Ok, this is a low budget TV movie.
But low budget should be a chance, a chance to innovate, to produce something interesting based on a creative script.
Unfortunately we get a classic thriller with no new idea (the girl being deaf is maybe new, but that doesn't add anything interesting).
There were thousand ways to dramatically improve the story / suspense / ending ...
Too bad :-(
what would you have done differently?
shareShe could have messaged all her online friends that theres a guy lurking. It doesnt matter he has her phone, he doesnt have her wifi.
The guy showing up can see that the guy has no proof as a cop and no radio, he uses his phone to call in, cmon. She stabs the guy once, why not hit him again.
Don't you ever know what 'panic' means?
shareHe turned off all of her power in her house, meaning her computer can't pick up her internet anymore.
The guy showing up was being told to get on the ground while he has a gun up to him and a bright flashlight, not being able to look to see if he's a cop or to even think "This may not be a cop" since no one would question it. Also, he doesn't need to be in uniform as he could be undercover or a detective and still something no one would question. After that he starts to realize something is going on, and that's why they showed that.
Well, no. The film clearly shows that she couldn't do that. No electricity, no wifi. The boyfriend is surprised--most of us are trained to listen to believe cops, and *beep* was already weird since his girlfriend was missing. Christ, did you even watch the film?
shareYes cops do act weird/pschotic, but did he REALLY look like a cop, with the gigantic dragon or whatever tattoo on his neck that was very visible?
But the most ridiculous part was while John holds the guy in a near death grip, Maddie-pooh, while watching through the glass door, just sits on her butt daydreaming various scenarios, with her mother's voice discouraging her instead of taking advantage of the guy's helplessness. And don't say, "yeah but she was wounded from the crossbow arrow." Well, the guy was wounded from the claw of a hammer to his wrist, and now he was being held down for at least 5 minutes. She was miraculously able to reach an out-of-reach cork screw and plunge it into his neck, from one side of his wind pipe through the other!
It's alright not to notice the many flaws, but there's no need to defend it like your intelligence was being challenged. In doing so, you do give one reason to question your intelligence though.
He turned her wifi off. Were you paying attention?
shareYeah, she should've just used the internet, even though the guy cut the power, thus making her modem kinda not work, which was a pretty clear thing that happened in the movie.
shareI feel the same way. I can't believe all the positive reviews and comments here. It's a breath of fresh air on the home invasion trope? Really? Why, because she's deaf? Give me a break. It was predictable because aside from this one caveat, its been done a million times before.
The deaf thing wasn't even used to its full potential. I expected to be watching this movie in almost silence, made to feel the way the character was feeling, which would have been suspenseful and terrifying but nothing unique or creative was done with it.
The killer was also the most unintimidating guy ive ever seen in my life. That giant football player neighbor type would have been much more effective.
This movie was decent. It was well made but it was uninspired and predictable. Sorry.
Agreed. It was entertaining enough but it didn't do anything different and didn't break any tropes. I actually was somewhat bored sometimes in the film just because I expected ..."more." Lol I wanted to see more altercations between Maddie and her assailant. A lot of the time she was in the house and he was outside just looking at her. I thought they would've used her being deaf in new ways too. They could've also used the fact that she couldn't talk to make more suspenseful scenes (ex. Tries to flag down someone passing by but since she can't scream she can't get their attention).also he guy wasn't the least bit scary when he took off his mask. It was all just very downplayed. A good concept and good directing and I like Mike Flanagan but it could've been great. The acting was good though
shareyeah, she should have tried to flag someone down; there were so many cars passing by. what an idiot she was not to think of that! :)
shareHmm, I don't think i said she was an idiot for doing that and I don't recall saying that there WERE cars passing by. What I did say was that that they should've put her in a situation like that to display how her disease really has her at a disadvantage in this situation. Her trying to flag down a passing by car is an EXAMPLE of a situation that would've worked. And with some rewriting it would be too easy to include such a scene. Now What I do think is that you're the idiot for not understanding what I was saying and instead of asking me to elaborate turning to sarcasm that's done nothing but you look like a fool. Good day
shareHer waving at someone but can't call out to them is just as generic as someone waving behind a window but the person they're waving at has his back turned and/or isn't paying attention to them (see Urban legend, I know what you did last summer, etc). I actually thought this concept was made a little more clever with the main character being deaf:
When her friend is banging and yelling at her from outside her door when she was a mere few feet away and the bad guy curiously toying with her when he realizes for the first time the main character is deaf.
