphere that keeps this one quite intriguing.
With this early build-up coming into play, the films’ ghostly scenes of her coming face-to-face with unexplained encounters have plenty of chilling impact. This is somewhat due to the fine work established with the main character who initially seems to be quite hard to get behind her since the initial moment we met her is hesitantly but still openly killing a business partner in cold blood and dodging the authorities to return home unannounced to a strained relationship with her foster mother. However, once we get past that the scenes of her finding the ghost in the forbidden shed, later scene in the darkened bathroom stalls or the finale where the series of encounters within the house and shed work nicely alongside the revelations made and serve this one nicely. Coupled with a chilling main ghost, there are some enjoyable elements here.
There are a few flaws to be had with this one. One of the main issues is the fact that, despite the best intentions on display, it’s premise here is just too familiar and overly-familiar to stand out much. This is filled with so many of the usual tropes and sequences that are part-and-parcel of the genre where it’s quite easy to figure out the pieces and where it’s gonna go. The central mystery of the shed isn’t difficult at all to figure out once the mere mention of it is brought up, the fact that so many of the scenes are never gonna threaten her at all make them quite impactless and it runs through them in a straightforward manner. The other problem here is a rather unsatisfying and weak ending, with an abrupt change-of-face from one of the strongest characters here for no reason than to pull off the dark resolution it didn’t really need. These are what hold it back overall.
Overview: ***/5
Despite featuring some rather troublesome aspects that make this incredibly familiar and expected, there’s enough to like on display to make for a solid and enjoyable time for those who enjoy this kind of effort. This will mostly appeal to those who appreciate the slow-burn approach to their indie efforts or looking for something in this style, while viewers who aren’t interested in the approach won’t have much to like with this one.
Comments
Post a Comment