He's Out There

If you like your suspense/horror/cabin in the woods films without having to think too hard about what's going on, do yourself a favour and check this out. Laura and her daughters Kayla and Maddie arrive at their holiday home, and Dad is due to turn up later than night for reasons. Throw in a possibly creepy stranger, a story of a missing boy and a mysterious tea party deep in the woods, and you have the setting for this tale of one woman fighting for her life and those of her daughters. The film is entertaining, but if you prefer your thrillers with a plot twist or two, this might not be for you. Keeping some mystery around your bad guy is usually a good idea, but if you're looking for at least some semblance of a motive, you're out of luck. One positive however is that Laura, the heroine of the piece, is not a typical dumb victim. She doesn't really do anything stupid to put herself in extra peril. She basically does everything right, but the killer is always just a step ahead of her. My biggest complaint about the film is about the elder daughter, who I'd guess is aged around 10 (I'm not good with guessing kid's ages). Both kids act quite well, and I'm sure they were directed to perform in the way they do in the film... but I was honestly hoping the killer would just take her and shut her up! Yes, she was scared and panicked, but please - be quiet, let your mother think and don't make me shout at my TV!

Stop me if you've heard this one, a group of people go stay in a secluded house within a forest and come under attack from a masked assailant. Original stuff, huh!

He's Out There uses that time tested formula and is a mindless slasher film which brings very little originality to the table.

A mother and her two daughters go to a cabin by the lake on vacation, the husband is running late etc etc etc. It's so cliche it hurts, it's 2018 why do they still make movies like this? Don't get me wrong I'm not putting down the slasher sub-genre, what I mean is a generic slasher film that is a near carbon copy of literally hundreds of others.

The film has it's moments (Though nothing ground breaking) but as I'm sat here writing this review I'm struggling to think of what to write. What can I possibly say about such cookie cutter material?

I will say this, the two children are deeply annoying. Being a person who generally despises kids that will probably come as no surprise but these two little "Darlings" take it to the next level. Annoying, unlikable, belligerent and characters like that just make me root for the bad guy!

If you like slashers you may find enjoyment but be aware you'll go in knowing exactly how the entire movie will play out step by step.

The Good:

Haunting opening

Interesting antagonist

The Bad:

Deeply annoying unlikable children

Very little in the way of originality

Laura (Yvonne Strahovski) drives her car with her two young daughters Kayla (Anna Pniowsky) and Maddie (Abigail Pniowsky) to the remote lake house that belongs to her family. Her husband has an important meeting and will head later. Soon they are threatened by a psychopath and have to fight to survive. Will they succeed?

"He's Out There" is a full of clichés horror film with a storyline with nothing new: a family trapped in danger in a remote area threatened by a masked psychopath. The performance of Yvonne Strahovski and the atmosphere are the best offered to the viewers. But on the other hand, there are two annoying girls that irritate any viewer with their attitudes, whining and screams. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Wow. So, mom and girls arrive at their isolated, lakeside vacation cabin with the promise of dad showing up late the same night. However, there is a lunatic lurking in the woods and he has some plans for the family. Will anyone survive? This is your plot.

The thing that will irritate you most about this film is not the search for reasons why this lunatic is doing all this or the fact that children go into the woods and find a creepy "tea party" setup and think they should eat the food that has been laid out for who knows how long. The number one thing that will irritate you will be how the children are behaving. I have never seen a film that has kids that are so downright annoying. Mom can't even begin to figure out what to do because the girls are so distracting. "Mommy!' "Mommy, No!" "Don't leave us alone!" "I'm scared!" "Mommy, you're scaring me!" It just went on and on. I was ready for this guy to take the kids OUT.

Aside from the kids, this isn't too bad. Location is right, timing is right and there were a couple of nice problematic scenarios setup. There isn't much of a story for the killer, simply meaning you won't find any explanations as to why things are happening. So, if you are looking for it to all come together in the end, you'll be disappointed. This would've been a much better film had there been more attention to how the kids were reacting and making sure that the story made a bit more sense.

It's not just downright awful but it leaves something to be desired.

I love horror and will give most gore a chance. I love blondie from The Handmaid's Tale so I was eager to see what she could do here. She's definitely good at being dramatic and I felt like she really was in danger for a second. The script was so lackluster and literally went nowhere. I started noticing inconsistencies immediately and they continued throughout. I'm not sure what I just watched, but the very ending was redundant and stupid.