Sarah

it was SOOOOO BAD. The acting was atrocious. It was like watching children in a school play who didn't know their lines and were told to overact. The script was lazy and it was just tons of uhs and yeahs and awkward pauses, and it didn't feel natural or fitting of the characters. It felt forced. They cut out a TON of crucial stuff from the book that drives the story line, like the Ellen Degeneres stuff, and her stay at Atlas house for days. They also CHANGED a ton of crucial scenes and lines. One of the most important scenes that helps us understand Ryles character is when he explains his past trauma and his blackouts. Completely cut that out. They changed the scene at the funeral from "intentionally standing silently to make a statement" to "not having anything to say and rushing down from the pulpet" which completely ruined the whole point of that scene, and made it so that they cut the scene where later her mom admits she knew that she purposely was standing their silently because she refused to say one good word about her dad, which is an important, impactful scene. Like.....whoever directed this, don't do any more books to movies PLEASE. I was so excited because I loved this book, and was completely let down. Her best friend, and Atlas were the only redeeming parts/people in the movie.

I will not watch it again. From the beginning on (particularly the very start, you'll know what I mean) I felt unsettled and as if I should turn it off. This is coming from a horror fan who watches stuff like this a lot. Genuinely felt as if something was being done TO ME as I watched it. The imagery, the woman addressing the viewer directly, the symbols. There were parts I covered my eyes simply because I felt like if I looked at the screen/imagery something terrible would happen to me, not because the image on the screen was scary. The way its filmed (found footage style) is also different in that you almost feel as if you are complacent in what they did and you yourself will be cursed....idk. It's one of those movies that for some reason didn't feel like just a movie and like I'd be unsafe watching it again. So 5 stars I guess.