- Director: Jordan Barker
- Writers: Michael Foster, Thomas Pound
- Stars: Katharine Isabelle, Robin Dunne, Peter DaCunha
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes
- Link: https://amzn.to/33IaATP
Synopsis
The house and grounds are idyllic. Out in the country somewhere, with a main dwelling surrounded by lesser buildings and acres of empty looking fields and pastures. A woman comes out, listens to the sounds of the blowing of the wind and the concerned noises of the dog. He is agitated. Clearly barking in alarm at something he smelled or saw. Finding nothing, she tells the dog it’s okay and goes back inside.
Dinner time. Family fight time. Dad is a bit of a prick. The couple is brutally murdered. The little girl is lying in bed listening to music, surprised by the killer coming in to her room with bloody yard shears. Credits roll.
Sarah, Corey, and Liam arrive at their new house, right next door to the pre-credit murder house. Corey makes the dinner while Sarah wanders around and then sits in the living room. She sits in the former mom’s favorite chair. Faux Pas. Sarah is trying hard, but Liam is being difficult. Dad walks out and has a talk with Liam on his swing in the backyard. The property and building are huge. Parenting is hard, as the child storms off and slams into his room.
Corey is downstairs and finds someone has been eating in their kitchen. In the bedroom, clearly someone has been living there for a while. How long have they been away? Is this just a summer home?
Sarah’s trying so hard to connect with the kid. He’s still dealing with the pain of losing his mother. His dad has fallen in love with another woman, and the kid isn’t ready for a replacement. She is so stuck in the middle. Dad is of the attitude that the kid just needs to man up and deal with it. He is planning on making a baby, and the kid will have to get used to being a big brother whether he wants to or not, and Sarah is here to stay.
At this point, Brian said, “There are too few characters. They can’t kill off her or the kid, and they probably won’t kill the dad.” I wasn’t so sure myself. They can be brutal in these movies.
Shower time. And tension. Is someone creeping down the hall? Dad and kid have a heart-to-heart bedtime talk, trying to bring the kid on board with accepting Sarah. She tells him in great detail about how he loves her, and it’s okay to accept her into the family also. She isn’t replacing real mom. Sarah’s making the family bigger as a new member.
Why would anyone buy a vacation home in the woods six hours away? The place is huge. They’re in the bedroom making a baby, and they are being watched by a huge mouse.
All is quiet except for crickets and things breathing. Something awakens Sarah. A creak. It repeats as she listens, and she wakes up Corey after a blur passes by. “There’s something in the hall,” she says. “Were you dreaming?” he asks as he looks around and finds nothing. She doesn’t think she was. She goes to pee while he stands guard in the dark hall. Sarah exits and heads toward Liam’s room on an instinct that something is wrong. Liam is missing. They go out looking and calling, cruising through the yard. Sarah steps hard on a nail. They pull it out and first-aid it. A police car has arrived. Officer Hawkins, Corey calls as he approaches. Hawkins has been duct-taped to the steering wheel and manages to scream for them to get away as the rigged car explodes into glorious flame.
Corey and Sarah split up as Corey runs for help. Sarah barricades in the house. No Liam. A person in a giant mouse suit pops up after the car explosion and chases them a bit, high on the sweet smell of fear.
Corey seems to be doing okay, running heroically through the Dark. Sarah painfully and slowing explores the dark house. Are the lights all burned out? Shouldn’t you at least try them? Ah! That’s not who Sarah thought it was. Slice and cut to Corey still running, now kicking his way into a neighboring house. It’s all dark, and he moves around by flashlight. It’s the house with dead family from the opening. A couple of figures knocks Corey out with a thump from something heavy. Blackout switch to Sarah dealing something big, breathing hard. She’s struggling, tied to a wood frame, as the figure chooses which kitchen knife to use. She busts free.
Corey, who is only wounded, badly, wakes up tied firmly to a chair and struggles so violently that he knocks himself to the floor, painfully landing on one shoulder. A masked figure comes in to investigate the noise. Corey is chair-tied and interrogated. Sarah, still panicking, tries the car and locks the intruder out. “Just take him, he’s not my kid.” It’s the truth. She’s telling it. Smash goes the windshield.
Lots more chasing, hitting, shooting, fighting, and general mayhem occur before we all arrive at the not-completely-happy end.
Commentary
This is the genre of horror where the monsters are all humans. There is no magic, no advanced technology, nothing supernatural. In a way, that makes it way more frightening because this could be real.
At its core, it’s nothing that hasn’t been done already. A masked group is tormenting and killing innocent people. The people fight back. Apparently, the masked group is just doing this because they can, and they like it. The innocent people, and we, the audience, struggle to come to grips with what they did to deserve this. In this one, their struggle is a little more relatable. I found myself caring about this family and rooting for them. The gore is realistic. The peril recreations are the best. There is a sense of dread and suspense and tension. All in all, I give this one a solid thumbs up.