Director: Bianca Crespo
Year: 2022
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological
Plot:
Trying to get her life in order, a woman decides to destress from the world and head out to a remote family-owned cabin in the woods to try to come to terms with everything, but the longer she’s there the more she comes to realize her sanity might be in more danger than she realized.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather solid psychological genre effort. What this one does incredibly well is effectively utilize the concept of her being isolated away from everyone at the cabin to descend into mental insanity. The setup involving her getting there while being tormented by the dreams of the missing girl, the haunting visions and hallucinations of her being alone in the room engaging with the other woman that constantly informs her of the various situations that affect her mental sanity and the arrival of her sister with her own problems manages to combine together into a setup that is quite unnerving and chilling overall. Given the few other touches that are added on, with the sisterly dynamic at play hinting at something far deeper that bonds them together yet remains unmentioned as well as the mentions of the serial killer in the area, the eventual snap in her sanity here is handled incredibly well.
This leads nicely into the films’ other rather enjoyable facets here with the engrossing supernatural-style sequences here designed to further her mental break by showcasing the effect the cabin has on her. The hallucinations being built up, from dreaming of the figure wandering around the cabin with her showing her reminders of the fateful crash that’s plaguing her, the idea of her mother coming to taunt her for her decision-making skills, and various other bits highlighting the fact that staying at the cabin is a bad idea, all come together to be visually arresting while also giving the film some genuinely creepy scenes at times. As well, with a dark finale that offers another rather chilling hallucination as well as the confrontation with the demonic figure in the basement that provides some shockingly fun gore effects for the attacking creature and the various kills that transpire, this one does manage to get some likable qualities here.
There are a few issues with this one that holds it back. One of the main issues present is the films’ favoring of psychologically destroying her sanity which takes precedence over the scares here. Since this is reluctant to engage in scares except for her visions, this one features moments that feel like padding that cause the pace to feel sluggish that’s almost borderline criminal on a film this short where that shouldn’t be the case. Scenes like her dancing around the kitchen singing while doing dishes or talking with her sister while smoking for several minutes serve no function in the film for the most point, while the series of repeated finales at the end also manage to drag this one out beyond its usefulness. As well, the finale also manages to feel far more chaotic and discordant than it really should with no real tie-in to the previous events and lands with a somewhat disappointing thud as if there was no additional money to finish the concept. These are what hold it back overall.
Overview: **.5/5
A likable enough psychological genre effort that manages to have enough to like that holds it up over its minor drawbacks, there’s a lot to like here while still being held down somewhat by the flaws. Those who appreciate those kinds of psychological genre features or are intrigued by the concept should give this one a look while others who prefer a more straightforward genre fare should give caution to this one.
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