Heather Santrous’s review published on Letterboxd:
This is another movie that made it to some people's horror movies of 2022 list, while others had it on their worst horror movies list. Interestingly enough, those that didn't like it said it didn't go far enough for them. I'm curious to know what they were expecting out of this one because I found it rather disturbing in places. The story is about a married couple from Denmark who is on vacation in Italy with their daughter. They end up meeting another married couple from the Netherlands with their son who is the same age as their daughter. They seem to hit it off and the couple from the Netherlands invites the other couple to their home. While Bjørn and Louise agree they would like to come, they don't take the invitation all that seriously. They do end up getting a postcard from Patrick and Karin, once again inviting them to their home. Bjørn waves it off at first but it ends up weighing on his mind more and more so they head to the Netherlands for a mini vacation. Things start off well but the longer they are there, the more they realize things aren't working out. Patrick and Karin have something else planned though as things take a dark turn.
The story does take its time setting things up before things take that dark turn. I wasn't really bored with it, but I was more than ready to get to the horror side of things. Perhaps the movie takes a bit too long to make that turn, but it was worth it to me once it made it. The movie does try to remind you that it is heading toward a darker version of itself mostly through some of the music. Something will happen that puts Bjørn and Louise on edge and some tense music would be played after.
I was a little disappointed with Bjørn and Louise by the end of the movie just because I felt they didn't fight hard enough for what is theirs. I hope that doesn't spoil anything, as I don't mean to. Once the story turns more toward horror, I was rather disturbed in places. There aren't a lot of effects in this movie, but they are effective once used. Obviously, this is a hit-or-miss type of film, so go into it with a grain of salt, but I really enjoyed it.
