Well. Where do I begin? There was just so much to take in that I guess I should start from the beginning. There is nothing that makes take away some of the credibility for a horror film than if it starts off with “based on a true story.” Ok. I’m sure. No really. After poking around a bit on the internet, it is indeed based on a true story. Kind of. There was a story like this but a lot of the details are fudged. Given. Also, don’t tell me the movie takes place in 1987 if that point doesn’t really matter. This is a film that suffers under the weight of its own superfluous details. It takes place in 1987. Dad has a problem with alcohol. Mom talks to God sometimes when she thinks other people can’t hear her. In the grand scheme of the narrative, if there even is a grand scheme, none of these things really matter. Just to nitpick for a moment? TWO COLORS. TWO. Brown and blue. I tried to figure out why these colors were used so much (Matt never appears in any other color to my knowledge) but there doesn’t seem to be any reasoning behind it. To be perfectly honest, there doesn’t seem to be any reasoning behind anything that happens in this film. There IS a story there, and that is what is so disappointing. They should have cut all the present day stuff, as that was just a means to an end. The really interesting, disturbing material has to do with the story behind the house, and I would have loved the film had it dealt with that. And, just to show my ignorance of films and how they’re actually made: I get that this was a pg-13 movie but the over use of the quick cut so you’re only vaguely sure that something is there? End it. Really. If you want to make a movie with a gore element and you don’t want to take the hit in front of the ratings board, don’t even bother making it. Man, I’d love to see a good horror movie in the theatre one day.

Well. Where do I begin? There was just so much to take in that I guess I should start from the beginning. There is nothing that makes take away some of the credibility for a horror film than if it starts off with “based on a true story.” Ok. I’m sure. No really. After poking around a bit on the internet, it is indeed based on a true story. Kind of. There was a story like this but a lot of the details are fudged. Given. Also, don’t tell me the movie takes place in 1987 if that point doesn’t really matter. This is a film that suffers under the weight of its own superfluous details. It takes place in 1987. Dad has a problem with alcohol. Mom talks to God sometimes when she thinks other people can’t hear her. In the grand scheme of the narrative, if there even is a grand scheme, none of these things really matter. Just to nitpick for a moment? TWO COLORS. TWO. Brown and blue. I tried to figure out why these colors were used so much (Matt never appears in any other color to my knowledge) but there doesn’t seem to be any reasoning behind it. To be perfectly honest, there doesn’t seem to be any reasoning behind anything that happens in this film. There IS a story there, and that is what is so disappointing. They should have cut all the present day stuff, as that was just a means to an end. The really interesting, disturbing material has to do with the story behind the house, and I would have loved the film had it dealt with that. And, just to show my ignorance of films and how they’re actually made: I get that this was a pg-13 movie but the over use of the quick cut so you’re only vaguely sure that something is there? End it. Really. If you want to make a movie with a gore element and you don’t want to take the hit in front of the ratings board, don’t even bother making it. Man, I’d love to see a good horror movie in the theatre one day.