Since it became the first film festival that I ever attended when it was held in 2019, Cine-Excess has remained at the top of my most anticipated movie related event each year. Signing up straight after Grimmfest finished,I got ready to detect motion.
Note:Review contains some plot details.
View on the film:
Holding a house warming party alone as her partner says on the phone he will be down in a few days, Natasha Esca gives a very good performance as Eva, whose memory of suffering a horrific home invasion at her last location, is captured by Esca as something Eva continues to wrestle with, whilst attempting to wipe the slate clean in this new home, which dials into Eva's lingering fear the invader will re-emerge.
Cracking open the secrets to the household with a dipped in infra-red opening, co-writers/ debut directors Justin Gallaher & Sam Roseme stylishly cross the wires of the Home Invasion Thriller with high-tech supernatural Horror vibes, via glossy dolly and panning shots mapping out each corner of the house,which lead to chilly close-ups and anxious hand-held camera moves, as the security system sets the alarm on Eva.
Exploring the history of the house by having the opening focus on the previous residences, the screenplay by Gallaher and Roseme disappointingly does not match the slickness of their directing style, instead taking a stop/start approach, where it starts setting up that the previous family are ghosts/trapped in the security system, and then just randomly completely drops it, while Eva awkwardly moves between psychological fears,and the under-developed high concept threat of motion detected.
