Speak a good review about this movie, 3.5 readers. It is worth it.
You know, 3.5 readers, I normally don’t do horror movies. That’s because my life is horrifying enough. What’s that? You’ve got a movie about a masked maniac with a chainsaw who cuts up co-eds? That’s nice. Try dating after 40 and all the various dating sites can offer you is a plethora of middle aged blue haired, nose ringed wack-a-doos who are all waiting for Chris Hemsworth to sweep them off their feat.
But you came here to read a movie review, not discuss my pitiful social life.
Jean Paul Sartre once famously said that “Hell is other people” and that’s one running theme of this sleeper hit. Seriously, I can’t rave enough about it and I think it’s going to be one of those movies that does well by word of mouth.
Why are other people so hellacious? Because you can’t control them, you have no idea what’s going on inside their heads, and worse, you have no clue if their various quirks and poor habits are signs of something dark and sinister afoot, or if maybe you’re just an uptight a-hole who judges people for being different. People would be so much less annoying if they’d just obey your commands at all times and defer to your preferences.
SIDENOTE: Judge people, 3.5 readers. Always assume the worst, and you’ll rarely be disappointed.
Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis (she of Halt and Catch Fire fame) play Ben and Louise Dalton, an American couple recently relocated to London for work. While on vacation in Europe, they meet Paddy and Ciara (James McAvoy of Young Professor X fame and Aisling Franciosi).
These couples are very different. The Daltons are very proper and straight laced nerds, while Paddy and Ciara are wild and free, a couple of fun loving jokesters who live to party. Somehow, they hit it off and become fast vacation friends, even their children Agnes and Ant become BFFs.
Time passes and the Daltons fall back into their humdrum life when they receive an invite from their new buds to visit them at their farm in the British countryside. As it just so happens (you know, for the movie to happen) the Daltons are facing some personal struggles such that a second vacay would really hit the spot, so off they go.
All seems well at first, but things quickly turn sour. The couples clash. Quite a bit. They see eye to eye on nothing. And for most of the movie, you wonder if the problem is just that. Have you ever had to spend a few days visiting a friend or relative you disagreed with on nothing? The couples disagree on what to eat, how to act, what is and isn’t appropriate behavior, parenting skills. The list is endless.
The lengths we go to in order to avoid being impolite is the second and by far the biggest theme of the movie. Have you ever been thrust into a situation where you feel like you’re being asked to put your head on the proverbial chopping block, but you shrug and go along with it for fear of being called a party pooper?
Case in point. When Ben and Louise first meet Paddy, he offers to give their daughter a ride on his motorcycle. Close up of the parents, obvious pits of doom and despair in their stomachs. They’ve just met this guy and they are in a foreign country. He could just drive away with their daughter and they’d never see her again. Or maybe he’s a shitty driver and will get into a crash. But little Agnes is saying “please, please let me go” and Paddy comes across as a nice guy with the best of intentions. To say no might offend him. What? You think I’m a creep who would hurt your daughter? Well, screw you, this friendship is over, losers.
So off Agnes goes on the bike and you instantly know what is going to do the Daltons in. They just can’t say no. They’d rather suffer a million indignities than risk offending their new friends. So they say yes, and yes, and yes again. They put up with this. They say nothing about that. Are these new friends just very different? Eccentric? Weirdos? Is it just a case of culture clash with two couples with very different lifestyles?
Or with every yes that should be a no, are the Daltons stringing out more rope to hang themselves with?
And as you might expect, Paddy and Ciara are the ultimate gaslighters…or are they? That weird thing they just did that freaked you out? “Oh. Wow. We’re so sorry. We didn’t think that was a big deal. Guess we just do things different here in the country. Well, so sorry we offended you, feel free to go but we’d be so sad if you did.”
Yeah. We’ve all been in relationships like that, haven’t we? Where they do something horrible, you freak out and they talk you into apologizing for not being on board with the horrible.
SPOILER ALERT: You didn’t think it was just going to be a movie about people from different walks of life learning to get along despite their differences, did you? Of course there are nefarious doings afoot, and this horror film doubles as a mystery flick as the Daltons uncover just exactly what those shady doings are.
STATUS: Shelf-worthy. A good kick-off to the Halloween horror movie season. Some very scary and gruesome scenes, though I can’t get into it without spoiling it. My usual complaint? Children are put in peril and I never like to see that in a movie. But the scares are real and it will leave you wanting to question the motives behind everything that BFF couple you hang out with does.
Bookshelf Battle 