I've seen interviews with the writer/director and my hat is ff to him. He seems like very mature and passionate filmmaker who appreciates constructive criticism brought to his work. My respect to you sir!
I thought the camera work and lighting had some nice touches, creative and moody. The film didn't get sucked into the ocean of other films with jump scares every 2 minutes. This film went the creative route, though the "child living in the walls" thing and whispering off screen is a tad cliche.
This film needlessly bogs itself down in complexity, where I honestly didn't know what the threat was. The film was busy spinning many plates; the memories of her abusive mother, this bethany person who haunts her, the strange visions she keeps having, her self inflicted paranoid injuries. I kept saying to the screen in front of me "make up your mind, film. Choose one!" Its trying to go in too many directions, it ended up that none of them provided a scare factor, I was just confused the whole time rather than frightened....BUT, having said that, by the end of the 3rd act I had all the necessary information that should of been setup in the first act, built in the second and payed off in the 3rd. In the film the payoff is the setup, thus all the confusion.
For me the film kicked into gear about an hour or so into the film, when her husband believes his wife and the presence of Bethany. Though this script needed obvious work, I'm aware from interviews with the director that he is given insane deadlines to write a feature film before principle photography begins, so this could be the case here. The plot points in the third act where we learn what happened to her twin sister, how she was tortured and abandoned....thats the setup to the film aka the first act, what is this doing in the 3rd act?? Its not some big reveal, as I mentioned its essential context that could be used to set the stakes and provide some depth to the character and organic motivation for her moving home again, because there really isn't one here.
And a final question, Tom Green playing a psychiatrist?:)....really?
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