Rating: 2.5/5
Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever) lives alone in a house on the outskirts. By all appearances, she is doing well.
When she waves to people in town, they don’t wave back. When anyone calls the house, she picks it up and hangs it up before anyone can answer. Something has happened, and the town has socially exiled her.
She packs a picnic and puts it out at her mother’s grave. She also writes letters to her former BFF Maude, saying it’s been ten years since they’ve seen each other.
One night, all the power comes on in her house. Then it all shuts off.
Brynn wakes up and hears a sound. She tip-toed out of her room to the top of the stairs. She sees a shadow moving around in the kitchen. It’s also making noises. Whatever it is, it isn’t human.
The movie’s gimmick is its minimal dialogue, with only a few lines spoken. That was a delightful surprise.
The first twenty minutes of this is top-notch. When the creature shows up in Brynn’s house, they get incredible tension from sound and camera angles. My body tensed as she sprinted back to her room, the only sound being the creature’s footsteps.
The film loses momentum after that. Although there are still themes and backstories, there isn’t much story remaining.
Caught in an endless cat-and-mouse game, we don’t know why it begins or ends. The creature’s behavior is wildly inconsistent, so the established tension from earlier evaporates.
The fatal flaw lies in the movie’s decision to wait until the last minute to reveal why the townspeople shunned her. I understand why — they needed a thread to keep you watching. Finding the best space to tell the story without dialogue is challenging, but it should have been earlier.
By the end, I didn’t care because bigger things were happening. It would have added complexity to Brynn’s character and connected to her interactions with the creatures.
The central theme is the most common metaphor of horror films these days: grief and processing trauma — which I have no problem with. But by denying our character depth, it undermines the theme. Some reviews argue that the film should have omitted the Maude storyline, which is reasonable given its underserved place.
Kaitlyn Dever shines in this. The movie spends most of its time looking at her, and she carries the film forward. The movie relies heavily on CGI, revealing the director’s lack of direction beyond simple instructions like “It’s over there now!” As a result, her responses sometimes don’t match the scene’s tone.
This movie also doesn’t look like it had a big budget. The creature’s CGI is okay, but the design lacks imagination.
I find the ending concept appealing. I’m unsure, however, if it fits well with this movie.
Like others, I agree that the film had potential as a short. As it is, it doesn’t resonate with me.