Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober XII | 10/31 | Cults 3/3
At dusk, a search party looks for missing persons Simon and Keri. Two dogs find a hole in the ground with a bell embedded in its lip. Down at the bottom, they find a pool of water surrounded by roots that drive into the water and drink from it. Their owner finds them in the woods, standing still and staring at one another. He takes them home and puts them in their pen in one of the greenhouses. Later that night, one dog pants loudly, and squelching sounds emanate. The family awakens, and the owner follows the sounds into the greenhouse and sees an incomprehensible scene of the two dogs entwined, with one’s head poking out from parts of the other’s.
Tim looks through a box of records in a mostly packed-up bedroom, with the sound of a going-away party coming from another room. He finds pictures of him and Millie, his girlfriend. He also finds a picture of him with his parents, who have recently passed. Meanwhile, Millie talks to friends about her new job. Her friends are unsure about her moving with Tim because he’s been distant since his parents passed, creating a rift they hope the move to the country will mend. During a speech, Tim and Millie give to their friends at the party, Millie proposes. Tim takes a long time to respond, creating an awkward moment.
After some time adjusting to their new environment, the two take a hike into the surrounding woods. At what looks like a dead end, Tim sees some bells leading into the woods — a path at one point, now overgrown. A sunny day quickly turns to rain, and they get turned around. Tim slips into a hole, grabbing onto the canon of a bell embedded in the side of the rocks. Millie tries to pull him up, but the two slip into the hole. Thirsty and without water, Tim finds a pool of water and drinks from it.
Lots of weirdo imagery. Great slimy effects and solid CGI that isn’t too intrusive, but obviously, I wish they had stuck to practical effects. As other reviewers have said, CGI for body horror is a hard sell.
A central selling point of the movie is Dave Franco and Alison Brie’s real-life marriage. You can speculate all you want about the personal life, but what I think it brings to the table is organic, ready-made chemistry that helps sell the waves this relationship takes.
The sound design is excellent, with its creaking bones, tearing flesh, and claustrophobic sounds in the distance. The score frequently rips off Hereditary, but not to an annoying degree.
The film seems to be about how people lose their identities in codependent relationships. Who they are becomes contingent on the other person’s proximity. At first, this can feel like love, because our culture makes love out to be a desperate need for one another. But, as Mr. McCabe says, sometimes people mistake peace for complacency. All that said, this movie has nothing healthy to say about relationships.
I wish this movie didn’t spend the vast majority of its runtime with Millie and Tim in conflict with one another, because it leaves solving any of their problems until the final act, which already has plenty to resolve.
Still, I enjoyed the movie and am happy something this weird is doing well.
** Stray Thoughts **
- The nightmare scene rules.
- Chekov’s power saw.
- The rat king in the ceiling light fixture! Their gnarled tails look like the roots going into the hole.
- Prosthetic penis, nice.
- When Millie mentioned Spice Girls, I knew “2 Become 1” was going to play into the movie somehow.