I watched a horror movie for Halloween.
This movie makes liberal use of artsy angles and interesting cinematography to frame things and pop that cinematography boner.
And the monster is, you know, the personification of grief and stuff, but it’s also basically one of those creatures that exist in videos where the creature blurs by really fast. Or is some weird shit. I don’t like looking at it. That thing is real gross to look at. It’s like a bug. Real skinny and skitters around… mostly blurry… they lovingly show the skeleton later on for some reason. I don’t think they needed to.
I do have a problem with like… they feature one Black character, he’s ultimately the best person in the movie (aside from the dog) (which, bummer, the dog dies) and then they toss in that he had an affair once. And then we have our white lady get mega drunk and fucking kiss this guy to orchestrate a misunderstanding (of sorts) for our evil child to go running to his bug dad and scream a bunch. It ends up with this little white child almost killing the Black guy because he thinks that his stepmom and him had an affair while his dad was alive. Like. Dude. The violence happens off-screen, but afterwards they do the thing where they zoom into the eyes and show his battered face off to the audience.
Also, there’s a whole awkward-ass scene where stepmom is disrobing and her stepson walks in. And he just stands there and awkwardly says he’s scared (obviously, because stepmom just left him in his bedroom, where the window has been shattered by bug dad, who moves at the speed of light and somehow keeps getting into the house) and she stands there like. And??? Before common sense kicks in and she invites him to sleep there. Then she finishes changing— spanx just out there, as if we weren’t able to see it through her sheer blue dress, which she wore for the funeral— and just. Pulls on a T-shirt, legs and bloomers just out there, to sleep with her preteen stepson. Man, I know you have pajama pants. You have shown that you are ENORMOUSLY awkward around this boy. How are you getting into bed without pants on for this kid who is laying there and staring at the ceiling like. Bro.
Then we have this long sequence through the night where they get closer and closer to cuddle up and it’s supposed to be sweet, like, look! The maternal instincts and child acceptance of a new parent is happening! Boy y’all coulda made it less awkward. This woman just out here with what amounts to a teeny tiny nightgown. Which somehow, when she runs with this thing on, clings to the shape of her body? Yall ever wear a T to bed? You ain’t looking like that. How did they do that?
Bug dad is obnoxious. What’s the point of his existence? What’s his motivation? Why is he here except to be the thing that walks in and is like, hey, I’m your dad, I built you a place in the woods. Bring me people to just almost kill I guess? Also, yeah, I’m your grief. Or loss or whatever. Why is it skittering around doing this?
Plus the ending is abrupt— I get it. The stepmom literally kills the personification of grief that is haunting her stepson and now they love each other or whatever. But the way they frame it is… well. Hrm.
Anyway, it was an okay movie. It plays itself as something deep but it’s a very surface level movie that just showcases set design and in-your-face symbolism. As for the horror bit— there’s jump scares and such. I’m more scared of hearing the child do his screaming anger thing again than of the monster.
