Weak lovecraftian-like story with good acting and great directing

Rating: 5/10 (23 December 2018)

One of the majestic things about a Lovecraft novel is the mythology it builds. We don't actually see the monsters (heck, we have no way of really imagining them), but they are a solid background, not an excuse.
Bird Box tries to put us in a lovecraftian universe where seeing creatures will drive people mad. Unless you are already mad, which might put you in a cult like adoration. So far, so good. But you never get any really mythology building, except for some weak ancient-religion-I-searched-on-the-internet crap by a throwaway character. You are never really afraid of the monsters, because they are simply not there. It looks like the writers wanted to created scary creatures but, failing to do it, decided to pull a "what if we never showed them" plot device.
Malkovich is, obviously, perfect, and Sandra Bullock pulls some good acting. Which speaks both for the actors and the director. The story itself is barely B-movie material, unfortunately.
It was worth watching because, truth be told, anything with John Malkovich in it is.