This movie wasn’t horrible as many of the reviews said. It’s plot was difficult to follow without giving it a good minute of thought, but that’s the entire point. The protagonist Russel is questioning everything hes ever known so nothing is ever completely clear.
The pacing of the movie is rather slow, but it picks up violently and sporadically which, after the first jump, demands your attention so that you don’t miss anything. At one point during a short car ride for literally around 15 FRAMES (1/4 of a second) an image flashes on screen and it is accompanied by a loud grating noise. The first time viewing this I couldn’t tell what it was but hopefully when I re-watch it with my friends this weekend I will actually get a good glimpse of it.
It’s difficult to describe the plot without giving away the whole story because events in the beginning are only explained towards the end, and some events towards the end require prior knowledge of lovecratian lore.
Aside from that the acting was a bit strange. At first it’s easy to notice that all characters except Russel are moving and speaking rather “rigidly” but towards the end/late middle of the movie you can very easily come to a conclusion that explains this. I believe it was intentional, simply because Julia, Russel, and Russel’s Friend Mike are all very visceral and lively and fit their characters. Mike is very laid back and that is reflected in his speech, Russel gets wound up easily and his voice gets higher along with him speaking faster. But Julia, she is the best example: After that previous “jump scare” I mentioned Russel steps out of his car for a minute and until he gets back into his car Julia is screaming and begging for him to get back in the car and it is noticeably loud and visceral with the actress’ voice practically being hoarse afterwards.
I thought it was a great and entertaining movie overall, but I could be a little biased given my Love of Lovecraft’s work. So if you have amazon prime go watch it for yourself and please let me know what you think
