Strong movie, but for the last scene.

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2018)

On the cover of my dvd-copy there were written all kinds of roaring one-liners: "best horror of the year!", "scariest movie ever!" etcetera. Well, maybe those classifications are a little bit too much. It's a fine movie and definitely creepy, but "scariest ever"? Not really. Apart from the one extremely harsh scene with the pivotal accident (I won't give any more away) there's hardly any gore or jump-scares, it's all more atmospheric and sinister.
I think the biggest asset of this movie is the very strong acting, especially by Toni Collette as the heartbroken mother and of Alex Wolff as the son who is petrified by guilt, both are given an excellent psychological depth. In comparison the father-character (Gabriel Byrne) is somewhat pale. The movie gets more and more creepy towards the end and this turns into a first climax when it becomes clear that the haunting images that seemed to be figments of the overwrought mind of the mother are all too real. But then the last scene spoils it al, at least for me, it's as if the makers did a Rosemary's Baby on the viewers, a major twist with which we are supposed to at last get all the answers. But with Rosemary's Baby you could trace the movie back and you were able to connect all kinds of scenes and clous to this solution. Here it comes more or less out of the blue and it felt too easy and a bit preposterous. So to me it was an unsatisfying ending to a for the most part strong movie.