This movie was recommended to me and honestly, I had no idea what it was about. I knew it was Zach Cregger, and I find his movies to be very lack luster for endings, and this one isn't much different. Better, but not much different. I really hope his new Resident Evil movie is good.
This movie starts wild and ends with a weird dream. I got to be honest, after watching Halloween (1978) and this, I fully understand why parents thought everyone was having sex and that the world was evil. Combine that with serial killers were around, yeah the world was crazy in the 70s.
Annabelle Willis is really outstanding in this. She is really the only one that seems to play her part above and beyond while the rest of the cast slinks by. The gentlemen that plays Father Perez also does a great job, but doesn't have a lot of screen time.
Where you kind of lose me is the why. Why did this dude attack the neighbor? Why did he attack her? Yes, he is sociopathic, psychotic, etc., etc. but what caused him to go that direction. It is refreshing that he didn't spill his guts before almost killing the girl, but his arch still makes no sense
This movie came out 27 years ago and it is still outstanding. I can vividly remember when I first watched this and how scared I was when the kid turned around or when the girl throws up in the tent. Still just shocking moments.
In today's movie standards this is a slog. Every conversation just last too long. The exposition of what is happening is just spoon-fed and takes too long. That is until you reach the halfway mark. From here it feels like a modern movie with the pacing well done.
The scares are turned up just one, but are mostly just laterals of what we saw in the first movie. The moving the people was crazy awesome, and the cast playing into that was so good. The explosion in the kitchen has always been a crazy scene.
When I first watched this, I lived in Carlsbad, California as I was stationed at Camp Pendleton. So this found footage style in the city I was in, really set a stage that still makes me creeped out. I am pretty sure I know the neighborhood if not the house that this was supposedly in.
Another classic that was great for the time, but feels weirdly comical or questionable today. The camera work is top notch, what do you expect with Steven Spielberg at the helm. However, the haunts for the most part have lost their edge.
That might have saved this movie from just getting dumped on. It has all the vibes of a film student horror movie, trying to make their way through it with a heady ending that either negates the entire movie, or clicks like a light bulb depending on how you saw the movie.
There are some solid scenes that will make your skin crawl if you are not careful, but mostly, you should be applauding since they ALL deal with young cast members. The kids in this movie do an outstanding amount of work, while the adults kind of just coast.
This is a classic and I can see why it would scare people... in 1978. Today, I think we are desensitized to things like this. The best thing I saw was the undertaker sit up by Michael in the background.