October Horror Challenge 2023 #76: "We Need to do Something"

This movie is based on a book by Max Booth III. I've never read the book, so I can't tell you whether it follows the book very closely or not. it's probably for the best that I've never read the book, though, because film adaptations of books tend to go badly. Either they leave out too much detail of they include too much and become clunky and boring. I am still not sure where this movie will fall on that spectrum. To tell you the truth, I'd never even heard of this movie before Hulu started bugging me, telling me how much I would like it. And you know me, I'm a sucker for a good horror movie, so I finally relented and decided to check it out today.

The plot of this movie is simple. trying to take shelter from a raging storm, a family decides to hole up in their bathroom until the storm passes. Mom, dad, teenage daughter, and little brothertry to occupy their time by playing cards and talking in awkward fits and starts. You see, this particular family has a lot of problems simmering below the surface; a lot of secrets, and what do we all know about hidden secrets? That's right, they refuse to stay buried, especially when people find themselves caught in a bad situation, and that's exactly what happens to the family in this story. Not long after they take refuge in the bathroom, the storm knocks a tree down on their house, and it breaks through the roof and barricades them in the bathroom with no way to escape. Tensions run high, secrets are revealed, and soon they can't tell which is more dangerous: the Horrors that start to reveal themselves in the bathroom or the unknown and possibly deadly creature that seems to be lurking outside.

This movie features mostly unknown actors, and it works for the purposes of the film, because they are dressed-down and ordinary looking, so they could be anybody, even someone you know. I didn't really like the characters at first, but as the movie wore on, they kind of grew on me. Except the dad. He was an asshole the entire movie. There's not much gore, but what gore there was worked well. This movie is more about the psychological horror, the fear of the unknown, and what happens to already strained relationships when put under the stress of being trapped in a small place unable to get out. The monsters that might be outside are nothing when compared with the monsters inside of these people. I usually don't like movies that keep us in the dark and don't have a satisfying conclusion that explains everything that went before, but in this movie's case, it kinda worked. if you like dark, psychological horror, you might want to check this one out.