It didnt work for me..needed motive and connections for me..spoilers

Right off, I liked the atmosphere and cinematography. Bertino does well in those departments, as well as sound effects and music.
However, at times the shaky camera spinning so fast made me feel nauseous and at times you couldn't really tell what was happening or even see clearly because it was so dark and unfocused.

I thought the premise was very clever and enjoyed the first half. Several times throughout I was reminded of The Strangers.

The second half and ending is where I feel like it fell apart.

Most people criticize The Strangers for having no motive and just being a random incident. This always worked for me and made sense because random things like in The strangers can and do happen..no motive really necessary.

It didnt work for me with Mockingbird. I think it could have been so much better if it had offered more explanation.

These people apparently filled out cards in malls or at college, so out of the thousands who did the same..why choose those people? Why them? It would have made more sense if a reason had been given, in my opinion.

The ending where we find out who is responsible made even less sense.

We see all three teams beimg tortured and watched throughout the film..then you find that 5 kids are behind it all. How did they get from place to place so quick? Even if they split up, how did they manage to follow Leonard or even get back to Mockingbird home so fast? By the way, was that home the home across from where the college student lived?

How did they manage to use all that fancy equipment and edit as they go? And WHY?

I expected the families to be related somehow..have a connection. Instead, the film builds up to a very disappointing ending..there is no payoff. Everyone dies somehow..so? I didnt really even care about the characters besides Leonard.

So while this formula worked nicely for Strangers, it did not with this film.

Bertino is obviously talented. You can see his talent shine through, i just hope he moves away from trying to use thenThenStrangers formula over and over. Its like hes trying to chase the fame and success he got with Strangers and that could backfire.

I see his next film seems to be another home invasion of sorts so i hope he adds more details and such in it