Amber Whitaker

Because of the intense and dark themes, I feel like this movie should’ve had some sort of content warning. I would reconsider watching this if you struggle with PARANOIA, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, and trauma surrounding death. I personally struggle with intrusive and paranoid thoughts, and had trouble trusting people the first night I watched. Yes, I’ve seen plenty of horror movies and media with dark themes, which is how I know this one specifically needs one. ** SPOILER WARNING ** Towards the middle, it felt a little repetitive but I feel like it picked up really intensely once things did start moving. The pacing left me in suspense towards the beginning if it was actually paranormal or purely in her head. I do think the movie tied in everything pretty seamlessly. I LOVED how it tied in Rose’s mother and her overdose, and I love her returning to her childhood home to face the entity in the form of her mother head-on. One thing I would’ve liked to see is actually more paranoia from the main character. Even after learning and experiencing the entity pretending to be other people, she never questions who she’s talking to which didn’t make sense to me. I definitely think at least one scene of her losing it on someone because she can’t trust who she’s looking at would’ve really shown how the entity has taken over her mind and life. This movie did a FANTASTIC job of making the audience scared of the entity. We can clearly see it has both physical and metaphysical strength, being able to project itself as hallucinations but also having a physical form that can break in and kill your cat. It’s also seemingly unkillable, because even when you think it’s dead and gone you realize all of it was fake and completely under the entity’s control. I know this was purposeful, but as a curious watcher I want to know more about the entity. Does this give it fuel, or is it just that sadistic? How long has it been here, or how did the cycle start? Obviously I respect the choice to leave the entity unknown for more mystery and anxiety, but I think some of the screen time that was showing her being psychologically tortured could’ve gone into more scenes of her trying to find out about what’s attached to her. I can’t fully tell the theme this movie was trying to convey in terms of mental health. It was this movie’s main tool, so there’s definitely a message being sent. But, is it that you’re screwed completely if you have any trauma or mental health struggle, even if you try to overcome it? Is it just to shine a light on how trauma festers, and how it can haunt you and take over your life if left unchecked? I would’ve liked that to be a little clearer. Overall, it was a pretty good movie. It definitely needed a content warning, the small amount of weak points can be distracting, but what it does well it does WAY too well. I definitely recommend if you’re not currently struggling with paranoia and other mental health issues, and if you’re looking to be unnerved for the night.