Not as smart as it thinks it is but I'll take it over a lot of other supposedly superior "horror".

Rating: 6/10 (13 April 2019)

The first scene was laughable but from the second I got the immediate impression I was watching a superior horror movie.
The conflict between a bereaved mother and her problem child is enough to make dark, unsettling viewing even without the horror elements.
But I take issue with these horror movie antagonists who feels the need to just mess with their hosts for 60 minutes before just killing or possessing them or whatever it is they want.
A lot of people have stated "metaphor for depression" and I really don't want to give it that much credit. I liked the beautiful art within art in the form of that excellent book that just keeps coming back.
But although rather chilling and engaging with two horrifically convincing performances as mother and son not seeing eye to eye there is so much wrong with this. Despite the relative freshness of the story (I know it's an incorporeal terror in a house that terrorized people apparently for fun but trust me it's fresher than a lot of other movies with the same premise) there are so many wrong notes.
In one seen the phone rings and all we hear on the other end is a strained voice saying "Babadooooook...Babadoooooook". This immediately makes the thing something corporeal and kills the mood almost irreparably. Various other shooting tricks that should have been left in the '20s also make the picture more funny than scary. And what is up with them showing movies within the movie?
This is a movie with some good talent behind it sadly collapsed under its own smugness and complacency. But you could do so much worse.