If you’ve seen any of my past reviews of what are nominally called horror films, the question that no doubt comes to mind is “why on earth are you watching another one of them, given your clear distaste for the genre?” and I admit I don’t have a great answer for that. However as I did watch it, I suppose I should write up my opinions on it, and to the intense shock of all and sundry, I mostly liked it.
It’s helped by having a straightforward premise, with only the slightest whiff of the supernatural horsedroppings that typically reach for my off switch. Sophie Thatcher’s Sister Barnes and Chloe East’s Sister Paxton play two young Mormon missionaries, beating the drum in a small, snowy, and if I recall correctly nameless town in the USA where they make the mistake of knocking on the door of Hugh Grant’s Mr. Reed.
While initially seeming like a kindly enough gent with an interest in all religions, he’s in a horror film so very soon Things Are Not As They Seem, starting with a few inappropriate questions to the confident but slightly cynical Barnes and Paxton, who’s at the rather more innocent and naive level stereotypes would place a girl of her age and upbringing.
This soon descends into imprisonment and continued questions with thinly-veiled psychological threats, as it seems like Reed looks to get the girls questioning their beliefs as he continues his impeccably mannered ranting about trying to find the one true religion. This seeming need for intellectual, or at least psychological control drives not only his thoughts on belief, but the more abject horror elements of the final third of the film that I’ll leave for the viewer to explore.
Like practically every film made since the turn of the millennium, I feel it could do with being quarter of an hour shorter. There’s more than a few moments just before the ratcheting up of these sticky situations where it’s become quite obvious where the puck is going, and the tension starts to turn towards an impatient frustration. It’s not enough to ruin the film, far from it, but it’s enough to blunt the edges.
The film is essentially built on a bedrock of Hugh Grant Hugh Granting about the place, but as it turns out that’s a pretty stable and enjoyable foundation. I cannot imagine how my younger self would react to being told that a Hugh Grant appearance is now something to savoured, and not endured as it was during the rather more vanilla roles in the innocent days of the nineteen nineties. Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East also perform admirably, particularly with East’s character getting more of an arc and becoming quite sympathetic over the course of the piece.
Mention must also be made of Chung Chung-hoon’s cinematography, with the long time Park Chan-wook collaborator keeping a very limited number of relatively ordinary locations interesting over the piece in ways that harken back to the early running of Oldboy.
Writer/Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods are probably best known for their work on 2018’s A Quiet Place, a hugely successful outing that I wasn’t quite as on-board with as the rest of humanity, so perhaps I’m in the minority in saying their work here is better. Not perfect, I do wish it was just that smidgen tighter, but that still makes it the best horror film I have seen in a good long while. Well worth seeking out.