Steineded How sad is this?

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Vicky Jonas A promising premise that didn't deliver. From a technical pov, I believe the movie was really well shot and directed, with some nice cinematography. The cinematography enhanced the setting of the terrifying woods creating a tense atmosphere. The use of light and darkness for suspense was quite clever and I founf myself holding my breath in specific scenes. Unfortunately when it comes to the plot, the movie feels quite flat, unoriginal and repetitive. While the initial setting was promising, and I certainly appreciate the effort to make the characters tridimensional and highlight their emotional bond. The acting is pretty good, Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballentine certainly have chemistry on screen, which made their mother-daugther relationship very real. However, the movie falls apart on its way to the third act. I don't feel like the movie exploited the symbolism as much as it could, so much wasted potential, it did end up falling in a lot of horror clichés.Would I recommend it? I don't know, if you're looking for a good family drama-horror mix, with all its problems The Babdook is far more satisfying in most aspects.

ninjanorm This movie had a lot of potential going in, very classic monster movie feel. The relationship between the mother and daughter has great character dynamic as well. However, everything is basically thrown away in the last act. It's a shame that a lot of talented people did so much apparent hard work to make this movie of good quality, only to have it all trashed by terrible writing in the last act. The movie would have been better had they ended it when the ambulance went off the road. That wouldn't be a great ending but it would be better than the trash they tacked on at the end. The whole monster doesn't like light thing is clamy and not consistent in the movie. The Mom suicide/sacrifice is unmotivated. The girl stopping the monster in midair with an aresol can, is just bad all the way around. The monster can stop a moving ambulance, but aerosol yielded by a little girl is too much for it. Then is the monster made of purely flameable material, because it went up like a bonfire with just a kiss of flame? Really? All this throwing away of a good movie for some half baked, backwards message that little girls are empowered to fight the monsters on their own.

hearthstoneivan 7/10 A decent little movie set in one location with strong performances. Great cinematography and small-scale conflicts make it very personal for the audience. The monster itself is scarier in a metaphorical context rather than a physical one. The tension is sometimes interrupted by flashbacks, which are heartwarming. If you enjoy movies with deeper meanings and themes, you'll probably enjoy this one.

Michael Ledo Lizzy (Ella Ballentine) is being taken to her dad's house by someone who was not the prefect mom (Zoe Kazan). The film starts off showing us Lizzy is a well adjusted daughter considering her alcoholic mother who is less than understanding. They encounter difficulty along the road on a rainy night...in need of a tow truck and ambulance to fill the time. Yes there is a "monster" that we do get to see as Elizabeth has flashbacks to her life, none of which was good.This is a well acted film. You feel the intensity of the relationship between mother and daughter, as well as the sadness. With the various details and aspects at work, Bryan Bertino (director/writer) has turned a good jump scare story into a metaphor of facing and conquering our own monster in order to move on.Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.