Director: Samuel Bodin
Year: 2023
Country: USA/Bulgaria
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Trying to get by in life, a bullied kid tries to understand why he’s suddenly being subjected to a series of strange bumps and noises within his house no one else will acknowledge, but when he discovers what’s living in the house with him must try to prevent it from being unleashed.
Review:
This was a majorly flawed genre effort. What works best here is the general atmosphere of the setup presented here which presents itself rather nicely. The main idea of the kid’s life being established not just at school with him being bullied and ignored to the point of being labeled a problematic student that draws the teacher’s attention to his issues that come about mainly because of what’s going on at the house connects rather well. Those issues at his house are all generally impressive, with the congruent build-up of the constant tapping against the walls and the child’s voice from the other side that presents the beginning stages of something strange happening since not only does this start the idea of the voice teaching him to be more confident against his bullies but the fact his parents don’t believe him and downplay everything makes for a really solid idea here.
Beyond this, there are some huge factors present that hold this back. The biggest drawback to this one is the absolutely banal second half where this one turns into such a confusing series of unnatural antics that it’s hard to believe what’s going on. It starts with the reveal of the walled-in figures’ identity where which raises more questions than anything about how they got there or the connections to the past that continually get brought up that signal some intriguing mystery but that doesn’t tie into the story being presented in any kind of logical manner as it only brings about more questions with the use of the revealed connection giving this reveals a slew of question marks. That continues with the purpose of revealing this at this early stage of the film as it sets into motion so many confusing aspects of the final half where the antics of the finale make no sense at all based on doing this at this early stage when all of the reveals afterward focus on bizarre family relationships, inhuman super-powers, and just plain nonsensical motivations for what’s going on.
On top of that, the film also features so many bizarre technical choices that it’s hard to make sense of what’s going on in the film. The whole thing is so unruly dark and barely watchable that there’s little chance of making anything out of what’s happening. All of the main night-time settings are shot in such bizarre night-time low-light settings that are just about impossible to make out due to this, and they make it difficult to follow along with this over time. The other huge issue with this one is the outright laughable CGI featured for the main figure which looks ludicrously unrealistic as if the whole idea is too over-the-top to realistically fit with this more grounded setup being presented beforehand. It’s all used for such unnatural movement as well that it becomes all the more obvious and obnoxious, lowering this one overall.
Overview: */5
A rather disappointing and somewhat problematic feature, there are some fun elements present here but it’s all undone by a series of flaws that are much more impactful and detrimental. Those who don’t mind the flaws or are intrigued by this story will have a lot to like here while most others out there who aren’t into these features should heed caution.
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