Matt B

Spoilers ahead This movie is ok for something to watch when you don't know what you want to watch. But don't expect much if you're a horror/thriller genre fan. The first 1/3 of the movie is pretty great. A slow burn that makes you gradually see what's actually happening and makes the story go in a direction you probably didn't guess at. Unfortunately, the last 2/3 of the movie overwhelmingly centers around 3 characters, with small scenes thrown in of others to give us some story. And then those characters are promptly gotten rid of in some fashion, and it's back to the protagonist and her two major antagonists. The movie gives us no less than 4 minor character deaths or departures and acts like we are supposed to care that they died, were ran off, or killed. Remember the co-worker who seemed like she'd play a bigger role? She disappears entirely from the story some 30 minutes in, then shows up again at the very end to give the protagonist a "snap out of it" moment only to be shot in the head. This unfortunately isn't the only example. We aren't given enough time or plot to care about anyone else to begin with. The movie spends so much time making you hate the leader and so little time on anyone else that you wind up not caring about anyone else and the payoff at the end felt flat. The drastic mood change, and focus, between the first 1/3 and the last 2/3 is so great it felt like two different movies mashed into one. Especially midway in where literally all of the sinister plot is explained to the protagonist, and thus to us. Felt like needless exposition to explain what could have been done slower or through different vehicles. Basically we get a giant info dump within the span of 10 minutes. The movie turns into a bad Midsommar kockoff. It's so jarring that you sorta just sit and wait for the ending because you already know everything and all that's left is for us to see if she makes it or not in the ending. It takes you out of the movie and makes you very aware that you're watching a movie, so you end up watching it just to get to the end. And it's a long wait from there. Too little time world building and too much time on scenes making us hate characters we already hate. And the trope of "this secondary character exists only to die for the main character" is overdone in films and this movie has two of them. The acting was great. The failures are the pacing, writing, and directing.