Directors: Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote
Writers: Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote
Stars: Dylan Minnette, Piercey Dalton, Patricia Bethune
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Logan’s father is run over and killed by a car on the street. They can’t afford their lifestyle on what Naomi, Logan’s mother, makes. Her sister offers to let them stay in their mountain house. It’s currently for sale, so they may have to clear out a few times on Sundays for the occasional open house.
Their new neighbor, Martha, recognizes them at the nearby convenience store. She seems to know a lot about their situation. She’s very cheerful, in a creepy way. She says her husband also recently died.
They arrive at the mountain house, and it’s huge. The second they step inside, the phone rings, it’s Martha. Logan explores the house, especially the cellar. There are tunnels down there. That night, Logan hears knocking, and there’s a car outside. He goes outside to investigate, and runs into Martha, who’s running around outside in her robe and doesn’t seem to recognize him.
The next morning, they’re awakened by the rudest Realtors on the face of the planet, who make them leave for the open house. When they return, they get a good jump scare from the assistant Realtor. Logan’s phone disappears, and he finds things he left in the bedroom now in the living room.
Chris, a guy they met at a store, drops by to look at the house, and we don’t see him leave. Martha stops by and brings them banana bread. Martha says her husband can’t wait to meet Logan. The water heater keeps going out, so Naomi keeps needing to go down to the basement to relight the pilot light. It keeps being switched off.
The water heater repairman comes. He finds Logan’s phone in the basement. Naomi finds a picture of her husband in the trash and blames Logan for throwing it out. She blames him for doing everything that’s been going wrong, and of course, he denies all of it.
After the next open house, the pair return to find Christmas music playing and candles lit on the dinner table. They call the cops and tell them that weird things have been happening. They can’t do anything, so they call Chris, who stops by and helps them look around. Chris gets his throat cut in the car outside, and someone knocks Logan out.
Naomi wakes up and finds a bunch of photos in an envelope by her bed, of each of them… sleeping. Who could have taken them, Logan? Or maybe that man who’s laying in bed next to her? He knocks her out before saying anything. She wakes up tied to a chair, and the still-unseen man breaks her fingers. Logan wakes up and unties Naomi. The man grabs Naomi and takes her– to the basement tunnel.
Commentary
We repeatedly get shots of the camera “sneaking” up behind the actors, in the usual “stalker point-of-view shot,” but then there’s no one there; it’s a fake out. Repeatedly. There’s a big deal made about Logan “losing” his cell phone; do the writers not know about “Find My iPhone?” How about at least having the mother call Logan’s phone and tracking it down from the ring?
The pacing is pretty good, but we’re 50 minutes in before we actually get confirmation that there really is someone in the house. The ending is suitably tense and far more realistic than the ending of most horror movies.
It’s a little different, and I didn’t hate it.