Rating: C-
Dir: Samuel Bodin.
Star: Woody Norman, Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr, Cleopatra Coleman.
At the risk of repeating yesterday’s review, I feel like there’s a good idea here. It’s just that the execution leaves too much to be desired. Peter (Norman) is the prototypical “weird kid”. Eight years old, quietly sensitive, bullied at school, and with overprotective parents Mark (Starr) and Carol (Caplan), who won’t even let him go trick or treating. Hey, when Homeland is your father, what do you expect? Peter is terrified when he starts hearing banging coming from the house’s walls. His parents say it’s just his imagination. Naturally, it is not. When his new pal helps get Peter expelled from school for pushing one of his bullies down the stairs, it’s the start of him discovering the truth about his family.
Well, “truth” is a loose term, because the explanation for proceedings really does not stand up to scrutiny. Peter may be the only person in the film whose behaviour makes a lick of sense. The parents don’t, their treatment of their son at odds with what we learn subsequently. The Sympathetic Teacher™ (Coleman) doesn’t – the unsubtly named Miss Devine going from brand new substitute to momma bear in the drop of a concerned expression. The bullies don’t, suddenly and inexplicably turning into Alex and his droogs for the third act. And the Thing in the Wall certainly doesn’t: it is simultaneously strong enough to tear people apart with its bare hands, yet apparently unable to get through crappy drywall over a period of a decade or longer.
It’s a shame, because the initial set-up is strong. While Bodin may have no previous feature experience, he knows his way around generating creepy vibes, if slightly too reliant on jump scares. The performances in individual scenes are decent enough too, especially as the parents go off the rails. It’s when it comes to joining them together, where the movie struggles. The film leans very much on the Thing in the Walls being a real and physical entity. Yet it also is inside Peter’s head, whispering and goading him into anti-bully violence. Is it all some kind of metaphor for trauma? Or just a depiction of a very alternative approach to child-rearing?
I’d have preferred a slower burn: it’s clear, too soon, the parents have issues with their issue. Nobody could possibly think this is a happy family after we see Mark, in silhouette, ominously telling his son, “Be careful. Not everything is as sweet as it seems…” And this takes place less than fifteen minutes in. Thereafter, you’re waiting for Peter to catch up. What I think I did get from the film, is a greater appreciation for the qualities of Barbarian. It had a similar concept of a Thing in the Wall, but does a much better job, both in the plotting generally, and the pace at which things unfold. Where that builds, this goes into a slow decline. By the time it attempted to set up a sequel, I was already reaching for the remote.