When the killer uses the main character's muteness against her when she is unable to call out to her friend (the other girl's bf who literally has the drop on the killer) and stabs him in the neck when she bangs on the door. In any other movie the liability would walk into the room, discover the main character bound or gagged in some form and the killer will appear behind them and kill them.
I don't think this movie sets out to revolutionize the cat-mouse genre, but to make it a more effective one. I do agree in that I wish there was just one or two more creative uses of her disability but the concept of her being deaf is already so interesting and I notice small innovative things the director does with genre tropes to align with the main character.
Well I see Wym, but again the flagging down a car scenario was merely an example- my point was I still wanted more scenes that utilized her disabilities to the fullest.
sharei was just messing with you b/c what you said has already been done in other horror films. Your suggestion was hardly innovative, which is ironic since your complaint was that the movie was generic, and shows that had you written a script of the sub-genre you would not have offered anything fresh. I think I was able to grasp what you were conveying.
shareNo, because (again as I've said repeatedly) that was merely an example to give you an idea of the broader meaning behind my statement- the film needed to utilize her disability more.
shareI thought the film did a great job showing and utilizing her disability within the storyline... Geesh.. Complainers around here act like we're in the golden age of horror film or something. tHIS WAS solid! Everybody complaining it didnt do anything different.. OH BUt it did.. It didn't do anything different BUT managed to be good instead of crap like all the other hundreds of films over tge last 10 years that weren't entertaining. U guyz must tell me all the great low-budget horror films that are awesome compared to this.. Pls pls i'm all ears.
shareSo I'm a "complainer" for speaking my opinion on a MESSAGE BOARD where you're supposed to discuss movies? Interesting. And that's exactly my point it didn't break any tropes and I was disappointed that it didn't. I didn't say it was a horrible movie. I didn't say it was a bad. I said I was disappointed that it was very downplayed IMO. If you don't like reading others opinions because they don't agree with yours, get off of message boards because hats all you're ever gonna come across. It's so funny when people misinterpret your words then have the nerve to be belligerent about it. I said it was decent- nothing more, nothing less. Get over it.
shareOh and also how would comparing this movie to other films do it justice? If you compare two pieces of crap, it doesn't matter because in he end they're still crap. This movie isn't crap though, I just personally didn't enjoy it as much as you're next or the strangers, although it is better than a movie like the purge but that's again not saying much because the purge was actually crap. I get that you have this notion that you're opinion mutes the validity of any other person's but get over it. Not everybody's gonna like the same movie you do, this movie is a 6/10 for me (average)
shareI personally found the fact that he was so ordinary looking is what made him more frightening. A big buff guy, or odd looking creeper would have been too predictable. After all, who would expect the regular looking average sized Joe they pass every day to be a killer?
I liked the fact that he spent a lot of time just watching her. It I felt it added to the physiological suspense of the plot. Have you ever caught someone just staring at you? It’s super awkward and uncomfortable. Now add that to the fact that that person is hunting you too, and you’re not sure what’s their next move, or what move you should make.
Flagging a car down wouldn’t have made much sense due to her location. In fact, I think it would have ruined the movie because it’s such a cliché sort of scene that plays out in other horror/ suspense movies.
I was able to predict the part with the alarm. There were too many close ups shots of it and I was waiting for her to use it to her advantage. She could have set it off the first time he got in the house, and then ran out and found help. Then again, she was in a state of panic, and studies have shown that no matter how smart and well trained people think they are, they often do the most illogical things when they panic.
