Don't Leave Home

This one's a dark mystery of a child disappearance in rural Ireland, but with a visiting American as the lead. It's beautifully shot, with lots of awesome scenery and a wonderful, creepy setting. It's well written, well acted and with a fairly likable lead. No kills, no gore, no sex, no nudity, probably not even any swearing, and it's only somewhat disturbing, but with some very haunting and effective scenes and what I felt was a great ending. There is some extremely brief comic relief in the form of a very creepy, silent, Lurch-looking butler. I recommend it, but it's absolutely a slow one with no kind of action, so just be prepared for an atmospheric mind bender that may be hard to understand and will absolutely confound a great many people who watch it.

Actually wanted to like 'Don't Leave Home', and yes there was the intention to judge the film for myself after watching it and even more intention to judge it fairly. Both have always been the case with me when it comes to reviewing a film. The idea was attention-grabbing and it didn't look too bad, so there was potential.

Potential that was not lived up to very well at all. 'Don't Leave Home' was not a waste of time but it is a long way from a must watch from personal opinion. Didn't regret watching it and didn't find that my intelligence was insulted, something that cannot be said for some other films seen recently, it just didn't compel let alone unsettle me which is a primary factor as to why 'Don't Leave Home' as an overall film doesn't work.

Lets start with the good things. 'Don't Leave Home' started off very well, it does draw one right in, sets things up promisingly and has an eerie vibe. It's a decent looking film, with the setting giving off the right amount of unease and the photography has atmosphere. The music is haunting and not too obvious or intrusive.

Generally the acting was better than average, very good actually with the three leads. Nobody over-compensates and nobody looks uncomfortable or robotic.

However, while the characters don't annoy or there could have been much more development to them. The script is an overload of cheese and awkwardness and the direction is at best lethargic.

'Don't Leave Home's' biggest issue is the story. There is very little tension, suspense or dread, with the scares infrequent and being going-through-the-motions-like and obvious when they appear. It is dull too often despite starting off so well and is very predictable from the excessive over-familiarity of a lot of scenes, while it becomes increasingly far-fetched and confused. Not enough is explained properly either, too much is left vague and leaves one scratching their heads.

Not a waste of time but doesn't scare or compel enough. 4/10 Bethany Cox

While movies like Hereditary and It Follows get praise for being slow eerie movies, this movie takes it to an international level by creating a creepy story around an Irish urban legend, which is terrifyingly realistic.

The Celtic setting of the movie creates an unbelievably uncomfortable atmosphere which transcends in the incredible soundtrack. The directing is over average, but I do agree it's nothing less than cheesy at some points. But the clever 70's style of certain shots does the job of bringing us back into this eerie world.

The acting is also very good, especially for an indie. It's hard to know who you can trust and it's great to see a main actress that doesn't sound or look like the dumb little damsel in distress.

Overall, it's a movie that comes very close to being a classic, maybe only taken back from the fact that it lacks true novelty and, without being predictable, doesn't bring anything new to the table. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves slow burners with a spiritual background that doesn't try too hard to be its own thing and just lets things flow, making for a realistic, downright creepy story.

The concept is a good one but it lacked detail in the presentation.

The actors were excellent, presenting believable well-rounded characters, and technical aspects of the film were well executed.

But this film lacks anything really memorable or intense enough to invoke any feeling about it. A series of events happen - some making no sense - the end.

There really isn't much drama in the film let alone any suspense or anticipation, and that is where (I think) the problem is. It lacks intensity to accompany the fine characters.

Events that do happen are not really explored or exploited to being drama to the story. Some of them happen with no lead in or lead out as to why they happen.

One excellent point is that at least they had what looked like proper tea brewed instead of the yellow insipid muck film makers often try to pass off for the beverage.

It's not a bad film, and it is watchable. You just won't take much away from it.

This could've been a good short for a horror compendium like V/H/S or Southbound. Instead they stretched it out while not filling the gaps with anything interesting, some characters had no development at all, and the mechanics of this mystery are left unclear.

It had some good looks and views, some good and some bad acting, the story was comprehensible, but the ending, while being predictable, still feels a little confusing on why it worked like it did. Overall, this still isn't a good watch even for the fans of small horror/mystery.