8.7/10 When I saw the trailer about a month ago i was pleasantly surprised with its promise shown, and even more surprised and bewildered it wasn't getting a major theatrical release. Having Eli Roth produce, and Beck and Woods directing/writing hot off their momentum from writing A Quiet Place, you would think the studios would have been confident enough and should've because this was higher quality than most big budget horror's released this year.
The film starts out in usual fashion and introduces us to what appear to be standard teenage horror characters that were definitely more tolerable than most other characters in other films yet still fit the cliches. As we get a bit more introduced, you can tell that one of them has more emotional depth to her which is an important factor for audience relateability that's overlooked these days in most horror films. When things progress in the plot we are introduced to the main setting in which the mayhem unfolds and for the low budget they were working with, they executed the set designs flawlessly and creatively. The haunted house/maze aesthetic is elevated to new heights of fright through wide arrays of different set pieces, colorizations, and overall foreboding environments. They absolutely knocked it out of the park with the overall visuals and camerawork as well, and it added so much to the already supreme tension. When the antagonists start showing up with their ill intentions, the creepiness and chaos takes hold and never lets up building into a brutal conclusion that honestly will stick with a lot of people with its ultimately disturbing reveals and shocking plot turns.
This film really deserved to be released in a major theatrical format and i honestly believe it would have been a hit at the box office. I expected it to be solid but did not expect it to be my favorite horror film of the year. It has so much tension, atmosphere, and an incredibly visceral visual style. It has potential to become an underrated cult classic once word spreads and a definitive haunted house/halloween film. I really hope Beck and Woods stay in the horror genre because they have some clear cut talent in creating tense atmosphere that oozes through the screen.
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