It's amazing how there were so many new movies released in Indonesia this time of year as compared to even the period before Covid. It reach...
Brief Story Line
Mina (Dakota Fanning - The Equalizer 3, The Alienist TV series etc) was working in a pet shop in a town in Ireland and got an assignment to deliver a parakeet to the zoo in Belfast. When she drove the car through a thick forest, her car broke down and tried to find shelter for the night. She somehow met with an old woman later revealed as Madeline (Olwen Fouéré - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022, Tarot etc) who told her to immediately go inside a small room called The Coop.
In addition to Madeline, there were also two other people i.e. Ciara (Georgina Campbell - Barbarian, The Pale Horse mini series etc) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan). Mina was told that they had to stay inside the room with a double sided mirror where unknown creatures roaming at night called The Watchers would watch their behavior. Mina tried to escape the forest but would soon find out that it might not be possible and they could be trapped inside the Coop for the rest of their lives.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
The reason I was interested in this movie was because of the surname Shyamalan on the poster as it was produced by M. Night (the one who directed some great horror movies like The Sixth Sense, Sign, The Village and few others) and directed by his daughter Ishana in her directorial debut. From its trailer I thought it had some similarities to her father's style with mysterious surrounding and feeling which was felt during the movie itself. This was the factor that made me enjoy the film.
In addition to the strong eerie feeling, the sound effect was definitely a plus point cause it enhanced the suspense and intensity especially when the creatures were moving around and made those scary noise. My wife and I were glad that we saw this in a studio with good sound effect and high level of brightness cause a lot of time it was set at night which would make it difficult to see if it's in a theater that was not having such quality.
The movie progressed in a standard pace while they were held in the Coop with some dramatic moments every now and then. There was a not so surprising twist towards the end but another one that was more shocking that I appreciated (as usual my wife already could guess). Unfortunately though the ending to me was not very satisfying. It might be OK for some but I hoped for a different kind. Although it might be due to the novel's ending. Yes, this movie was indeed adapted from 2022 novel of the same title written by A. M. Shine.
The cast were generally OK though not extraordinarily amazing. Aside from the names above there were also support cast like Alistair Brammer as John and John Lynch (The Head TV series, The Banishing etc) as the professor. For a horror movie I thought this one was pretty entertaining with some effective jump scares that managed to surprise me and my wife. The slow pace was not a problem for me as it was quite common in such genre, but there was a scene involving Mina in a bar that I personally thought was unnecessary as it did not have any relevance.
Overall this was still pretty enjoyable for me and my wife as it deal with creatures and not those supernatural beings. The horror was quite strong especially in the deep forest and supported by quite awesome sound effects. However the ending was not too satisfactory for us and would have made us appreciate more if it was done differently. Critics did not seem to enjoy this while audience were just so so as could be seen by its low box office performance. Nevertheless we thought it was a good enough horror movie but not up to the level of amazing like M. Night's works. So you could give this a try if you want to see some horror set in the remote Ireland.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars