I only know that this was from a Steven King story from reading the other reviews...and frankly, had I known it was a King derivation, I would have left it alone. If I've seen one King movie, I've seen them all.
In this case, this story was ADAPTED from whatever King short it came from...and the Director then added some Non-StevenKing ingredients. I smell a touch of Lovecraftian flavor in the atmospherics and the casual, southern hills spookiness of the family and their struggle to deal with what seems to be just a dark Grandma suffering with dementia.
And again...that could be boiler-plate horror that's been done again and again. But this one isn't following the straight-up Hollywood Backwoods Horror formula. And more to the point, it's giving the viewer a cast of characters that aren't the usual studio cardboard cut-outs. And in this story, the telling is from the POV of the kid Brothers as they deal with Family History and secrets. Not the WILD things...but actually just like the stories we'd would hear about our own forebears..if we were old enough to be told and knew how to keep Family Business 'In the Family'.
With GOOD Horror, you care about how the character will deal with the Unknowable. The EFX is just icing on the cake.
And when Horror has a Lovecraftian bent, how the characters deal with the outcome is even more Key...because unlike normal Hollywood Movies...there are NO Good Endings in the Lovecraft Universe.
It's about How the Protagonist goes Down.
Watch this one around Midnight. And it's best with the lights turned down. But you have to be patient...
In this case, this story was ADAPTED from whatever King short it came from...and the Director then added some Non-StevenKing ingredients. I smell a touch of Lovecraftian flavor in the atmospherics and the casual, southern hills spookiness of the family and their struggle to deal with what seems to be just a dark Grandma suffering with dementia.
And again...that could be boiler-plate horror that's been done again and again. But this one isn't following the straight-up Hollywood Backwoods Horror formula. And more to the point, it's giving the viewer a cast of characters that aren't the usual studio cardboard cut-outs. And in this story, the telling is from the POV of the kid Brothers as they deal with Family History and secrets. Not the WILD things...but actually just like the stories we'd would hear about our own forebears..if we were old enough to be told and knew how to keep Family Business 'In the Family'.
With GOOD Horror, you care about how the character will deal with the Unknowable. The EFX is just icing on the cake.
And when Horror has a Lovecraftian bent, how the characters deal with the outcome is even more Key...because unlike normal Hollywood Movies...there are NO Good Endings in the Lovecraft Universe.
It's about How the Protagonist goes Down.
Watch this one around Midnight. And it's best with the lights turned down. But you have to be patient...