Brief Story Line
Charlie (Dan Stevens - Legions TV series, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga etc) and his partner Mina (Sheila Vand - Snowpiercer TV series etc) decided to celebrate getting new business by renting a large house for weekend getaway with Charlie's wife Michelle (Alison Brie - Community TV series, How to be Single etc) and Mina's boyfriend Josh (Jeremy Allen White - Shameless TV series etc) who happened to be Charlie's younger brother.
When they reached the beautiful house with nice views, they were a bit bothered by the house caretaker named Taylor (Toby Huss - Carnivàle TV series etc) who seemed to be a bit racist and a jerk. However the 2 couples did not want it to ruin their stay, so they continued to have fun. But when they found something troubling in the house, their vacation very soon change to a nightmare.
So how would the story conclude? Find them all in this horror thriller movie.
End of Brief Story Line
I was intrigued by this movie because I remembered it played in Indonesian theaters several months ago and I did not get the chance to see because of the pandemic. So when I realized about the availability of the film, I decided to watch it as early as I could. Anyway the movie started of with the introduction of the characters who mostly were familiar faces to me (except Jeremy Allen White whom I never saw before). This introduction and also the interaction among the 2 couples took a large part of the movie.
But once we got to the exciting part, the intensity was raised quite high with some suspenseful moments. And there was even a mystery of how or why such thing happened. As the story progressed though, I could not help feeling the movie seemed to mix few ideas from other movies into one (some 80s and 90s famous horror movies that spawned into sequels came to mind, plus one erotic thriller starring Sharon Stone). Nevertheless, it did have an interesting plot, but it might have been more satisfying personally for me if those early part did not take too long. After all this is supposed to be a horror and not drama movie, so it would be nice to see more horrifying scenes. Perhaps having an opening scene that showed the aftermath of what happened would give a more excited feeling of what to expect.
Aside from that, the horror was actually not bad. And it also has pretty satisfying ending with an interesting take on possible future sequel. Don't miss the closing credits that would give better understanding. The movie was quite brutal and had few violent scenes which Catchplay+ censored by blurring the picture (it made me feel like watching National TV channels). Now I get why censor is required on those channels because it could be seen by people from various ages, but I personally do not agree for it to be done on streaming services. There was already a warning based on category, plus we also need to put the password before watching such show, hence only certain people would have access to it. Although to be fair, at least Catchplay+ only did it by blurring, unlike another streaming service which just cut the scenes and ruined the mood.
I read on the internet that critics loved this movie and praised the director's vision of making the transition of drama to horror seamlessly, plus the story and characters development. Btw, this is a directorial debut of the actor Dave Franco who also served as co-writer and co-producer. Fun fact: Dave Franco is the husband of Alison Brie. However, from what I could see in the movie database, the audience rating was not that high. It could have been a flux but it also could mean that audience did not enjoy it as much as critics. Anyway, for people who like to see a horror movie with some engaging interaction between the lead cast, this could be a nice option as it does have good story telling. But for those preferring nonstop horror, this might be a bit lacking. If you are interested, the movie is currently streaming at Catchplay+ exclusively.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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