Really disappointed

Rating: 1/10 (22 July 2018)

Granted, when you see all the superlatives in the reviews, you go into a viewing with perhaps inflated expectations. I have nothing against slow burning horror films, as long as at one point there will be a good payoff. Where a lot of other reviewers have stated that they experienced a constant state of dread, I rarely felt real fear. Rather, the first 3/4 of the movie did nothing but convey the emotion of bleakness, desolation and misery.
The main catalyst for this bleakness is the character portrayed by Toni Collette. A wonderful actress, but this script has her continuously crying and feeling miserable, instead of feeling scared. This becomes so prevalent that it overshadows the sensation of fear you are supposed to be feeling. Yes, there are a few creepy moments in the first part of the movie, that will send a tingling down your spine, but they are too few and far in between. The one surprising death that other reviewers mention shouldn't come as a surprise at all, as one sees it coming a mile away if you have watched a medium amount of horror movies before.
When we reached the last quarter of the movie, I had become so tired with the movie I was ready to walk out. I had signed up for horror, not drama. Then, all of a sudden the movie switches gears completely and goes 'paranormal activity' on you. It is completely unexpected and completely out of tone, but at that point it will be a welcome breath of fresh air. Most of the creepiness this movie was supposed to show is in that last part, and I really enjoyed it. It gave me at least a few good scares.
Had the movie stopped there, for me it would have been a 6 out of 10. But the director decided to pull a 'return of the king' and the last 5 minutes culminate in the worst ending I have watched in recent history. 'The Open House' had similiar shenanigans and it triggered me to write my first ever review on Imdb. Let me tell you, that was oscar material compared to this mess. When you hear other people describe this movie negatively as 'art house', it is because the ending feels as if some film grad student wanted to showcase some idea to his friends, slapping his paying viewers in the face.
My final advice then, to those of you who are still to go watch this, is to just quit watching at the right time. The cutoff point will be so painfully obvious, you cannot miss it. Do yourself a favor.