Maddie Young (Kate Siegel) is a deaf writer living alone in an isolated house in the woods. She lost her hearing at 13. Sarah is a neighbor friend who admires her writing. She gets killed by a masked man with a crossbow at Maddie's door but Maddie is unable to hear the commotion. Maddie becomes the next target of the sadistic killer.
This is a really simple small contained horror perfect for Blumhouse. It's very solid with a couple of minor issues. The house, being such an important setting, needs a through tour to show the layout for the audience. John's arrival leads to a couple of more problems. First, he's tapping on the glass like she would hear him when he knows she's deaf. Second, he's suspicious but he can't know for sure about anything. It's more logical to separate yourself from the other guy and call the cops. The scene straddles a fine line between tension and disbelief. It slips over that line a little at a couple of points. The best scene is her considering all the possibilities and tying it back to her murder mystery writing skills. A cool way to end this would have been for the movie to go silent as the cops with their sirens come driving up the road. Instead it's only fading out the sirens which is fine but it doesn't trust the silence and insists on a sound effect. Honestly, the closing credits should all be done in silence. These are all little annoying choices which subtracts from my enjoyment of a really simple horror concept. Also I would figure this is scarier for women who live alone in big houses.
This is a really simple small contained horror perfect for Blumhouse. It's very solid with a couple of minor issues. The house, being such an important setting, needs a through tour to show the layout for the audience. John's arrival leads to a couple of more problems. First, he's tapping on the glass like she would hear him when he knows she's deaf. Second, he's suspicious but he can't know for sure about anything. It's more logical to separate yourself from the other guy and call the cops. The scene straddles a fine line between tension and disbelief. It slips over that line a little at a couple of points. The best scene is her considering all the possibilities and tying it back to her murder mystery writing skills. A cool way to end this would have been for the movie to go silent as the cops with their sirens come driving up the road. Instead it's only fading out the sirens which is fine but it doesn't trust the silence and insists on a sound effect. Honestly, the closing credits should all be done in silence. These are all little annoying choices which subtracts from my enjoyment of a really simple horror concept. Also I would figure this is scarier for women who live alone in big houses.