Sam Morrison’s review published on Letterboxd:
*Spooktober Spooktacular Entry 3 2020*
I want to try and break down everything that happened in this film, but it's much too early. I haven't done any research, I haven't given myself time to thoroughly think it all through, so I'll try my best to work out some of those thoughts here, avoiding spoilers.
This is much subtler than I once imagined it would be, but it's also not. The last 15-20 minutes really ramps things up to eleven, but for a lot of the runtime, we're faced with foreboding story events, small soundtrack cues, and all around unsettling atmosphere and acting. I avoided this when it came out because I was afraid it would be more disturbing than I could handle. It's definitely up there though.
I don't want to ramble on too long, but there are definitely a lot of hidden meanings and allegories abound here. My respect is high for this one, in the amount of time it takes to really put you in this downward spiral of despair, as things just keep getting more and more hopeless. I'd go as far to say it's one of the best horror movies to come out in the past decade. And that's another thing, it doesn't truly feel like a horror movie most of the time. Really, it's more of a twisted, dark drama.
There are moments where we're in a vivid, beautiful looking scene, despite the tragedy, and our characters will move and suddenly the color is zapped right out. It's brilliant. I'll stop now because I could keep going. There's something special about this, and I intend to research further to see exactly what it all means.
