Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 50 minutes
I’d wanted to see this one for a while, and it did not disappoint. When Louise, Ben and their daughter Agnes become friendly with Ciara, Paddy and their son Ant while on vacation, Paddy invites them to join them for a long weekend at Paddy and Ciara’s home. When Louise, Ben and Agnes arrive there, Paddy and Ciara show an unwelcoming side of themselves and Ant stresses to tell Agnes a secret but struggles.
Mackenzie (Davis) and Ben (McNairy) Dalton are vacationing in Italy with their daughter Agnes (Lefler). They meet a British couple, Paddy (McAvoy) and Ciara (Franciosi) and their son, Ant (Hough) – who has trouble communicating. Initially, Paddy is very friendly and invites the Daltons to come for a long weekend at their home. They accept his invitation.
Paddy lives out in the middle of nowhere. It starts out pleasant enough but doesn’t take long for things to get strange.
When Ben is taking the trash out, Ant tries to communicate something to him, but Paddy stops him before he can finish.
There are things that the Daltons find off-putting – like a stain on their sheets. Louise doesn’t find them pleasant to be around; but they try to stick it out.
The two couples go out to dinner, leaving Agnes and Ant with a babysitter. Ant tries to communicate something to Agnes again.
McAvoy’s sharp behavior from friendly one minute and unsettling the next is a constant occurrence through most of the movie and I found it to be one of its creepiest aspects.
Eventually, Louise has had enough and decides they are leaving. They are almost free, but Agnes forgets her stuffed animal, so they have to turn around.
Paddy is offended that they left without saying goodbye and the two couples argue. The Daltons are pressured into staying.
Later, Ant slips Agnes a note, but when Ciara approaches, he hides it to avoid getting caught.
Agnes relays everything to her mother.
There are more uncomfortable moments that had me cringing, like the dance scene with Agnes and Ant.
After an unpleasant dinner, Louise wants to go. Ciara gives a stern warning against trying to leave.
Ant steals Paddy’s keys to show Agnes a secret room filled with not-so-surprising items. Ant reveals his secret.
Once Agnes tells her parents what she’s seen, they plan to leave.
On the creep-out scale, I’d give this close to a 10. It does start a little on the slow side, but quickly the viewer is made aware all things aren’t what they appear to be – or maybe they are. As the movie progressed, I found myself more and more on the edge of my seat. It’s very uncomfortable pretty much from the beginning; James McAvoy plays a skin-crawling individual who does some crazy things. As a heads up this movie has moderate language, mild sexual references and violence. One of, if not the scariest thing I found about this movie is its plausibility. Hollywood can exaggerate a bit, but I found Ben and Louise’s situation, at the very least moderately believable. There are so many tense and disturbing moments and it’s the perfect movie as All Hollow’s Eve approaches.
Now available to rent. <
No comments:
Post a Comment