Augusto Baca

“Why are you doing this?” “Because you let us” Infuriating to watch. Most scenes during the second act are just repeated showcases of how unhinged and dangerous the antagonists are.. and yet, it produces no real development in our protagonists. Red flags are quickly dismissed and tensions are ignored in an effort to keep the peace. No payoff for the tension other than a gruesome ending that just gets to happen after throwing caution to the wind for 40 straight minutes of runtime. They really just let this happen to them, and that is what makes this movie so uneventful and unrewarding. I was waiting for the husband protagonist to eventually stand up for himself as the tension rose up. Then I thought it was going to be the wife, who always has the correct reaction to all of the odd and often intrusive and violent actions of the other family, to start taking action to save her daughter. But no, there is no real struggle, there is no real attempt at escaping. The ONLY clear attempt at doing so is stopped to, get this, get a missing stuffed animal back from the psychos’ house. How someone watches this movie and does not have their suspense of disbelief shattered and exchanged with frustration and annoyance from the lack of fight the protagonists have in them, is beyond me. Giving this movie a high rating, thinking it is at all realistic as to how parents would react to their child and themselves being in danger, is akin to admitting you are a coward.