Does it seem like I’m reviewing a whole lot of horror movies lately?  It sure does to me, because that’s what I’ve been seeing.  This newer psychological horror / suspense drama covers familiar ground as other post-apocalyptic thrillers while focusing on family ties, the power of belief and the nature of evil.  It shares some of the elements that Five Nights at Freddy’s does (small, insular cast and plot; nicely detailed physical setting; brooding malevolence) and gradually reminded me of a 2004 movie I saw that fooled me and that I liked a great deal because it did.

Alexandre Aja’s film is set almost entirely in a dense forest, mostly in an old but comfortable house that shelters an unnamed mother (Halle Berry) and her two young sons, Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) and Sam (Anthony B. Jenkins).  The small family is perfectly safe in the house but when they venture into the forest they must be connected to it by long ropes or the evil that surrounds them — and which has already devastated the rest of the world — will get them.  The religious nature of the house protects them, but as the boys grow their faith begins to lessen and their need for greater freedom becomes more powerful.  What will happen when one of them breaks free?

This slow, meditative story creates a palpable atmosphere of menace surrounding their hidden home, and the writing of the individual characters is excellent.  The two brothers have a strong bond but disparate personalities so conflict is inevitable — but so is healing afterward.  The film allows the mother to see “the evil,” while the boys cannot, but we see what she sees and it is pretty horrific.  I wondered how the family could provide for itself and sure enough, that becomes a major factor in the story, forcing them outside more and more often.  Finally a decision is taken which brings about the inevitable crisis, and it is powerfully tragic.

But that decision leads to the duplicity at the heart of its script.  The film it reminded me of is The Village and if you’ve seen that you suddenly realize what could actually be going on with this woman in the forest.  The final act seems to validate that view, but then something else happens which makes all of the mother’s fears all too real.  And then something else happens which points in the other direction.  Ultimately this movie wants to make the audience believe in the evil, then persuade us that it was all a hoax, then back again.  This duplicity, which carries through the film’s ultimate airborne ending, pretty much ruins it for me.  ☆ ☆.  30 April 2025.