I don't often get interested by a horror film, let alone one that isn't part of a franchise.
But a combination of the people involved in front and behind the camera as well as the imagery coming out from marketing had me intrigued.
I sometimes check out films on a whim that I feel could be a surprise or hidden gem.
This one came frustratingly close to being one.
What I was liking early on, was the vintage dirty colour palette director Scott Cooper has in his film, the working class setting that he also has in his features, the variation of themes such as abuse, myth, folklore and poverty.
But in the end, it just showed the potential of all of those aspects. Everything is covered on a surface level and nothing more, which was such a shame.
Thankfully, I was still enjoying what was on screen. The characters were interesting, there were some good performances and I could see the potential of great this story could be.
Keri Russell is a solid lead in this. I always like her screen presence and she continues to take me back to my childhood. I will always see her as the babysitter from 'Honey, I Blew Up The Kid'.
It was nice seeing Jesse Plemons as he's always great. It was a serviceable performance in a role where he wasn't given much to do.
Stealing the show was child actor Jeremy T. Thomas. He had a wonderful haunting yet caring presence about him, and was definitely the most engaging character throughout.
From a technical aspect, it was pretty solid. The camerawork is good, the overall production design fits with the story well.
However with a lack of depth mentioned, this relates to the writing. It never explored it's themes beyond the introduction. Plus, the editing hinted at scenes missing.
All in all, I was disappointed with it despite nevertheless enjoying what I got in the end. My enjoyment and the potential I saw from it was enough for me to give it a pass.
This could have been a real surprise. But what we got in the end was a surface level flick with effective haunting imagery.
I can't see many people going down my way by giving it enough benefit of the doubt.
I hope this gets remade in around 10-20 years time, as the material is there for this to be hit. For know, we'll just have to see what might have been.
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