Jack Hudson

I’m happy to be living in the current resurgence of horror films largely because of projects like this one. I’m incredibly impressed with the new director, and I look forward to seeing what he does in the future.

I think there’s a fairly large inherent risk when giving a new artist free reign to adapt their passion project, especially when it’s something surreal or cerebral, that it’ll become unintelligible or muddled. This film managed to keep a great pace and, in my opinion, did a great job of being understandable while maintaining the delicious surrealism. The acting was fantastic, especially by Ejiofor. The film left me wanting to know much, much more about its world, which is always a fantastic sign. I also thought the film did a good job of hitting the sweet spot between horror and thriller.

My primary critique is that the film felt a little short and light. There were many more things that I think could’ve been examined more without compromising the “fear of the unknown” that’s essential for the premise. For instance, Mary could’ve had much more development, as could Clark, perhaps in juxtaposition to one another. More of Clark’s exploration, more of the found footage aspect, or more of Phil’s character could’ve been explored, but I think the film is quite right to shy away from those topics as much as possible, to maintain the surrealism.