Laila Thurman

SPOILERS AHEAD I’ve been on a horror movie kick for the past few days, and when I saw a clip of this movie on Netflix, I couldn’t wait to watch it. First of all, it’s not horror, it’s not a slice-of-life or anything, but the scares aren’t that bad in my opinion. Honestly, I feel it best to describe this movie as a suspense/creature feature with gore and a bit of mystery. To start off, I’m seeing a lot of people saying that the acting was bad, but in my opinion, as long as you’re not a movie buff the acting is just fine. The characters in the movie were stiff at first, not because of bad lines or anything, but because the local vs. out of towner mentality is shown from the moment the main character interacts with his neighbor. Once we move away from them and introduce more characters, the acting is still a bit stiff, but it loosens up gradually over the film. This movie is shocking, yet predictable in the way it depicts humanity's reaction to times of extreme stress and abnormality. I loved it. An impromptu leader being chosen as times get tough, disregarding authority as a new perspective shifts into place, religious fanaticism clouding peoples minds and making them feel justified in their barbaric and primitive behaviors, all of these reactions were so... human. This film is human. Every scene and every problem that pops up exposes the issues of humanity without a body to govern and protect it. The ending is heartbreaking, because you’ll feel as though they (the main character's group) did everything right. They survived, and they struggled, and they fought, and they protected, and they hoped. They hoped to the point they let themselves doubt in anything more than eternal peace. When they die at the end, it feels almost perfect. He (the main character) has given that peace to those who banded together with him, a peace he will reach by submitting to the worst pain. Pain from the beast they heard in the distance. He saved them, and now he’ll die painfully, but at least he'd protected them and left the pain for himself. Then the circumstances are reframed, and we realize that the hope they held onto, the choices that they made, and the deaths that they surrendered to, weren’t needed. They would have been saved. But they didn’t know that. They’ll never know that. But the main character will have to live with that knowledge. Knowledge he gained by wanting to take the worst pain. Truly, this movie was heartbreaking in the most wonderful way. 10/10 would recommend to anyone looking for a movie like this.