Giddy newly-weds spend their honeymoon at her parents cabin on the lake. Touchy-feely, but then ... something happens to her in the woods at night.
This is really well played. The first act has pleasant, hopeful music, and the actors do a great job of establishing the relationship. There's just a tiny sliver of contempt in the wife's heart for her loving, naive husband. Good subtext. When they enter the cabin there's a long unbroken scene of them touring the rooms - is it in one shot? Can't be.
Then the creepiness comes, but the skill is in making the viewer doubt the husband later on, even though he has grown up and sees the menace. The feel is early '70s Hammer, with twisted string music. When the horror confirmation comes you know this is more than a metaphor for a doomed relationship.
The bright lights made me fear alien abduction blah, but it was left nicely vague in the end.
The only real weakness was that the foreboding from the wife's contempt had nothing to do with the end. Very tricky to reconcile, but that's the price of making a horror - all the good character stuff takes second place.
Overall it's more creep than fright, but close to top horror.
This is really well played. The first act has pleasant, hopeful music, and the actors do a great job of establishing the relationship. There's just a tiny sliver of contempt in the wife's heart for her loving, naive husband. Good subtext. When they enter the cabin there's a long unbroken scene of them touring the rooms - is it in one shot? Can't be.
Then the creepiness comes, but the skill is in making the viewer doubt the husband later on, even though he has grown up and sees the menace. The feel is early '70s Hammer, with twisted string music. When the horror confirmation comes you know this is more than a metaphor for a doomed relationship.
The bright lights made me fear alien abduction blah, but it was left nicely vague in the end.
The only real weakness was that the foreboding from the wife's contempt had nothing to do with the end. Very tricky to reconcile, but that's the price of making a horror - all the good character stuff takes second place.
Overall it's more creep than fright, but close to top horror.