Rating: 2/5
Somewhere in Oregon, Maya and Ryan are on a multi-day cross-country road trip to Portland. They pull into Venus, a small town where folks eye outsiders suspiciously. At a diner, they hear about a guy who passed through, ate at the same restaurant, and went missing.
When Ryan’s car stalls, they take it to the auto shop across the road. Ryan suspects a scam, but Maya pushes him to stop being paranoid. They must stay at an Airbnb, getting a ride from server Shelly.
When the fridge goes out, Maya calls the conveniently placed number. They initiate sex when, like clockwork, someone knocks on the door. “Is Tamera here?” the person asks, draped in shadow. They decline, and the person leaves. “Where did she even come from?”
When Ryan realizes he left his inhaler in the car, he takes the motorcycle in the garage to grab it and some food. While Maya is alone and pantless, another sharp knock shakes the door. She peeps through the eyehole and sees no one. We see a shadow behind her — someone is in the house.
I didn’t hate this — the theater is where to see this. If I had gone earlier and seen it with an audience, I might have had fun.
Unfortunately, the movie makes one too many logical leaps. The killers are always, inexplicably, one step ahead. Did the original movie establish them as having telepathy?
Good performances, good lighting (none of this too dark to tell what’s going on bullshit), and consistent tension keep this from being a shitstorm. But it’s hard not to scoff when that “To Be Continued” flashes on the screen.
I find it funny that the filmmakers have already made two more chapters that follow this movie. They filmed them all concurrently, as though this series will be this generation’s Lord of The Rings.
Still, as a former Riverdale fan, I am pleased that Madelaine Petsch is getting lead work. Hopefully, this leads to better things.
** Stray Thoughts / Spoilers **
- Sponsored by Ally and Busweiser.
- A Joanna Newsom record is already on the record player?
- Ryan is such an asshole to everyone that you want him to die. He’s suspicious until Maya tells him anything, and he convinces her nothing is happening.
- Do the killers trash this Airbnb every time someone stays there?
- Axes the door with hello written on it so it says “hell.” Maya is an architect, so she uses her knowledge of houses to survive.
- Two of the masks look so similar that I didn’t realize there were three killers.