Katelyn Cotten

**SPOILERS** I would give this zero stars if I could, but I’ll have to settle on one. I really don’t understand how it’s possible that anyone enjoyed this movie, as I found it entirely trashy, pointless, and disturbing, and most of all SICK. It is wrong in every way, and left me over the bathroom sink ready to puke. I wish I could say I was exaggerating. There was no horror, so if that’s the reason you’re interested in watching, don’t be fooled. You’d likely enjoy gouging out your own eyeballs more than you would watching this film. This movie is the most infuriating thing I have ever wasted my time watching. It starts out seemingly normal, because what 12 year old doesn’t want to passionately smash his babysitter? So we have about 30 minutes of somewhat simplicity, until this film takes a horrendous turn. And by this, I don’t mean a crazy plot twist!! but more like a nonsensical ‘second half’ if you will. All of a sudden, we have a psychopathic 12 year old: a surprise that was not hinted at once. There was no well placed foreshadowing to his mental disposition, which I would think necessary to make any plot twist believable or satisfying. And the movie only goes downhill from there. The plot is absolutely meaningless, and the entire thing felt like one disturbing joke. There was no character development, just a mass of rather disgusting things happening over and over again. It all felt empty and repetitive, and I truly thought it would never end. There was no action, either, which made it quite boring. It’s all just weird turn after turn, I really worried that I would go insane from watching. I cringed every time the boy spoke, as every line just came out sounding wrong. The acting is something this movie seems to be heavily rewarded for, but throughout the entire thing I couldn’t help but notice of how awful it was. Something that I assume played a large part in making this movie as terrible as it was was the fact that the antagonist ruled freely, doing as he pleased throughout the whole thing, while the protagonist was stuck tied to a chair the ENTIRE. TIME. And no, there was no victory in the end, no satisfaction. Just a hint at maybe the kid will end up getting caught, but is that really enough? Negative bonus points for the creepy comment on Bubblegum from Adventure Time, because just please no.

This movie was, overall, just a waste of time. But it does have some redeeming qualities, however few. Let’s start with the good. This movie was very real throughout. I give credit to the actors, and the dialogue was written well, if simply for reality - not the plot. It was actually useless to the plot, but I digress. The only other thing I consider good was that - had I not been watching this with a friend - I would’ve found it pretty chilling. Not quite scary, just unsettling. Now, the overwhelming bad parts. This movie had no plot. Three young adults are lost in the woods, filming every bit of their hysteria, however meaningless. It was a cycle of walk during the day, freak out during the night, walk some more during the day, etc. I kept waiting for something more to happen, but I was consistently disappointed. The only scene that deserves any credit in the entire movie was at the very end, and that’s certainly not enough to make it a worthwhile watch. Not to mention how annoying the characters were. Not one of them were likable, and it was hard not to laugh at their insistent bickering. And lastly, sure the shaky camera was realistic, but it becomes incredibly distracting. Yes, this movie was a good idea, but poorly executed.