For a horror feature, this one holds back its horror elements until the last twenty minutes or so, which means that for more than an hour we are subject to character drama. This would be a problem for many stories, but is only somewhat problematic here, because the four major characters are well-drawn and have intriguing interrelationships. However, as in so many horror movies, once things get hairy they turn really stupid, refusing to accept what is really going on around them. Their stupidity really sinks the film in its climactic moments.
Dave Franco’s film (the actor is making his directorial debut) follows two couples on a weekend sojourn up the remote California coast. Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Mina (Sheila Vand) are business partners; Charlie is with Michelle (Alison Brie) and Mina is with Charlie’s brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White). During the long weekend they relax, party, hike and hot tub, all blissfully unaware that they are being watched. Finally, the discovery of a shower camera brings the watcher into brutal action, and the foursome faces their worst nightmare.
The romantic escapades of the two couples are presented realistically and as an inexorable evolution, yet one that serves to determine how they respond to being watched, and recorded. The intensity and suspense are properly ratcheted as each new element is revealed, and I was genuinely intrigued by how they would fight the watcher when he attacked. But then the story falls apart. Each person basically does their own thing instead of banding together and one by one the watcher dispatches of his victims. The ending is realistic, I guess, but it is certainly not satisfying, and more questions are raised than answered.
Too much drug use turned me off and the stupidity of these ordinarily smart people once panic sets in is astounding. Nobody ever really understands what is happening to them, which is neither sensible nor empathetic. It’s hard to root for people to survive when they don’t even realize that they are being hunted, despite all the evidence that they would ever need. Franco does a nice job with the location and knows how to work with believable characters and their issues; now he needs to learn how to finish a story with some gumption. ☆ ☆. 3 October 2021.