I watched a Netflix original film a while back called, "The Ritual" and it was pretty good. Not perfect, mind you, but it had me and my fiance's full attention and though I would have done some things differently, it worked. So I was looking for a horror movie in the woods and though this one was not totally in the woods the description made it sound interesting and it also made it sound like a supernatural horror...IT ISN'T!!! It is a very stupid and lazy home invasion movie that seems to promise some revelation at the end, but doesn't!
The story has a father being killed leaving the mother and son in a tough situation. The mother's sister offers the use of her house in the woods since she is not using it and trying to sell it. Why the sister who is obviously loaded doesn't just help the mother with her bills is beyond me, but hell, I can deal with that. The catch with the house is that every Sunday there is an open house and the mother and son must leave during the time it is happening. After the first open house, strange things seem to happen as you guessed it...someone is now in the house. I was hoping something sinister was going on during the time on Sunday like demonic events, but no, the dude in the black boots is terrorizing mother and son while they throw red herrings all over the place and you get to watch him kill both of them and get away with it. Great ending...
So my guess is, if the writers of this film made The Sixth Sense, the twist would have been Bruce Willis' character cures the kid because there were no ghosts. The revelation would have been nothing! People theorize the killer is a serial killer and that his MO is hiding in houses during open house events, but that is unlikely. For one, the house was not being lived in, like a good deal of open houses. What, he is just going to hide out until he decides there is not anyone there? No, I am guessing he took offense to the mother almost hitting him so he went there to get even and decided he liked it so he was going to try again. Still sucks. I imagine the writers of this film with their man bun and puffing on their vapes thinking this was a totally clever ending and the only people who like this thing being hipsters themselves. What it really is, is lazy ass screenwriting.
The film was not all bad, as I did think the actors all did a great job and they did a good job making me wonder what was going to be going on; however, once I figured it was just a home intruder and not anything supernaturally sinister going on I began to lose interest. The ending made me want to punch the writers of this in the face. By the way, turning off the pilot light of a water heater will not cause the water to go ice cold immediately!
The story has a father being killed leaving the mother and son in a tough situation. The mother's sister offers the use of her house in the woods since she is not using it and trying to sell it. Why the sister who is obviously loaded doesn't just help the mother with her bills is beyond me, but hell, I can deal with that. The catch with the house is that every Sunday there is an open house and the mother and son must leave during the time it is happening. After the first open house, strange things seem to happen as you guessed it...someone is now in the house. I was hoping something sinister was going on during the time on Sunday like demonic events, but no, the dude in the black boots is terrorizing mother and son while they throw red herrings all over the place and you get to watch him kill both of them and get away with it. Great ending...
So my guess is, if the writers of this film made The Sixth Sense, the twist would have been Bruce Willis' character cures the kid because there were no ghosts. The revelation would have been nothing! People theorize the killer is a serial killer and that his MO is hiding in houses during open house events, but that is unlikely. For one, the house was not being lived in, like a good deal of open houses. What, he is just going to hide out until he decides there is not anyone there? No, I am guessing he took offense to the mother almost hitting him so he went there to get even and decided he liked it so he was going to try again. Still sucks. I imagine the writers of this film with their man bun and puffing on their vapes thinking this was a totally clever ending and the only people who like this thing being hipsters themselves. What it really is, is lazy ass screenwriting.
The film was not all bad, as I did think the actors all did a great job and they did a good job making me wonder what was going to be going on; however, once I figured it was just a home intruder and not anything supernaturally sinister going on I began to lose interest. The ending made me want to punch the writers of this in the face. By the way, turning off the pilot light of a water heater will not cause the water to go ice cold immediately!