I enjoyed the backstory and circumstances of the protagonist. It felt very realistic, and is the aspect of the movie that I found most gripping. At the start, she's not literally trapped inside the house, she's trapped by her circumstances.
The house, the main setting of the movie, is adequately creepy and spooky.
The part where it fell a bit flat for me is that the supernatural element is shown from the very beginning of the movie. There's no mystery to unravel, no build-up. The apparitions are immediate and consistent throughout. The reason behind them is also very straightforward. So most of the movie is simply waiting to see when the protagonist gets freaked out enough to want to leave. There's never any doubt that she's in serious danger.
We are also immediately aware that the protagonist experiences hallucinations, and moments somewhere in between waking and dreaming. This took away the tension for me at the end, since I was just waiting to see what the twist would be. When Beto shows up, it's super obvious he's not really there.
I guess the twist was that the box chose Ambar to be the new victim bringer. She "escapes" only because the box allows it. She sacrifices Red somehow, even though it should be impossible for her to drag him to the offering block while he's awake and squirming, with her destroyed ankle. I guess that's also thanks to the magic of the box?
Overall, the ending felt anticlimactic to me, but, it wasn't predictable. I thought she was either going to make it out alive, or become one of the ghosts, and not immediately realise she's one of the ghosts. But instead she became the new monster. I like that they managed to subvert my expectation.
Overall, it's a pretty movie with a good atmosphere. But the lack of mystery made it drag for me.
The house, the main setting of the movie, is adequately creepy and spooky.
The part where it fell a bit flat for me is that the supernatural element is shown from the very beginning of the movie. There's no mystery to unravel, no build-up. The apparitions are immediate and consistent throughout. The reason behind them is also very straightforward. So most of the movie is simply waiting to see when the protagonist gets freaked out enough to want to leave. There's never any doubt that she's in serious danger.
We are also immediately aware that the protagonist experiences hallucinations, and moments somewhere in between waking and dreaming. This took away the tension for me at the end, since I was just waiting to see what the twist would be. When Beto shows up, it's super obvious he's not really there.
I guess the twist was that the box chose Ambar to be the new victim bringer. She "escapes" only because the box allows it. She sacrifices Red somehow, even though it should be impossible for her to drag him to the offering block while he's awake and squirming, with her destroyed ankle. I guess that's also thanks to the magic of the box?
Overall, the ending felt anticlimactic to me, but, it wasn't predictable. I thought she was either going to make it out alive, or become one of the ghosts, and not immediately realise she's one of the ghosts. But instead she became the new monster. I like that they managed to subvert my expectation.
Overall, it's a pretty movie with a good atmosphere. But the lack of mystery made it drag for me.