Director: Scott Derrickson
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone
Have I Seen it Before: Really, really, completely unsure if I had, as I started things. Pretty quickly became convinced that I have not. But only marginally, so. Great. Have I become my father? The man has hardly ever remembered any movie he’s ever seen.
Did I Like It: I don’t usually like to start my reviews with the negative, but that is unfortunately what my mind keeps coming back to several days after watching it. Where would the horror genre be if people searching for good real estate deal? As long as I keep paying my mortgage, does that mean I’m going to avoid those deeper, cosmic horrors?
What’s more, where would the horror genre be without people like the Oswalts allowed to make snap new decisions about their living situation in the middle of the night? Maybe the genre would be able to survive, but third acts might have a rough go of it.
I’ll push a little harder. Ellison Oswalt (Hawke) may be one of the least observant horror movie protagonists in memory. Spooky things are perpetually happening at the edge of the frame, and he just refuses to be looking in the right direction at the right time, allowing the movie to continue for longer than ti might otherwise have any right to. Things come to a head for him when, after drinking everything in sight throughout the runtime, downs a cup of coffee that has been laced with just enough poison to knock him out to be murdered by his daughter. Now, before we go judging the child too harshly, she did leave a note for him.
Lest we think I don’t like the film at all, I actually kind of enjoyed it. With the amount of horror movies I take in on a regular basis, I do worry I’m starting to develop something of a reaction callus. I can like the style or ideas (or lament the implausible characters) in something from time to time, but how many horror movies are still at all scary? This one, in fits and starts, actually accomplishes that tall task. That should probably be enough of a recommendation.