Well as far as the mask thing, I personally wanted him to put it back on because I thought it was much more frightening with it on. IMO all the shots of him staring at her would've been creepier if he still had it on. Again, the whole car scenario was just an EXAMPLE of a way they could've utilized her disability more which is what I said they needed to do - I didn't say, they needa put this scene in there specifically. And lastly The alarm thing I have no comment on, I wasn't tryna predict it or anything and it was okay ig
shareI dont get it. Sure, it's a fastball up the middle but it's still a good pitch. I liked tge fact the bad guy was unintimidating.. I liked the fact they didn't saturate the film with silence(they did throw the idea in there for about 1minute late in the film), it wouldn't have made the film any better. I thought it was very straightforward and entertaining.. As well as scary with the proper amount of gore. Everything so overdone nowadays. This was a solid horror flick -you guys must not have been in the right mindset or something. It WAs believable. It wasn't full of plot-holes, or gorey for the sake of gory. The two leads were solid and the film was better for only having 4 characters. Other than the scene when he finally entered the house -the film had few if any glaring issues. On its own its solid.. For the genre, especially of late, its VEry good.. Name me 5 better over the last 5 years. This will b interesting/an excercise in futility. 7/10 for me.. Anything below a 5/10 would be asinine.
shareMy biggest complaint was how an arrow to the chest and a hammer gouging part of his arm didn't effect him almost at all. Very unbelievable.
Other than those I thought this was a very good movie.
That's usually how it is in movies like this. The killers are sometimes portrayed as being somewhat indestructible.
Respect what you have 🌌
From the very start of the movie, I knew this female would kill the male attacker. They just don't make movies like this where the lead female dies in the end. I don't know why I bothered watching it. Her friend Sarah had a real nice ass though, and they even gave us a replay flashback of that shot.
Obvious plot devices were given to us in the first ten minutes: the flashing smoke alarm, the cat, the cell phone and laptop. I was hoping they would use the gas stove and blow the both of them to bits, but no.
I watched a movie on Netflix and the female lead did die in the end. It was a stalker movie, pretty good. Don't want to leave the title since I just gave a huge spoiler :)
But yea, the problem with horror films, from the beginning you know the main female will survive
90% of horror flicks end that way, 95% of slasher flicks, and 99% of home invasion flicks.. U shoulda known what u were getting so quit complaining about it or just stop watching horror films.
shareYeah I was really disappointed with this one. It had a great start, the deaf angle was utilized really well and the killer proved to be formidable and intelligent.
Basically, when he kills the power and takes off his mask, it was all downhill. Killer became a bumbling idiot, deaf angle was hardly utilized for the rest of the film, and in the end she just ends up stabbing the guy to death...WOW. Original.
A much more interesting idea would have been to have the entire movie in silence. Sure, it would alienate some viewers, but who cares. And instead of having the killer take his mask off, just have him write, "NO." in response. Keep him smart, keep him interesting.
The smoke detector was a cool idea, maybe don't foreshadow it as HARD, but actually DO SOMETHING with it at the end.
HELL is the impossibility of reason...
...this forum is HELL.
I like the silence idea.
shareLove your idea of him writing 'no' in response instead of taking off the mask.
I wondered when I started it if the whole movie would be silent. And when it wasn't, started wondering if it could've worked that way?
Exactly
shareI've been on this board quite a bit the past couple of days since I just saw the film. This is likely the best and most comprehensive set of critical comments I've read on the film. Lack of capitalizing on the deaf options, idea of all silent, etc.
Actually, I started a post (not knowing it had already been discussed here) about how her deafness was under-utilized. My post wasn't well-received. Haha!
Found it predictable and formulaic as well. Not bad, but still both of those things which did make it a bit boring at times. Surprised to see it praised, usually these formulaic movies get a lot of flak.
shareI highly recommend viewing Wait Until Dark, with Audrey Hepburn and a perfectly menacing Alan Arkin, to see this exact sort of thriller done well (silly plot holes and all). It's funny that 50 years later, a new film struggles to manage even this simple story, much less improve on it. I'd rather watch Hepburn fake blindness for 90 minutes, any day of the week.
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