Here’s another movie I don’t plan on spending an inordinate amount of time writing about. There is not much substance here, and it is mostly hype as far as I’m concerned. So I will give a brief spoiler ridden synopsis, then provide my final thoughts along with my rating.
SPOILERS
We have a family, Paul, Sarah, and Travis, who are living out in the woods and seem to be very paranoid and have their house very well protected. They also have an awesome dog named Stanley. We know a deadly virus is killing lots of people as Grandpa dies in the beginning and gloves and masks are to be worn. One night, a guy breaks in to scavenge for his family, thinking that the house was abandoned. SO he goes through some shit with Paul, and it’s decided Will will bring his wife and son to Paul’s house and they will work together and combine their resources. This obviously starts off friendly and goes awry. What a tweest! The dog has issues one day barking at something and comes home and is all bloody.
Then there’s the night when Will’s son, Andrew, is found by Travis, and he was in Grandpa’s room, so Travis walks him back to Will and Kim’s room, and holds his hand, which is a big no no. On top of that, Travis found the red door that is to remained locked, well it was ajar. So this causes issues and distrust. The family’s agree to stay in their own rooms for a few days just in case. Paul wants to kick them out, Will wants to leave. Everybody kind of agrees, but Paul is fearful that Will would come back to steal from them, so he wants them dead.
Anyway, after a lot of gun pointing and yelling, Will gets the upper hand in a fight outside, so Sarah shoots him, and then Kim runs off holding Andrew so Paul shoots, kills Andrew, then kills Kim, and then WIll is dead. Travis ends up infected, which is what he dreamed about throughout the film, and the film ends with Paul and Sarah sitting at the dining room table. That is it. I just saved you so much time.
End Film
Final Thoughts – Waste of my goddamn time. The trailer looked really good so it had hype. Even worse, people on IMDB gave this a 6.3. For WHAT? Why, because it was a character study? I don’t get it. This wasn’t fucking horror. This seems like a film that people who liked Get Out and Don’t Breathe would thoroughly love and jack each other off to. Fuck that.
Rating: 3.5 because prior to the last 5-10 minutes, you sit there and are thinking that this is totally rewatchable. The ending is just so empty and hollow. This is supposed to be horror, so fucking do it right or get the fuck out of the genre.
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2nd Viewing Alert
I sometimes watch the same film multiple times for a variety of reasons for this blog. This allows you to get an updated viewpoint from me. Most of the time, this is me trying to give a film a second chance.
I admit, I bashed this movie when I first saw it. I decided to give it a second chance this year.
Basically, you have your virus pandemic situation, and we deal with a family of Paul, Sarah, and Travis. They live a very careful existence with their dog, Stanley, who is the best character of the film. One night, they here something behind their red door. The red door is special and focus on way too often. It ends up being this guy, Will. Will thought the house was abandoned and was scavenging. His wife, Kim, and son, Andrew, are are hiding out quite a distance away. This virus is nasty and it has wiped out a ton of people, and you can’t touch anybody that has it. After a bunch of stuff, Paul invited Will and his family to stay with them as Will has two goats and six chickens and they can be more productive as a unit. I’ll leave it at that.
The acting is really good here. I really enjoy Joel Edgerton in this and most other things that he does. Everybody did a great job in their roles. It’s definitely slower than some will like. I found the pace fine, but I kept waiting to find out what was so important about the door and the dreams that Travis had. The reality is, this is less horror and more drama. Yes, there is a bit of violence at the end, but this was advertised as something spooky, and it wasn’t.
With that being said, the story was okay. My outrage initially was with the ending. I’m not as outraged the second time because I knew what to expect. I wouldn’t watch this again, but I think it’s an okay one-time view type of film. There are probably people out there who absolutely love this film. I’d think fans of shows like The Walking Dead may like this film. I would go so far as to encourage people to see it and make their own decision. At the end though, ask yourself this: Would you watch it again?
Rating: 4.7 – The ending still pisses me off. Really great acting, story was good most of the way, but the ending impacted the film in such a way that it was like an M Night Sham film. If the ending is good, you can be happy with the film, but if it’s bad, it can ruin the film a bit.
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